Samsung’s line of excellent NX-series mirrorless cameras is getting packed with the Wi-Fi features the company’s been offering in point-and-shoots for years. Sharing your photos between devices and on Facebook made easy — but is it a feature that these cameras need?
Last year’s Samsung NX200 was pretty darn excellent, save for a few quibbles we had with its automatic settings. And for the upcoming NX210 refresh, Samsung’s largely leaving it alone, with the exception of the new Wi-Fi features: it’s got the same DSLR-sized 20.3MP sensor and shoots identical 1080p HD video. The cheaper NX10 and NX100 cameras will be replaced by the NX20 and NX1000. In addition to the Wi-Fi upgrades, these cameras will also get the same 20.3MP APS-C sensor.
The built-in Wi-Fi features function much the same way as they do on Samsung’s point-and-shoots. The camera will allow you to connect directly to online services like Facebook, YouTube and Microsoft SkyDrive to upload photos and video. Using the MobileLink application for Android and iOS you can view your photos on a tablet or phone, and transfer them to these devices too. The Remote Viewfinder app — as its name implies — allows you to control your camera remotely. And if you’re a Windows user, you can use Wi-Fi to back up your photos.
Over the last few years Samsung’s been leading the pack with its Wi-Fi point-and-shoots, but does anybody really want this feature in a professional-grade compact camera? When using the camera’s Wi-Fi features you’re almost always sacrificing image quality because the camera won’t transfer the huge files this camera would otherwise record to its memory card. What’s the point of spending big bucks on a high-resolution camera with a big sensor and interchangeable lenses, if all you’re going to do is scale the image down for a Facebook upload?
Samsung didn’t give us information on how much the camera’s would cost, but the NX200 costs $US900, just to give you a point of reference. Get your routers ready: the new NX-series shooters will all be available in May. [Samsung]
