Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

DO YOU… -have a DSLR but hate to carry it around on vacation? -like to share photos immediately and therefore take them on your camera phone? -want high image quality, along with portability and a way to easily share the photos? If so, then a compact interchangeable lens camera might be for you. I found the Samsung NX3000 to be a great option. With an upcoming vacation to Italy planned, I began looking for a new camera (under $500) with wifi. I ran across these interchangeable lens cameras, and thought this would be the perfect solution for a compact camera, with a DSLR quality lens. I did a lot of research and was down to the Sony a5000 or the Samsung NX3000. If I had a larger budget, then I would have purchased the Sony a6000. I went with the Samsung. It had all the features I wanted, great reviews, and the day I was buying it, Amazon lowered the price and it was such a steal to pass up. I believe for the $400-500 price range, you can’t go wrong with the Samsung NX3000 (or the Sony a5000), but do spend the extra money on the 16-50mm lens. After using the camera for over 7 days and 1000 pictures, I am satisfied with my purchase. Here are a few of the pros and cons. • SIZE – though it’s bigger than a point & shoot (mainly due to the lens) and won’t fit in your pocket easily, I was able to carry this everywhere with me either in my jacket pocket or around my neck. It fit nicely under my coat. • FLASH - I was initially concerned with the lack of an integrated flash. As it turns out, the low light photos were so good, that I never once used the flash or carried it with me. • AUTO MODE - The auto mode worked well for the majority of pictures, and the ability to select specific modes like macro and low light were useful. There were a few family photos where it whitened out the background when I wanted it sharp. I should have changed the auto mode, but didn't realize until after someone else had taken the photos. • MANUAL MODE - Though I'm not an expert at shooting in manual mode, I do know the basics. Once I spent some time figuring out the settings, I was able to set the camera and switch the settings easily. Everything I could set on my entry level DSLR was available on the NX3000. • WIFI - The wifi connectivity worked great. You click the wifi button on the camera and open the wifi settings on your phone and then they will pair. Next, open the Samsung app on the phone. On the camera you can chose whether you want to select the photos to transfer using the camera or the phone. I liked looking at them on the camera. I would go through each photo, marking the ones I wanted to transfer, then press a button and they would download to my phone. During the trip, my iPhone stayed put away and I took all photos on the camera, then transferred those I wanted to immediately share each evening. • VIDEOS - One of the biggest negatives of this camera is the movie mode. If you are panning around an area, the camera will try to refocus during the filming. This results in a blur and then a focus in the video. This was disappointing. My point and shoot and iPhone don’t do that. I don’t know if there is a way to stop it from refocusing. If video is a priority for you, then I would not select this camera. Overall, I liked the size of the camera, the image quality, and the ease of use. I spent way too much time researching camera options. The bottom line is that if you are in the market for something under $500 that is an upgrade from a point and shoot but don’t want the bulk of a DSLR, this is a great option!