Samsung has jumped the gun on this year's International CES by unveiling its two new cameras a few days early.
The NX30, a powerful upgrade from the NX20, is a 20-megapixel APS-C mirrorless camera. It has a vari-angle 3-inch AMOLED display with a 1.037k-dot resolution. It also has a built-in EVP, which, at 2.36 million dots, is twice as sharp as the NX20's. The camera can angle up to 80 degrees, which is almost straight up. This is rare among mirrorless cameras.
The NX30 can shoot up to 9 frames per second, has a minimum shutter speed of 1/6,000-second for its mechanical shutter and 1/8,000-second for its electronic shutter. The built-in flash supports hi-speed sync when coupled with the electronic shutter.
The sensor has a base ISO of 100 but can go as high as 25600. Raw capture is supported, and Adobe Lightroom 5 is included as a Raw converter. The software itself has a $150 value.
The NX30 can also record videos in 1080p at 60, 30, 0r 24 frames per second. It includes a 3.5 inch microphone unit, audio meters and level contril, and support for live HDMI output at 30 frames per second, and also includes digital video stabilization.
With a built-in dual band Wi-Fi, it joins Samsung's 2014 generation of cameras that are called Smart Camera 3.0. Images may be transferred to a phone or a tablet, be uploaded to the web, and shared via Dropbox. With NFC and support for HomeSync servers, sharing of data is much easier and intuitive.
The NX30 has a SEF580 strobe that has a 58' Guide Number and which supports TLL. The first lens is a compact 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 Power Zoom ED OIS, and collapses into itself when not is use. The second lens is a pro-level 16-50mm F2-2.8 ED OIS zoom.
The Galaxy Camera 2 is a more modest upgrade, with a hinged flash, software improvements, and a minor upgrade to Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean). The upgraded version has a 16-megapixel image sensor and 21x optical zoom lens. The entire camera is encased in a new chrome design with black or white leatherette covering, but the rear 4.8-inch display is the same, with a 720p resolution.
The camera now has a 2GB RAM, the CPU runs at 1.6Ghz, and features a larger 2,000mAh battery, which allows the camera to record videos. Like the NX30, the Galaxy Camera 2 also has NFC support.
