The newest camera from Samsung borrows some of the best features from its high-priced flagship shooter and crams them into a smaller, more modestly priced package.
Samsung already makes a truly awesome mirrorless camera, the NX1. It’s a high-resolution speed demon. It shoots 28-megapixel images at 15 frames per second with autofocus enabled. It records 4K video. It has a sensor-spanning autofocus system that boasts 205 phase-detection points and another 209 contrast-detection points. All of those are unique drawing points in the world of interchangeable-lens cameras.
But the NX1 is also the size and weight of a DSLR, and it costs $1,500 for the body only.
So now Samsung has a new interchangeable-lens model with many similar features to the NX1, but is’s a smaller camera that costs only $800 with a kit lens.
The new camera is called the NX500, and it shares the same 28-megapixel backside-illuminated APS-C sensor as its higher-end stablemate. The NX500’s body style is more like that of the compact NX300, albeit with NX1-like features such as 4K video recording, a thumb-operated control wheel, an exposure-lock button, and ISO settings that range up to 25,600. It also has the same robust hybrid phase- and contrast-detection AF system as the NX1. While the NX500’s continuous-shooting mode with autofocus enabled isn’t quite as peppy as the NX1’s, it’s still very fast. It can capture 9 frames per second with autofocus making shot-to-shot adjustments. The maximum shutter speed is a bit slower than that of the NX1, at 1/6000 of a second instead of 1/8000.
In 4K and UltraHD video modes, the NX500 shoots 4096×2160 clips at 24fps and 3840×2160 footage at 30fps, both using the HEVC/H.265 codec. There’s also a time-lapse video option for UltraHD footage, and the camera captures 1080p video at up to 60fps. As part of the “Samsung Auto Shot” mode, the NX500 can also capture lower-resolution images at up to 240fps, and there’s a special feature that automatically records the moment of impact for golf shots and swings of the baseball bat.
Wi-Fi, NFC, and Bluetooth are all built-in, and the camera has an adjustable 3-inch AMOLED touchscreen that flips all the way up like a lot of recent selfie-friendly cameras. You’ll have to buy stabilized lenses to use with it, as the NX500 doesn’t have a body-based stabilization system.
For all that, the price is surprisingly low. $800 is a great price for the feature set (presuming everything works as advertised) and you get a kit lens, an optically stabilized 16-50mm/F3.5-5.6 powered zoom. That lens costs around $300 by itself. Come March, the NX500 will be available in black, brown, and white.
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