Samsung NX Mini Is the Perfect Camera for the Selfie-Obsessed

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Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong

By Raymond Wong2014-05-02 11:26:38 UTC

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I thought selfies were a passing fad. I was wrong. Apparently, people are really into taking pictures of themselves (and others) from an arm's length away. It's no wonder the Oxford Dictionary named "selfie" the word of the year in 2013 and the most retweeted tweet ever is of Ellen and a bunch of movie stars at this year's Oscars.

Cameras designed with the sole intention of helping people take better pictures of themselves are hardly a new idea. The Sony NEX-5TL and Samsung MV800 are two cameras with LCD screens that flip 180 degrees upward from the back so that you can see yourself. And years ago, Samsung even sold the ST500, a point-and-shoot with a secondary LCD on the front of the camera targeted at selfie fanatics.

But now that taking selfies is officially a movement (even my parents like taking them), camera makers are rushing out once again with shooters that fully embrace this photographic style. The Samsung NX Mini is one of them, but is it more style than substance?

Faux premium

There's nothing worse than a camera that feels like it's made from cheap materials. The camera is part magnesium alloy and part plastic. Most of the body is covered up in a "leatherette" finish to create the illusion of a luxury product. I'm not a fan of this fake plastic leather finish, but millions of Galaxy Note 3 phablets suggest it's an aesthetic people find attractive.

Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong

The NX Mini is comfortable to hold, although I didn't enjoy using its buttons. The directional buttons are particularly creaky when pressed. The little nub for your thumb to grip is also unbearably stiff and lacks firmness.

I also found the three buttons (Direct Link, Power and Shutter) to be too flush with the top of the camera. Even though the power button is smaller than the shutter button, I often pressed the power button instead of the shutter.

Mighty specs, so-so image quality

Don't let the NX Mini's 0.89-inch thickness and 5.4-ounce weight deceive you. The easily pocketable camera has quite the assortment of impressive features for novices looking for just a tiny bit more performance.

Samsung put in a 1-inch image sensor with 20.5-megapixels, continuous shooting with 6 frames per second in RAW and 22 frames per second in JPEG at a reduced 5-megapixel resolution, 1/6000 second shutter speed and ISO 100-25600. The NX Mini also records HD video at 1080p at 30 frames per second.

On top of that, the NX Mini comes with built-in Wi-Fi and NFC for pairing with a smartphones and tablets via the Samsung Smart Camera app. There's also a baby monitor mode, that works with the Samsung Home Monitor app and sends a notification to your smartphone when your baby wakes up and cries, but I couldn't try it because the app was in Korean (at least for iOS).

As I predicted, the NX Mini is merely an okay shooter that takes pictures that are on par with mid to high-end point-and-shoots. It's not the best, but it's far from the worst when it comes to taking regular snapshots in daylight and low-light situations. Image quality is average even when set at the full 20.5-megapixels. Colors are oversaturated and pictures exhibit low contrast.

Like many cameras these days, there are way too many scene modes. The NX Mini has 17 of these "smart" modes, most of them pointless. Do we really need a "food" mode? I think not. And modes such as "Rich Tones," which is supposed to create HDR-like pictures, take painfully long to process.

Selfie paradise

The NX Mini's marquee feature is its 3-inch touchscreen that flips up 180 degrees. Aside from the screen's obvious advantage, Samsung also included a few small tricks that really add to the whole selfie-taking experience.

Flipping the NX Mini's screen automatically boots the camera straight into "Self Shot" mode. In what can only be called a sneaky (in a good way) move, Samsung smartly has the "Beauty Face" feature turned on by default. For those unfamiliar with the feature, Beauty Face essentially airbrushes off any facial blemishes — acne, wrinkles, large pores, etc. — so that faces end up looking smoother and, consequently, younger.

At first, I didn't know the feature was turned on automatically and simply thought to myself "Wow, Ray, you look really good in selfies". But, alas, it was only the camera's software flattering me.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say this, but even after I found out, I just kept the feature on. I mean, if I'm going to be sharing selfies on Facebook in high resolution, I might as well have flawless skin. Shh, nobody needs to know.

By default, the Samsung NX Mini's Self Shot will apply airbrushing (right), although the feature can be disabled (left).

Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong

The other feature I really liked was face detection. There are three modes: Normal, Smile Shot and Wink Shot. On Normal, when the shutter is pressed, a three-second countdown timer shows up so you can quickly prime yourself for your selfie. Smile Shot gets right to it and fires off a shot only when you've got a big, cheesy smile on. This was my favorite, since it didn't waste my time with a countdown and forced everyone to put on their biggest smiles.

