Samsung NX300 Flash

Coverage and Range
A weak flash with uneven coverage. Less than average exposure compensation required.

Coverage. Flash coverage from the Samsung NX300's bundled flash is uneven at wide angle (18mm), leaving corners and a band across the center of our flash test image a little dim. Narrow coverage at wide angle isn't unusual, though, and some of the corner fall-off is from the lens itself. Coverage is more uniform at telephoto (55mm), though exposure is darker and some fall-off is still noticeable.

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene is fairly bright with +0.3 EV exposure compensation, while the average for this shot is +0.7 EV. The camera's Slow-Sync flash mode produced an overly bright image at the default setting, with a strong pinkish cast from the ambient room lighting from the longer exposure.

ISO 200 Range. With the 18-55mm kit lens, flash exposure started out quite bright at 6 feet at wide angle, but fell off immediately from there with a usable range of only about 7 feet. At full telephoto, flash exposures started out a little dim at 6 feet, and fell from there, though 8 feet was a bit brighter than 7 feet. Still, the range is less than 6 feet.

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Samsung NX300's bundled flash is rated at a Guide Number of 8 meters at ISO 100. That works out to about 10.6 feet at wide angle, and 6.6 feet at telephoto with the kit lens at maximum aperture at ISO 200. In the shots above, the NX300 produced a reasonably bright target at wide angle (unlike in our range series), but flash exposure at full telephoto is quite dim. We'd say Samsung's Guide Number rating is a little optimistic. Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We also shoot two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.