Samsung Electronics Singapore yesterday launched what it says* is the the world’s slimmest and lightest interchangeable-lens camera in Singapore. The NX mini SMART Camera body weighs 158g and is ultra slim at 22.5mm.
“Samsung prides itself on creating a wealth of possibilities for the smart consumer by pioneering new trends that are tailored to consumer demands. Samsung first led the global passion for selfies with its 3.0-inch Flip up Display and now, as a market leader, we are paving the way forward for wefies,” Irene Ng, Vice President, Marketing, Samsung Asia said.
The “wefie”, a term that Samsung wants to popularise, is like a “selfie” but with two or more people in it. NX mini features to encourage wefies include a 75.2mm (3.0-inch) Flip up and Touch Display that flips 180-degrees and an ultra-slim 9mm wide angle lens so that group shots can be captured at arm’s length. There is even a wink activated self-shooting function. Once the user winks at the camera, the NX mini takes a shot automatically after two seconds, without users having to press any buttons.
Other features of note include a large 1-inch type 20.5MP BSI CMOS sensor for high quality images, and a 6fps Continuous Shot mode that deploys 1/16,000 second shutter speeds.
As with all of Samsung’s 2014 SMART cameras, the NX mini features advanced Wi-Fi and NFC integration for social sharing. Exclusive to Samsung, Tag & Go connectivity allows the NX mini to pair with NFC-enabled devices, such as smartphones or tablets, simply by touching the two together. Once paired, users can:
- Select and transfer multiple images to the paired mobile devices
- Send images to up to four devices
- Control the NX mini via a smartphone, or
- Use the camera as a Baby Monitor through noise activated alerts sent to the smartphone.
Additionally, images can be uploaded directly from the camera to the cloud, including to Dropbox and Flickr.
Samsung has also introduced three NX mini lenses (NX-M) for use with the NX mini body:
The NX-M 9mm F3.5 ED lens has an ultra-slim design and its wide angle makes it the ideal choice for those capturing landscapes and self-portraits.
- The NX-M 9-27mm F3.5-5.6 ED OIS lens is a micro-compact zoom lens. This compact-sized standard zoom lens offers a variety of shooting options from wide-angle to telephoto shots, with optical image stabilisation.
- With the NX-M 17mm F1.8 OIS lens, photographers can enjoy bokeh effects.
NX mini owners are also be able to use 15 NX lenses with the device by using a specialised NX-M Mount Adapter (ED-MA4NXM).
The Samsung NX mini is now available in Singapore at a RRP of S$549 (with the 9mm lens, available in white only) and S$649 (with the 9-27mm lens, available in white, pink, mint green and brown) at all major consumer electronics stores and Samsung Experience Stores. The Samsung NX mini also comes bundled with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5, which is valued at US$149. All other lenses are sold separately.
* Based on Samsung internal research as of March 19, 2014.