Samsung NX10

Sharpness

We were favorably impressed with the sharpness of the images that the NX10 captured, across both the zoom and aperture range of the kit lens. The images were sharp at the center of the frame at each of the three zoom points and three aperture settings that we test. We did find that the images got a little soft at the edges of the frame with the aperture wide open, though, so we would recommend that you avoid using the wider aperture settings if possible. More on how we test sharpness.

Image Sharpness and Chromatic Aberration

Focal Length:

18.0mm

25.0mm

55.0mm

Click blue squares to change sample crops below
f/3.5 f/10 f/22
f/4 f/10 f/22
f/5.6 f/11 f/22

Image Stabilization (4.46)

The optical image stabilization system didn’t make much difference, but on the plus side it improved rather than hurt sharpness at nearly every shutter speed (IS often impairs results at higher speeds).

The Samsung NX10 uses lens-based image stabilization. Of the three initially available lenses, the kit 18-55mm and the 50-200mm telephoto include stabilization, the 30mm pancake does not. Two stabilization modes are available, one which kicks in when the shutter is pressed, the other which is applied continuously. We used the first, which uses less battery power.

In our low shake testing, we found modest resolution gains at most speeds, both when the camera was moving horizontally and when it was moving vertically.

When we cranked up the level of shake to the point you might see if you were moving around while shooting, the improvement is more noticeable, particularly in the range between 1/125 second and 1/60 second.

Image Stabilization Comparison Table			Expand
	Low Shake IS Off	Low Shake IS On	High Shake IS Off	High Shake IS On
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/60
1/30
1/15
1/8

Among our comparison cameras, only the Olympus E-P1, with its in-camera stabilization system, posted particularly strong results here, with the NX10 score about the same as the others in the group.

The following table offers representative same-size crops taken from our test images, to provide a visual demonstration of the sharpness improvement we experienced. These crops are taken from the horizontal shake testing, at both low and high shake levels.