Samsung NX1000 Digital Camera Review

Color

The Samsung NX1000 utilized various color profiles called "Picture Wizard" styles in the camera. This can be turned off entirely, or tuned to some common modes such as standard, landscape, and portrait. We found that the most accurate mode was the "standard" picture wizard (including turning it off entirely), which had an average delta-C (color error) of 2.92. Typically we like to see DSLRs post color errors closer to 2 than 3, but the Samsung NX1000's performance isn't impacted too severely by the lack of accuracy.

One thing we did note was the general oversaturation of all the picture wizard styles. While not as bad as some manufacturers, most of the styles produced images that were over 105% saturation, with vivid going up to 120% of the ideal. The standard mode rang in at around 106%, while turning picture wizard off resulted in a saturation level of roughly 97%. More on how we test color.

NOTE: Because of the way computer monitors reproduce colors, the images above do not exactly match the originals found on the chart or in the captured images. The chart should be used to judge the relative color shift, not the absolute captured colors.

Color Modes

The picture wizard styles on the NX1000 can be adjusted in the main menu or in the camera's "function" menu, brought up by pressing the Fn button on the back of the camera. Within these presets you can also adjust color, saturation, sharpness, and contrast to your liking. This will alter the modes color accuracy, though we only test each mode on its default setting.

White Balance

The Samsung NX1000's automatic white balance system did well in more extreme light conditions, but we found that it performed worse under common lighting conditions where most cameras excel. We found its custom white balance settings to be easy to use and more accurate, though.

Automatic White Balance ()

In testing the NX1000's automatic white balance, we found that it did poorly under daylight and compact white fluorescent lighting conditions, with an average temperature error of roughly 500 kelvin for both. Under tungsten lighting it performed about the same (roughly 500 kelvin off), but this is substantially better than most cameras normally do. Shooting under real life conditions outside the lab we found that the camera did okay under an overcast sky, but it did produce a slight color tint sometimes and skin tones did require some adjustment in certain shots that we took.

Custom White Balance ()

The camera's custom white balance settings performed much better overall, with an average color temperature error of between 127 and 165 kelvin for all three lighting conditions (daylight, compact white fluorescent, and tungsten). That's not perfect, but it'd be difficult to see color shifts that small in most conditions and you wouldn't see much of a difference in most shots when capturing a custom white balance.

The Samsung NX1000's custom white balance compares favorably with most interchangeable lens cameras, able to diagnose white conditions pretty well. We found it struggled more in relatively simple conditions when using the automatic white balance, but it did better than expected under a very warm condition such as tungsten lighting. Overall we'd suggest using custom white balance when it is possible to do so, as the camera may struggle more with mixed lighting especially.

White Balance Options

The Samsung NX1000 makes capturing a custom white balance quite simple, with the ability to take a custom reading right from the white balance selection menu. This white balance menu is in the camera's "function" menu and also includes several presets, the automatic white balance setting, and a custom kelvin temperature entry setting for situations where you know the exact color temperature.