I recently purchased a new Samsung NX300 Mirrorless Camera and have fallen in love…I wanted to tell you all about it! This camera is the perfect travel companion!
You all know I love to take pictures, right? I mean, if you follow my Instagram account it’s pretty obvious that I can be a bit of an Instaho sometimes. What can I say? I love capturing memories “on film”…and I have for as long as I can remember!
When the iPhones came out with their great cameras, it made it even easier for me to capture moments. The only problem was, my big, wonderful Nikon DSLR was feeling a bit lonely. Sure, I would always use it for food and work photography, but when it came to taking it on the road with me or out of the house, it just became too big and bulky and my iPhone would come along instead.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my Nikon with all my heart…but realistically to take it along when I traveled was tough. It’s big and expensive… I was always nervous about it getting damaged when I traveled, so would just keep it safely at home.
So. when I went on the hunt for a smaller camera….something more sophisticated and higher quality than a point and shoot… I was so glad I came across this post by TidyMom about her Samsung NX300 Mirrorless Camera. After looking at the amazing quality of pictures on Cheryl’s blog post, I knew this camera was the one for me! You guys… I love this camera so much! I never thought I’d say that about a non-DSLR camera, but I just can’t get over how small it is, yet how packed to the brim it is with features. I’m not being paid to tell you this either… I paid for this camera myself and I absolutely love everything about it.
The Samsung NX300 camera is the camera I used to take all of my photos on the Princess Cruise I recently went on. Have you checked out those blog posts? Would you ever guess that those pictures weren’t from my “big girl” camera? Me neither! This camera delivers such high quality photos, I never once missed having my big camera with me. And I took so many more pictures because my Samsung NX300 is so portable and would fit right in my purse.
Below are some more pictures I took while traveling on the Regal Princess with Princess Cruise Lines, along with some of the things I absolutely love about my Samsung NX 300 mirrorless camera.
Great action shots were easy to come by using the “continuous burst” mode. It made capturing the planes coming in over “Airplane Beach” in St. Maarten super easy! (PS…that’s a very fun, although kind of odd thing to do if you are ever in St. Maarten!).
The colors in the Caribbean are incredible, there’s no doubt about that. I was so impressed with the fact that this camera didn’t lose any of that…the images came out clear, sharp and full of gorgeous color! And these pictures above were taken on Auto mode…so I didn’t have to do any thinking at all! The Samsung NX300 can shoot RAW files and you can also shoot manually with it, easily adjusting your ISO, exposure and aperture as you wish, but while I was living the Island life on Princess Cays and in St Maarten, I wanted to go the easy route and shoot on Auto.
I think one of my favorite things about the Samsung NX300 is that it produces the best low light / night photos. That’s something I have yet to master with my DSLR. I’ve had so much fun experimenting with the different settings on this camera, but my favorite to play with has been night mode. (PS… do you see my future home up there? I think the Kismet and I are meant to be together!)
I feel like the sharpness of the images from this camera are way better than I would ever expect from a camera in this price range. However, with 20.3 megapixels, it’s a camera that I would put up against almost any DSLR when it comes to sharpness and clarity in the final images! (Say hi to Deb, Julie and Brandy!)
Oh, and something really cool about this camera is it can sync wirelessly to your smart phone or tablet through the Samsung camera app! Since I took the pictures above with my Samsung, in just a matter of a minute, I could text the picture out, instagram it, or share it other ways! So cool, right?
For a food photographer, I don’t take a lot of pictures of the food I eat when I’m out… the only reason for that is because the lighting in restaurants and things isn’t all that great. That’s about to change because this camera takes amazing food pictures in not so great lighting situations. It’s discreet enough too in size that I can pull it out at a table without making it too obvious. (PS – The Norman Love Chocolate Journey dessert above was to die for!)
If you are in the market for a new, mid-priced camera, I can’t recommend the Samsung NX300 Mirrorless Camera enough. My camera came with the 18-55 lens, but Amazon has different packages with different lenses as well. If you want to see some other examples of beautiful travel photos taken with this camera, make sure to check out my friend Katrina’s Princess Cruise blog posts. She used the Samsung “Pancake” lens for most of her photos and they turned out so beautifully!
Just a couple more points… the Samsung NX300 has a touch screen, with multiple auto focus points. You just tap the screen where you want it to focus and it does it automatically. It also takes fantastic videos – and has an awesome “freeze frame” video where you can turn pieces of a video into a still shot. If you saw any of my Instagram images from the Maroon 5 concert I went to, many of those were “freeze frame” from video! It’s a really cool feature!
You can find more information about my new, favorite Samsung NX300 mirrorless camera HERE on Amazon – or feel free to shoot me your questions. I can’t recommend it enough!
