Samsung NX200 20.3MP ILC Camera - Physical and Software Controls

Controls: 

The control layout is virtually identical to what can be found on most entry level DSLRs. Immediately behind the shutter/on/off switch there is a single control wheel. This used in combination with the buttons on the back, provides fairly quick access to most common settings. It still took some time for me to get used to the single control wheel after using two but I never found the layout clumsy or uncomfortable.  With a little practice it could be a fairly fast system.

On of the small gripes that I have with the control wheel is in its stiffness or lack thereof.  It simply seemed a bit loose and occasionally would skip back a notch. I much prefer the stiffness of the wheels on the Nikon.

The mode dial provides fast access to the main shooting modes of the camera. 

• Manual
• Shutter Priority
• Aperture Priority
• Program - Mostly just a visual twist on aperture priority mode.
• Smart - Attempt to select an appropriate scene mode.
• Video - Dedicated Video mode (redundant)
• Scene - Select from the menu the type of scene you are shooting.
• Panorama - Stitches multiple photos in-camera.
• Magic - Select camera effects such as frames or filters
• Lens Priority - Select camera settings with iFunction on Lens (think Program)
  

Most of these are pretty standard on cameras nowadays. Coming from the DSLR world, I found myself using aperture priority most often.

The ISO button brings up a list of available sensitivities. The control wheel or D-Pad can be used to select the level.  Ranges from 100 to 12800 are available as well as an auto option.  Thankfully there is an option in the camera menu to limit the Auto ISO range and keep it where noise is acceptable. 

The D-Pad also gives quick access to release mode, LCD display and auto-focus modes.  Release mode options include: Single, Continuous (High), Continuous (Low), Burst, Timer, Auto Exposure Bracketing, White Balance Bracketing, and Picture Wizard Bracketing. 

• Auto WB - The camera automatically selects the optimal white balance settings.
• Daylight - For shooting outdoors on a clear day.
• Cloudy - For shooting outdoors on a cloudy day.
• Fluorescent White - Daylight, fluorescent lamp, suitable especially for the white fluorescent light with the color temperature of about 4200K
• Fluorescent NW - Daylight, fluorescent lamp, suitable especially for the daylight fluorescent lighting with the color temperature of about 5,000K
• Fluorescent Daylight - Daylight, fluorescent lamp, suitable especially for the daylight-like fluorescent lighting with the color temperature of about 6,500K
• Tungsten - For shooting under halogen lamps and standard, incandescent bulbs.
• Flash WB - Suitable when using the built-in flash light.
• Custom Set - To create a custom white ballance setting.
• Color Temp - To set the color temperature manually.

Auto focus in DSLRs has typically been done using phase detection. This method is fast, accurate and doesn't require a lot of processing power. In the mirror-less camera  world that method has been replaced with contrast detection. Contrast detection used to be quite slow but it has definitely improved over the years. One of the advantages to contrast detection is that because it uses the main imaging sensor, it is not limited by fixed AF points like a traditional DSLR.

The auto focus mode can be adjusted by the right button on the D-Pad. The three modes are Single, Continuous or Manual. 

AF Area:

In addition to the mode there are also several auto focus areas that you can select from. 

• Single area - In this mode you select the area that you want in focus manually. When in single area AF mode, the center button of the d-pad activates a screen that allows you to move the AF focus point around the screen. Rotating the control wheel adjusts the size of the AF point.
• Multi area - The camera will try to detect the objects to focus on. When shutter button is pressed the selected focus points will light up.
• Face detection - The camera attempts to recognize faces and prioritize focus on them.
• Self-portrait - This is a really neat feature that is used to take pictures of yourself. The camera will give off a series of beeps indicating if your face is in or near the center of the frame.

Light metering is controlled in menu. From here you can select spot, center weighted or area modes of metering. For those time when you need a little extra adjustment, the AV button lets you adjust the exposure compensation.

Main Display / Viewfinder:

Pertinent information is displayed along the sides and bottom of the screen, unless you choose to turn it off using the "disp" button. You can also display a small histogram in the lower right corner if you wish.

It's worth noting that for a consumer camera the display is really top notch quality.  Colors are bright and vibrant and there is no ghosting or lagging visible while moving. The only downside is that it is almost impossible to view in bright sunlight but that issue is not unique to this camera.

Playback:

Image playback may be immediately accessed by the little arrow button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Basic playback information is shown along the bottom of the screen but if you want more the "disp" button will give you more information. Pressing the "disp" button a second time will bring up a color separated histogram.

The basic controls such as zooming and panning are fairly straightforward, but I did notice that you cannot flip from picture to picture while zoomed in. This is a very hand feature that I do find myself missing.  A quick press of the "fn" button will bring up a simple editing menu where you can make minor adjustments to your photos.

The adjustments include:

• Smart Filters
• Red Eye Fix
• Backlight Compensation
• Resize
• Rotate
• Face Retouch
• Brightness
• Contrast
• Vignetting