Ridgefield Park, NJ—Samsung Electronics Co. announced its NX100—a mirrorless camera equipped with the first “i-Function” lens, designed to provide photographers with a completely new way of controlling a camera. The camera is complemented by a lineup of lenses and accessories.
The launch of the NX100 follows the success of the NX10, Samsung’s first mirrorless camera and the first to feature an APS-C size sensor. The NX100 shares technology with the NX10, including the APS-C size sensor and a 3.0-inch AMOLED screen. However, with the NX100, Samsung is striving to take the mirrorless camera to the next level, by incorporating the advances of the NX10 and improving other areas of the camera’s performance and design.
The sleek NX100 features an intuitive i-Function lens that allows users to control their camera through the lens. Samsung says it also boasts one of the fastest autofocus systems on the market, and an ISO that is raised to a maximum of 6400 for action shots.
“Our aim is to dominate the mirrorless camera market in the same way that we do in the DualView category, and the new NX100 is the embodiment of that goal,” said SangJin Park, president of Samsung Digital Imaging, Samsung Electronics. “We are the first to create a mirrorless camera with high-quality imaging technology which has been designed based on intuitive consumer insights from our in-depth consumer research. This is why we believe that the NX100, alongside the NX10, will cement our leadership in this growing field. Our unique and pioneering i-Function lens stands out from the competition as an example of our unparalleled innovation, which will appeal to every photographer.”
The i-Function lens is a proactive lens that communicates with the camera body. It delivers image control with manual settings to ensure easy image capturing and also provides customized settings that complement the lens being used. The lens incorporates an i-Function button that enables users to scroll through manual settings, and a focus ring that is used to change parameters for each setting.
Since typical photographers wraps their hands around the lens when holding the camera, this new system means they can naturally use their left hand to change settings via the i-Function lens without the need to take the camera off the target. Users can toggle between shutter speed, aperture, EV, WB and ISO by using the i-Function button and ring on the lens, for quicker configuration while shooting.
Also added is a lens priority mode that’s designed to make switching between lenses easy. Each lens is marked with icons that illustrate their main usage, so beginners can understand which lens they need for any given scene. The lens priority mode provides scene options designed for the lens being used; for example, when a landscape lens is attached, the camera will display the landscape mode. And when users change to a specialized lens, the camera will recognize the lens type and automatically configure the settings that best match with the attached lens.
Other NX100 features include: a smart filter function that, in playback mode, lets users apply seven effects to the picture, such as the vignette, soft focus, fisheye, or miniature effects; HD movie recording at 720p; a sound picture mode that records audio when a photo is taken; and a supersonic dust reduction feature to remove foreign particles from the lens before shooting.
The design of the NX100 was inspired by the shape of dew forming on a leaf, which can be seen on the camera’s shutter button and curved body, which comes in two color versions—black and brown.
At launch, the lens lineup for the NX100 includes a 20-50mm compact zoom, with a small, light 20mm wide-angle pancake lens to be introduced shortly after. Two additional specialized lenses will be available in the first half of 2011: a 60mm macro lens and an 18-200mm super zoom. Three more lenses will be introduced by the second half of 2011, including 16mm, 85mm and 16-80mm lenses. The NX system will be further enhanced with accessories, including an electronic viewfinder, flash and GPS tracker to capture an exact geographical location. samsung.com