Wink Shot, however, is a dud. It's supposed to start the three-second countdown timer just like in Normal mode when it detects a wink. It almost never worked. And when it did, I realized it was because it mistook my big smile for a wink.

The $449 NX Mini I tested comes with a 9mm "pancake" prime lens (24mm equivalent in 35mm format). For group selfies, this lens is excellent, since it allows more people and more background to fit into a picture. But for regular, non-selfie shots, I found myself missing a broader range of focal lengths. If a zoom lens is really important to you, Samsung also sells the NX Mini with a 9-27mm lens for an extra $100.

On a related note: How am I supposed to prevent the 9mm lens from getting scratched up when Samsung doesn't even include a lens cap for it?

In addition to selfie stills, the NX Mini is also a fun vlogging camera. As with stills, the wide-angle 9mm lens is a big plus. I can easily see bloggers and vloggers becoming besties with the NX Mini.

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Messy wireless connectivity

Years ago, I tested the Samsung NX1000, one of the company's first "Smart" cameras with Wi-Fi and in-camera sharing to social networks and online services. I complained that picture uploading was slow and there was no support for sharing to Twitter. That was in 2012.

Two years and several NX Smart camera releases later, Samsung still hasn't improved the clunky wireless functions. There's still no way to share to Twitter. Uploading is still kind of sluggish when uploading anything more than a few pictures at a time at full resolution, and the touchscreen keyboard still has some very noticeable lag.

The camera lets you share photos and video to six different services: KakaoStory, Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube and Dropbox. In my testing, the only one that didn't work was YouTube. It may have just been a bug in my review unit, but no matter what I tried, the camera kept telling me my user names and passwords on several accounts were incorrect.

If there's any proof that the NX Mini's in-camera sharing features were an afterthought, it's evident when you try to log into a service such as Flickr or Dropbox. The login screens look like they were taken from a mobile phone browser circa 2002. Login boxes are tiny and hard to tap.

Pairing the NX Mini to a smartphone (in my case, an iPhone 5) is also a complete mess. Wi-Fi connections between my iPhone 5, and the NX Mini frequently disconnected and interference almost always made repairing problematic. If you ask me, Samsung should just kill the poorly designed operating system in its NX cameras and just go all-in with Android-based cameras, like the Galaxy NX.

Micro everything

Slim cameras always come with trade-offs. In the NX Mini's case, instead of using SD cards for storage, it takes microSD cards — the same kind used for extra storage in many smartphones.

If you've got a bunch of regular-sized SD cards from an older camera, you'll need to go out and buy the tinier ones. MicroSD cards also tend to get lost more easily and require an adapter for use in a laptop with an SD card slot.

Most cameras come with an external battery charger. The NX Mini charges via microUSB cable. This can be both a good and a bad thing.

On the plus side, you can use the same charging cable that you use for most smartphones (unless you have an iPhone) and tablets, which means one less proprietary charger to pack. And if you forget to bring your microUSB cable, you can easily buy one from most pharmacies or department stores. (Hotels usually have them, too. All you have to do is ask.)

On the downside, the battery has to be inside of the camera while it's charging. This means you can't use the camera with one battery and charge up a second battery in an external charger at the same time.

For point-and-shoot upgraders

The NX Mini isn't what I'd consider a serious camera. It doesn't have the fastest autofocus and its small image sensor just can't compete with cameras equipped with the larger Micro Four Thirds sensor and even larger APS-C sensors. Rather, the NX Mini is the perfect little interchangeable-lens camera for anyone looking to graduate from a point-and-shoot.

What the NX Mini lacks in specs, it makes up with features today's average Joe and Jane care for: a stylish design, 180-degree flip-up touchscreen and Wi-Fi (even if it's not the best implementation). The fusion of select features in "Self Shot" mode also contribute to making the selfie-taking process more entertaining and intuitive.

All told, the NX Mini is pretty affordable at $449 (with 9mm lens) and $549 (with 9-27mm lens). And it's available in five different colors: black, white, brown, pink and mint.

Samsung NX Mini

The Good

Awesome Self Shot selfie mode • Super small and light • Flip-up touchscreen with multitouch

The Bad

Ultra plasticky buttons • Too many pointless Smart modes • Half-baked online sharing and Wi-Fi

The Bottom Line

The Samsung NX Mini is a good camera for taking selfies and vlogging — perfect for today's Instagram and YouTube-obsessed generation. Plus, you get Adobe Lightroom 5 (a $145 value) for free.

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Topics: cameras, Gadgets, Mashable Choice, Mobile, photography, reviews, samsung, Samsung NX Mini, Selfie, selfies, Tech

Image: Mashable, Raymond Wong