Disclosure: I was so honored to be a guest of Princess Cruise Lines on a recent 7-day Caribbean Cruise. All opinions expressed are my own. In addition, this blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Oh my gosh, my husband is going to kill me, but I’ve been wanting a third camera that is not the dslr and not the iPhone. This might be it!! Gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing Kristen!
I have the cheaper one that I would say would be wonderful I love mine http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-WB350F-16-3MP-Digital-Optical/dp/B00HV6KK0G/ref=sr_1_2?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1430478977&sr=1-2
One of the things that makes this camera more expensive is the mirrorless technology. It has the same capabilities as a DSLR without the bulk. Also the ability to change lenses out is huge if you are looking for something as a replacement for a DSLR. It’s a little more than a point and shoot, a little less than a standard DSLR 🙂
I know much nicer than mine. 🙂 One day I’ll have that kind of awesome camera.
I love this camera so much, Melanie. It’s perfect for what you are looking for!
I have the way cheaper version of the Samsung wifi smart camera and it takes excellent pictures also. However I use my ipod more, but it is light weight and small so it comes with me everywhere also. (well until I lost the charger cord, I need to buy a replacement)
I’m so thrilled you were so happy with that camera!! and now, you are making me want to go back to the Caribbean. Seriously, I’m in love with how elegant the Regal Princess looks!! Thanks for sharing all your beautiful photos Kristen!! See you in a few hours!! 😉
I keep meaning to text you everytime I use it to tell you how much I love it!! It’s such a great camera! Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks so much for sharing this post! I’ve been looking into cameras to expand my food photography for my website and love using my iPhone because it’s so convenient. Yet I realize dslr’s higher shooting capabilities. So this might be the perfect match! As I decide, can I ask why you didn’t go with the newer NX 3000 version? (Noticed it on Amazon)thanks for your insight!
Jen
Hi Jen! The NX500 us actually the newest version and it wasn’t out when I bought mine or I probably would have gotten it (although I love this one, so am not regretting that decision at all!)
My friend Katrina accidentally ordered the NX3000 and wasn’t as thrilled with it as the NX300 when we were comparing notes. She ended up returning it for the NX300 (It didn’t have the touchscreen – which is awesome – and was harder to change settings, etc).
I love love love this camera!
Thanks Kristen for your quick reply! I went camera shopping this past weekend and ended up with a Sony A6000, I can’t wait to use it!
Thanks again for your insight – it was so helpful!
Do you miss not having a view finder?
I’ve been looking at getting a new point and shoot. Mine is from 2007.
I use my iPhone 5 for on the go photos but honestly I don’t love the quality especially in low light.
I super love my Canon 5D but it’s not convenient to take everywhere.
I am impressed with the bokeh in your photos as well as how crisp your low light photos are.
So the lack of view finder was the hardest thing for me to get used to – but I don’t miss it now. I’ve totally gotten used to it!
Hi Kristen. I am looking to replace my very old DSLR, but don’t want another bulky camera. Would you recommend using the Samsung to take food photos for a blog?
You totally could – the quality of the images is so good.
I’ve been thinking about getting a smaller camera to lug around on travel and just every day excursions. My big lens is so heavy that I just leave it at home.
Woo hoo! Just bought this camera! I can’t wait to use it 🙂
Thank you for pointing this post to me, Kristen. I have read so many reviews and articles about DSLR vs mirrorless, but reading it from somebody I “know” and been following for many years gives me a completely different perspective. As always, beautiful photography!
I sent my hubby your post, and for my birthday earlier this month he bought me this camera! Thank you for the recommendation, it will really help with travel photography, as I learned on a recent trip – lugging around my DSLR is just not going to happen anymore lol.
The one question I have for you, is have you ever had any trouble getting it to focus? I don’t know why, but 3/4 of the test pictures I took are totally blurry! I’d love to know if you ever encountered that? Or perhaps there’s a setting somewhere I don’t know about?
Hi all – I just wanted to report back. Kristen was kind enough to email a few friends and ask about the issue I was having (the camera wasn’t focusing on images and so they would be blurry). I did all the recommendations and now it is focusing and working SUPER good – it’s such a beautiful and amazing camera (perfect for traveling and not having to take your DSLR!!)
Here is what I did when my camera wasn’t focusing:
1-formatted the memory card in the camera (googled how to do that through the camera settings – it will erase all the images on your card, so be sure to remove any images before doing this)
2-make sure it is set to ‘AF’ on the lens
3-update the firmware – both the camera AND the lens had updates (here is the article I used http://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-nx300-firmware-update,news-18783.html)
Thank you again for telling me about this awesome camera Kristen!!!