What I want to know is: what the hell is Samsung thinking? More than two-and-a-half years into the NX system and their U.S. market presence is still nill. I like Samsung because 1) The NX10 offered the best form factor of any mirrorless camera I've seen, 2) They offer the best full lens lineup (though Olympus has a couple good primes out now), 3) Until the NX200 their prices were reasonable, and 4) Most importantly, they are APS-C. Despite years of expectations, the four-thirds consortium has net yet offered up a game-changing sensor. If you want to photograph in low light and have control over depth of field- which is essential for the kind of photography I do, anyway- then full frame is best and APS-C is a good enough proposition that I can live with. But no more! Don't try to bargain me down to the micro four thirds, then the Nikon 1 sensor, then the Fuji X10 sensor, then the LX5 sensor, until all I'm left with is the keychain known as the Pentax Q.
Samsung, you've gone and broken my heart. I was sure that by now the NX20 would come out and there would finally be a camera good enough to take pictures with all those fast pancake lenses and its electronic viewfinder. Instead, the system has stalled- all we've had is an announcement of an overpriced, over-megapixeled NX200 that doesn't appear to have made it to too many U.S. stores in time for Christmas. The logical conclusion from that is that the NX20 will be even more overpriced and over-megapixeled but gosh, I hope not. Sony already has the cut-megapixels-to-the-max-then-smear-with-software market cornered. No need to go there.
Samsung had a tremendous window of opportunity. For several years, it's been a pretty open market. Sony hasn't figured out yet that a small camera is useless without small lenses. Nikon and Pentax (pre-Ricoh) went into wholesale "protect the DSLR market and try to capture the consumers getting better photos with their iPhone than our crappy point-and-shoots mode." Canon is pretending to ignore the whole thing while secretly (I presume) preparing an offering of its own to be released once everyone on the planet owns a Rebel T2ix7e3s. Thus, all jacket-pocket-camera-size fanboys have drifted over to Panasonic and Olympus, where they've been welcomed with tedious (now improved) autofocus, pudgy pictures at over 800 ISO (I would argue over 400), above market value prices, and an endless series of 14-xx kit lenses (at last count I think there were seven of those for sale). M4/3rds has paved the way of the interchangeable lens market and there are a few nice primes (20mm f/1.7, 12mm f/2) to tease the enthusiasts. I bought a GF2 and 14mm f/2.5 when the price dropped below $500 and returned the set three weeks later... no thanks. I know the E-P3 and GX-1 are better cameras, but the question is are they better enough? I'm not convinced and I would also like to have a small camera with an EVF that doesn't have the build of a WalMart superzoom and an audio system that's been purposefully cripped (Panasonic G3, we're taking a stab at you there).
Samsung has had the market all to itself, as far as I'm concerned. This is about the change. Fuji is coming out with something this winter, perhaps the rumored LX10, and it's going to be a damn good camera, if the X100 and X10 are any indication. Fujis are expensive, but you can also find them outside of Korea. Meanwhile, where is Samsung?
The Samsung NX200 is not list on Amazon, three months after its announcement. It's out of stock at B&H, which is offering a $150 discount (not surprising considering the $899 original tag... this thing was going to be downmarketed real fast). Adorama is being a good sport and offering the camera for $749, which is better than can be said of the AWOL NX11 (does that camera really exist?).
So if you're curious why this blog hasn't reported much, it's because I'm waiting for Samsung to offer a real camera. If and when they offer a real camera, I'll be ready to post. Until then, I'll be playing with my Canon DSLRs and keeping an eye on the next move by Fuji.