Samsung could be poised to relaunch its now defunct NX camera line with a new high-end APS-C camera based on its new Exynos 9810 SoC processor, if new rumours are to be believed.
Mirrorless Rumors reports it has had a tip from an anonymous source claiming that he or she got to use a Samsung NX1 that was fitted with a new 30.1-megapixel stacked sensor and Samsung’s Exynos 9810 SoC.
The source says that Samsung Mobile kitted out the old NX1 and that the prototype is what will be a new high-end Samsung APS-C camera. The source expanded more on some of the new 30.1-megapixel Samsung NX camera’s specs:
30,1 megapixels sensor (6720*4480) which is stacked (3-stack FRS) ISOCELL with Tetracell and dual-pixel AF. Extremely fast readout combined with 4K 120fps h/265 encode capability enable impressive framerates
– Full sensor (6720*4480) @ 30fps
– 5376*3024 @ 60fps
– 3840*2160 @ 120fps
– 2688*1512 @ 240fps
– 1920*1080 @ 480fps
Up to 120fps should be full sensor read-out, 2.7K and 1080p at higher frame-rates is 2×2 pixel binning and then down-sampling (so full width of sensor is used up to 480fps (!).15fps burst with mechanical shutter, 30fps RAW with electronic shutter. Practically no read-out noise so extremely ISO invariant (thanks to ISOCELL’s deep trench isolation). AF is insane with combination of dual-pixel and ‘Super PD’, which is regular in-sensor phase detection.
All features of Exynos 9810 are enabled (except a small part of GPU), so a huge amount of in-camera processing power, optional LTE-connectivity with eSIM, GNSS (GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou) for location tagging, SD 3.0 with UHS-II support for memory cards (up to 300 MB/s), Bluetooth 5 for continuous low-power connection and 802.11ac with 2×2 MIMO for fast image- and video transfer. USB 3.1 Type-C with DP enabled for uncompressed output up to 5K 30fps and 4K 60fps. There is a PCIe 3.0 x2 bus left if they decide to add something like a CFexpress card-slot, or Thunderbolt 3 or 10GbE.
Very impressive software feature was accelerometer-based shutter. You press the shutter, and the accelerometer registers the G-forces (acceleration). Then it takes a picture when the X- and Y-acceleration are closest to 0 and the Z-acceleration is closest to 1 (natural gravity). Doesn’t work perfect (you can still move without accelerating), but I was able to double to triple my handheld shutter-speed, so that means at least a stop lower ISO. Delay between pressing and shooting is about half a second, so it’s not for sports. They are working to also implement the gyroscopic data to pick the moment with the least amount of roll. This feature makes is probably to the S9.
Like I said, it’s a prototype, based on a NX1, and they don’t know yet if it will ever hit the market, but if it does it will be at least as ground breaking as the original NX1 (they were thinking about a few extra things (variable ND, IBIS, HBM2-buffer), but hey, research is expensive and upper management).
If true, is this a good move for Samsung? Let us know what you think!
This would rock. For me, the most important thing for an NX2 would be to have HEVC Main 4:2:2 12 implemented. This would raise the attraction and allow color grading without artifacts and banding and make of it a point and shoot RED/ARRI/BLACK MAGIC that would punch the market. Of course higher frame rates and resolutions would just be bonus. I think that what prevented the NX1 to completely take over the video market was that though it had superb features and color science, the guys of Samsung did not have the vision of the advantage od opening the system to allow the magic lantern guys or other initiatives to work on RAW video and more, since Samcung restrained the features (the hardware could do much much more).