shawn
Mentor
I've enjoyed shooting a Pentax Q (and Q S1) for years. Tiny interchangeable lens cameras can be a lot of fun. I have a bunch of D and C mount lenses I used on the Pentaxs. Couple of weeks ago I found a Samsung NX Mini cheap and the 9mm lens came yesterday.
The combo makes for a very small, carry anywhere wide angle setup.
A couple of shots to show how tiny it really is....
After holding it awhile it made the x100F feel chunky. The body with lens is about the width of the Fuji body.
The camera itself feels solid, not cheap feeling at all. 20.5 megapixel 1" sensor. Software is full featured and has all the controls one would want. The lens is tiny and to keep with the take anywhere nature of it was never built with a lens cap of any kind. The optical glass is covered with gorilla glass. I'm going to end up 3d printing a flexible cap for it though, just for added peace of mind.
The 9mm is about a 24mm FOV. I actually think it is a bit wider than that but after distortion correction it ends up about there. If you open the RAW files in something other than LR you can see the FOV it a little wider than what you get in LR where you can't turn off the correction. Lens is sharp and will also focus very close.
Even has a tilt screen for low angle (or selfie) shooting.
One of the really interesting design points was Samsung stuffed a massive battery into it. Its battery is on the right and a RX100III on the left.
Haven't used it enough to see what battery life is like but it was rated for 500+ shots. It is also one of the only cameras that seems to really push exposure in RAW. Typically, if I use RPP64 I have to boost exposure a stop or two. With the NX-Mini RAWs they are almost perfect in RPP64 without any adjustments.
Used the body alone is typically about $100 and the 9mm is about $60. Quick comparison the combo is sharper than a RX100III at 24mm, esp on the sides/corners.
Shawn
The combo makes for a very small, carry anywhere wide angle setup.
A couple of shots to show how tiny it really is....
After holding it awhile it made the x100F feel chunky. The body with lens is about the width of the Fuji body.
The camera itself feels solid, not cheap feeling at all. 20.5 megapixel 1" sensor. Software is full featured and has all the controls one would want. The lens is tiny and to keep with the take anywhere nature of it was never built with a lens cap of any kind. The optical glass is covered with gorilla glass. I'm going to end up 3d printing a flexible cap for it though, just for added peace of mind.
The 9mm is about a 24mm FOV. I actually think it is a bit wider than that but after distortion correction it ends up about there. If you open the RAW files in something other than LR you can see the FOV it a little wider than what you get in LR where you can't turn off the correction. Lens is sharp and will also focus very close.
Even has a tilt screen for low angle (or selfie) shooting.
One of the really interesting design points was Samsung stuffed a massive battery into it. Its battery is on the right and a RX100III on the left.
Haven't used it enough to see what battery life is like but it was rated for 500+ shots. It is also one of the only cameras that seems to really push exposure in RAW. Typically, if I use RPP64 I have to boost exposure a stop or two. With the NX-Mini RAWs they are almost perfect in RPP64 without any adjustments.
Used the body alone is typically about $100 and the 9mm is about $60. Quick comparison the combo is sharper than a RX100III at 24mm, esp on the sides/corners.
Shawn
Cool. I tried this many years ago but I wasn’t into 24mm. I wish there were more cameras like this.
Archlich
Well-known
That's a huge battery! Capacity wise too, just checked it's rated at 650 shots.
How many years did it take Sony to get there?
How many years did it take Sony to get there?
shawn
Mentor
It is a shame small sensor interchangeable lens cameras never really took off. With D and C mount lenses there are lots of possibilities on the little cameras. I'have a fair number of them that will cover the 1" sensor from a 2.7mm f1.8 fisheye (that will be circular) up to a 50mm that is tiny.
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Yeah, I was really surprised when I pulled it out of the camera. I was expecting a chiclet sized battery.
Shawn
Horatio
Masked photographer
Thanks for the review. I may have to try one. My only hesitation is the live view screen. Is it bright enough for daylight shooting? My experience with older digital P&S was not so good for checking focus.
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Nice!
650 shots with this lens on single charge.
650 shots with this lens on single charge.
shawn
Mentor
It is reasonably bright, not as bright as some but workable in daylight. Not sure how it would be with a manual focus lens yet for checking focus. With the 9mm the AF is accurate and quick. It is also a touch screen so you can set it to touch for focus or to touch to focus/shoot or to turn that off entirely.
Because it is a small sensor you get loads of DOF. Wide open hyperfocal distance is about 6.8' away and your in focus range is from about 3.5 feet to infinity. MF with the 9mm is much more a set it and forget it mindset. When you put it into MF mode you get a popup to focus using the D pad. The vast majority of the focus range is for under about 6' away with only a few steps past that. While focusing it zooms in on the focus point and then you accept the focus point and can shoot whenever. To change focus you have to hit the AF button and select MF again to get the focus control. If you want to MF the 9mm for every shot this would be annoying. If you want to hyperfocal the 9mm this would be good. It does reset the focus position on power cycle though and it defaults to the furthest point out which on a test shot might actually be hyperfocal distance.
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Don't have it yet but I ordered a Flipbac G2 stick on grip ($12 on ebay) which should fit the front of it fine. With big hands the camera is a little tiny. In the pics above you can see I put a waxed thread into the strap holder to form a loop for my index finger to fit through. That makes it much easier to manipulate the buttons on the back one handed while still have a secure hold on the camera.
Shawn
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
And for the 3d printers among us...
9mm lens caps...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2412745
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1216508
Hard case with lens cap
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1216497
Telescope adapter (tiny sensors are great for this)
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2733168
C and CS mount lens adapters (the threads didn't print right for me, have to reprint scaled a bit)
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3047588
Shawn
9mm lens caps...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2412745
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1216508
Hard case with lens cap
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1216497
Telescope adapter (tiny sensors are great for this)
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2733168
C and CS mount lens adapters (the threads didn't print right for me, have to reprint scaled a bit)
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3047588
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
Last potentially fun trick (at least for now)... if you turn on the 4x4 grid display and use the middle two rows you get a perfect 3:1 panoramic framing guide with basically the same vertical FOV as a 50mm lens but with about 72 degrees of horizontal FOV. Cropped in post you end up with 10 megapixel files. (5472x1824)
Shawn
Shawn
Attachments
shawn
Mentor
Flipbac G2 stick on grip arrived. Fits well on it and does make it feel more secure in the hand.
Shawn
Shawn
shawn
Mentor
This continues to be a fun little camera. Nice to throw it in a bag when shooting film. I picked up the 17mm f1.8 and a couple of lens adapters.
These are from today
All above with the 9mm, next one with the 17mm
Shawn
These are from today
All above with the 9mm, next one with the 17mm
Shawn