Samsung NX1000 Performance

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Samsung NX1000 Performance

Timing and Performance

Sluggish autofocus, cycle times and buffer clearing, but good burst rates.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on to first shot	~1.7 seconds	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Shutdown	~1.5 seconds	How long it takes camera to turn off before you can remove the memory card.
Buffer clearing time	15 seconds after 10 large/superfine JPEGs*	Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card.
	22 seconds after 8 RAW files*
	27 seconds after 8 RAW+ LSF JPEG files*
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Startup and shutdown times are about average for a CSC, but much longer than most SLRs. (Firmware v1.12 did however reduce startup from 3.1 seconds with v1.01, so be sure to upgrade.) Buffer clearing will depend on image size and quality, as well as card speed. Here the Samsung NX1000 is very sluggish when RAW files were included, even with a very fast card. (The NX1000 does not appear to take advantage of faster UHS-I cards.)

Mode Switching
Play to Record, first shot	~1.1 seconds	Time until first shot is captured.
Record to Play	~3.1 seconds	Time to display a large/superfine JPEG file immediately after capture.
Display recorded image	~0.5 second	Time to display a large/superfine JPEG file already on the memory card.

Mode switching is sluggish, especially Record to Play, but displaying a recorded images is snappy.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode	0.598 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting. (All timing performed with Samsung 20-50mm kit lens at medium focal length.)
Full Autofocus, Multi-area AF mode	0.666 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting.
Full Autofocus, Single-area AF mode Auto flash enabled	0.833 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with the lens already at the proper focal distance setting. Built-in flash enabled.
Continuous AF	0.435 second	This mode usually shows no speed increase with our static subject; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.
Manual Focus	0.121 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.103 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Samsung NX1000 exhibited full-autofocus shutter lag (with the subject at a fixed distance) that ranged from 0.598 second in single-area AF mode to 0.666 second in multi-area AF mode when using the 20-50mm kit lens in our tests. This is a much slower than average for a CSC these days, and even slower than most point and shoots. Enabling the bundled flash increased shutter lag to a pedestrian 0.833 second, to account for the preflash metering.

Shutter lag was 0.435 second in continuous mode AF, though the subject may not be in focus in this mode. When manually focused, the Samsung NX1000's lag time dropped to 0.121 second, which is a tad slow. The NX1000's prefocused shutter lag time was also a bit slow, at 0.103 second. These times are significantly slower than the Samsung NX20, and it's not because a different lens was used as manual focus and prefocused are also quite a bit slower. (The NX20 managed 0.060s and 0.044s for manual focus and prefocused shutter lag.)

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Superfine JPEG	1.47 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, 2 seconds to clear*.
Single Shot mode RAW	1.31 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots, 10 seconds to clear*.
Single Shot mode RAW + LSF JPEG	1.45 seconds	Time per shot, averaged over 4 shots, 14 seconds to clear*.
Early shutter penalty?	No (Yes with older firmware)	Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous Hi Mode Large/SuperFine JPEG	0.12 second (8.18 frames per second); 10 frames total; 15 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 10 shots.
Continuous Hi Mode RAW	0.14 second (7.22 frames per second); 8 frames total; 22 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 8 frames.
Continuous Hi Mode RAW + LSF JPEG	0.14 second (7.00 frames per second); 8 frames total; 27 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over buffer length of 8 frames.
Flash Recycling	3.5 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times are quite sluggish, ranging from 1.47 seconds for large/superfine JPEGs to 1.31 seconds for RAW files.

Continuous Hi mode at full resolution was well above average for its class, though, at about 8.2 frames-per-second for large/superfine JPEGs. That dropped to 7.2 fps for RAW and 7 fps for RAW+LSF JPEGs, but that's still pretty fast. Buffer depths were somewhat limited though, at only 10 large/superfine JPEGs, and 8 RAW or RAW + LSF JPEGs. Note that our test target for this is designed to be difficult to compress, so JPEG burst lengths may be longer with typical subjects. The NX1000 has a Burst mode that can capture at up to 30 frames-per-second at a reduced resolution of 5 megapixels, however we didn't test that mode. As mentioned previously, buffer clearing is quite slow, though, taking up to 27 seconds to clear after a burst of 8 RAW + LSF JPEG frames, and that's with a very fast card. (It doesn't appear that the NX1000 takes advantage of faster UHS-I cards.)

Flash recycle was a bit slow, taking an average of 3.5 seconds after a full power discharge.

Download Speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	4,061 KBytes/sec	Typical Values: Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Download speeds via USB 2.0 were just okay. You may want to consider a separate card reader, especially if you shoot a lot of RAW files or HD videos. (Note that this test was performed with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec UHS-I SDHC: Slower cards would likely show slower transfer times.)

Bottom line, the Samsung NX1000's performance is a mixed bag. Startup is a bit sluggish but fairly typical for a CSC (after upgrading to firmware v1.11). Autofocus speeds are slower than average compared to recent competitors, and prefocused shutter lag is also a bit slow. Single-shot cycle times are sluggish, but continuous mode speeds are quite good. Buffer depths are shallow though, and buffer clearing very slow, especially with RAW files.

Battery

Battery Life
Slightly below average battery life for a compact system camera.

Operating Mode	Battery Life
Still Capture, (Samsung standard)	320 shots

The Samsung NX1000 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack for power, and comes with both a single battery and charger. Samsung rates the NX1000's battery life at 320 shots per charge. That's a bit below average for CSCs tested using the CIPA standard, so we recommend getting a second battery for your NX1000 if you plan any extended outings or shoot a lot of video.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))