Don’t let the Samsung NX2000’s big ‘ol interchangeable lens and APS-C image sensor fool you. Its touchscreen UI is designed for the jabs of the simplest operators.
At first, you’d think the NX2000 fits right in with other more advanced touchscreen cameras coming out these days. You see, even if a $650 mirrorless camera like the NX2000 succeeds in cramming DSLR image quality worthy of its 20.3MP APS-C sensor into that little, lightweight body, it won’t ever — ever — handle like a DSLR. Button-rich operability doesn’t scale down and adding touchscreen can help. It’s a logical design improvement.
But on Samsung’s other mirrorless cameras, touchscreens have been auxiliary tools — because while ditching button controls altogether might work on a tiny point-and-shoot, a more expensive, more powerful camera like the NX2000 sort of implies that its users are going to want more control.
Well what you’re getting with the NX2000 is less control. Weird right? Check out the camera’s back panel, which is almost completely consumed by a 3.7-inch touchscreen. Only a few buttons remain. The standard-issue mode dial on top by the shutter release is missing, and even the “Home” button on the back doesn’t do anything but take the touch UI back to square one. You know, like the home button on an Android phone.
Indeed, from behind, the NX2000 looks more like the Samsung Galaxy Camera (left) than the $750 (including lens) mirrorless Samsung NX300 (right). The former, is a connected point-and-shoot that runs Android, while the latter is a more sophisticated beast whose guts would seem to make it the NX2000’s cousin
Besides using the Galaxy Camera’s entirely touch-based camera UI, plastic build and fixed touchscreen, the NX2000 doesn’t have much in common with Galaxy Camera at all. Actually, it inherits the NX300’s important features, including its overhauled Wi-Fi sharing and new image processor. The two NX cameras even sport APS-C image sensors from the same family, though, the NX2000’s is a generation older and has slower autofocus potential.
Which is all a long way of saying that the touchscreen UI is an odd choice for an NX-series mirrorless shooter. It seems that like the Galaxy Camera — and let’s face it, a lot of Samsung products these days — the NX2000 is a test product. In this case, we’ll find out if there are folks out there willing to pay a premium for simplicity.