Samsung GX-20

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Software/Image Quality

Samsung Raw Converter 2.0's interface looks similar to Apple's Aperture.
(click for larger image)

For professional photographers, Samsung has included its own RAW image-processing software--Samsung RAW converter 2.0--together with the camera. Installing it was a breeze on our workstations, although it did hang the first time we started the program.

The interface looks similar to Apple's Aperture (also an image-editing program/RAW converter for Mac machines), with the most commonly used functions located at the left and top of the screen. There are several preset modes which we found interesting, one of which is the Nostalgic Toy Camera picture-style setting. By clicking on it, your image will look like it was taken by the Russian 35mm Lomo camera.

Processing RAW files to TIFF was a speedy affair, and we had the liberty of testing the image quality of the GX-20 with Samsung's D-Xenogon 35mm F2 lens. While images looked clean at ISO 100 and 200, anything at ISO 400 and beyond had a fair amount of noise. At ISO 3,200, digital artifacts appeared prominently all over the picture.

ISO 200

ISO 400

ISO 800

ISO 1,600

ISO 3,200

Conclusion

Samsung has gotten its formula almost right with the GX-20. However, one factor that puts the Korean company at a disadvantage is the sparse number of lenses and accessories available compared with other manufacturers. But it's clearly not slowing down, promising to announce the successor to the GX-20 and six more optics at Photokina in Germany later this year.

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