One of the most exciting recent innovations in the digital camera market has been the arrival of the Micro Four Thirds cameras that have been designed as the ideal bridge between ordinary compacts and DSLRs. Up until now, Panasonic's G-series and Olympus's revamped PEN cameras have led the way in this area, but now Samsung is muscling into this territory with the NX10, using its own customised system.

What distinguishes this particular genre are the interchangeable lenses, electronic viewfinders and lack of mirrors to create the final image. The aim is to reproduce all the easy portability and user friendliness of a compact while offering the serious photographer the performance and range of choice of a DSLR.

The NX10 certainly has the appearance of a DSLR with its solid build and chunky right grip, plus an impressive array of dials and control buttons. However, it's not as heavy as the regular DSLRs (just 353g without battery and memory card), the viewfinder is not optical like a DSLR and, if you opt for the 30mm pancake lens, kit then you can still think of it as relatively compact.

On the other hand, if you go for the alternative 18-55mm lens or the 50-200mm telephoto there's no way you will be putting this camera unobtrusively in your bag. Samsung has enough faith in its proprietary NX-mount lens system that it is bringing a further five lenses out later this year. Each lens has its own Optical Image Stabilisation built in rather than being native to the camera, but with the basic kit being less than £600 (and recent net prices have heavily discounted this as low as £449), the NX10 is a lot cheaper than its rivals.

The other main difference from the Olympus and Panasonic models is the use of a 14.6-megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor which produces sharp and rich images that can be viewed either via the electronic viewfinder (EVF) or the 3-inch, 1000:1 contrast ratio AMOLED LCD screen, which performs much better in bright conditions. A particular detail we admired, often found on more expensive cameras, was the way the LCD switched off when we put our eye to the EVF, as well as the side panel for the SD card; much better than the usual squeeze in next to the battery underneath.

Despite the menu button being positioned in isolation on the top left, the menus themselves are bright, clear and easy to scroll through, while the mode dial beside the EVF includes a Smart Auto setting for those amateurs not confident enough to investigate the customizable P-A-S-M settings. In addition, there's a Smart Range option that emphasizes detail in strongly contrasting areas of light and shade, and a dust removal capability that literally shakes any dust off the lens supersonically.

As you might expect, you can shoot HD movies at 1280 x 720 resolution in H.264 format (16:9) as well as 640 x 480 and 320 x 240 in 4:3 ratio, and then view the results on your HD TV via the HDMI port on the side. Unlike the Olympus PEN cameras, there's also a built-in flash as well as a separate hotshoe, and the auto-focus is exceptionally fast.

Verdict
If manufacturers of existing Micro Four Thirds cameras thought they had cornered the hybrid market, they'll now have to accept that there's a new player on the block with this new camera from Samsung that offers excellent value for money and superb quality images.

Company: Samsung

Contact: 0845 726 7864

Tags: olympus pen digital single-lens reflex camera micro four thirds system digital camera electronic viewfinder liquid crystal display active pixel sensor camera