Review and photographs by Miss Moss, a Cape Town-based blogger.
First of all I have to preface this review by saying that I am not a professional photographer, but certainly a photo enthusiast. I like taking nice pictures, and I like editing and sharing them – quickly.
As a blogger the nature of my day-to-day photo taking usually involves my iPhone, doing a quick edit with VSCO and sharing it online. I love social media, and have always been very active on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. The iPhone can only get you so far – and I have wanted to get a real camera that easily fit in my handbag, allows me the ease of use of a smart phone, and that has the functionality & flexibility of a DSLR for a variety of uses.
So when my husband and I decided to go on a spontaneous road trip from Durban to Cape Town, I got to review the Samsung NX300 for Orms in order to document our 1800km journey.
testing out the Samsung NX300 thanks to @OrmsDirect. such a rad camera. will be snapping our road trip #missmossxorms pic.twitter.com/LfJ6c2Ggmt
— Diana Moss (@miss_moss) June 27, 2014
This little camera kind of hit the sweet spot for me: it’s small (and so light!), good looking, can be used with a variety of lenses and – this was the clincher – it can upload your photos directly to any of your devices using the built-in wi-fi. You can also share images to social media platforms if you connect to an Internet ready wi-fi network, but I prefer editing the photos on my iPad first.
Like any tech-savvy person who thinks they know better, I didn’t even bother reading the manual before using the camera. But I very quickly figured out how to use the connectivity features. The images upload quickly, I could select and upload 30 odd shots within a matter of minutes.
Overall I’m impressed with the image quality. I occasionally doubted the images when I looked at them on the camera’s small screen but once I had them on my Macbook, which has a retina screen, I was amazed by the detail that it managed to capture.
The price is also nice, not as expensive as the other high-end mirrorless cameras on the market – so you can start off with the body and a pretty basic lens (I used the 18-55mm kit lens), then add to your collection as you go.
I would definitely recommend the Samsung NX300 as a budget-friendly alternative to your smartphone, if you’re into travel photography or as a second-shooter if you don’t want to tote your bulky DSLR around all day long.
Here's a selection of photos taken using the Samsung NX300 during the road trip:
