Samsung NX500 review

Samsung puts the power of its flagship NX1 compact system camera into a smaller body

Samsung NX500
Samsung's newest CSC has amazing specs appeal

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Dynamic range is the camera's ability to capture extremes of brightness. You see this on overcast days, when some cameras fail to capture detail across the whole sky and record some areas as a blank white, for example.

We test cameras scientifically using DxO Analyzer hardware and test processes, and here are the results from our four cameras.

Dynamic range test

Samsung NX500 dynamic range chart

JPEG dynamic range analysis: At the low to mid-range sensitivity settings the NX500 produces JPEGs with a wide range of tones. Again, its performance dips steeply at ISO 1,600. Its rivals deliver better dynamic range it higher ISOs.

Samsung NX500 dynamic range chart

Raw dynamic range analysis: Up to and including ISO 1,600 the NX500 produces raw files (after conversion to TIFF) that have an impressive dynamic range, indicating that images have a wide range of tones and there's good scope for post-capture contrast and brightness adjustment. At higher ISOs than this the dynamic range falls away, but it's the same for its rivals.