With all the pre-PMA announcements that Samsung made in the last few weeks I wondered if they had anything left in the tank. While it’s not a production ready model, the NX Series hybrid looks interesting, but it’s a still a hybrid and I don’t think they’re any better than a point and shoot. However, I won’t pass judgment until I’ve taken this one for a ride.
The hype over this hybrid is the APC-S sensor that is found in DSLRs sans mirror box. Because of the exclusion of the mirror box, the NX has an electronic viewfinder that Samsung says is “ultra-precise.” The distance between the lens and sensor on the NX is approximately 60 percent closer than that of a DSLR. The first NX Series model will be out in the second half of this year.
Samsung Digital Imaging’s CEO Sang-jin Park had a pretty interesting quote in the press release about hybrid market share.
“We estimate that the hybrid digital camera market will be over 20% of the global digital still camera market by 2012,” said Sang-jin Park, CEO of Samsung Digital Imaging Company. “With the release of the NX Series, a digital camera that combines the strengths of a DSLR and compact digital camera, Samsung Digital Imaging will become a global leader in the new hybrid digital camera market and achieve the company’s goal to become the global leader in the digital camera market by 2012.”
I don’t see Samsung taking over the world by 2012, but the estimate about hybrids being 20% of the market is pretty astounding and maybe a little laughable. But you never know. People want small cameras to put in their back pocket or purse. That will never change and most aren’t pedantic enough to care about actual image quality so long as everything isn’t blurred, etc.
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