Andi Campbell-Jones is a UK-based photographer who has a varied portfolio, but he also loves landscape photography and has captured / created some stunning photographs. What’s his connection with Tizen I hear you say? Well, most of his recent work has been taken with the Samsung NX1, and after seeing his creativity in action, I knew we had to Interview this guy. There are links at the bottom of the page that take you to Andi’s website, FlickR account and Facebook. I highly recommend you check them out. Now onto the Interview ……
“Be it Long Exposure, Photo Art, Black and White, Seascapes, Urban, or HDR, hopefully you will really see his passion in his work and enjoy it as much as he does”
Interview
What is your background as a photographer?
I only really started getting seriously interested in photography two and a half years ago. This was when I bought my first ‘proper’ interchangeable lens camera. Since then I have been on a huge learning curve, and can only assume I am doing ok as I seem to get some good feedback on my work. My passion is landscape photography, I also enjoy the gritty industrial cityscape stuff too. As much as being able to take a good photo is important, I also like to edit my work to create something unique. I will often take a picture with the post processing already worked out in my mind.
How long have you owned a NX1 and what cameras did you have before that?
My first, as I like to call it ‘proper’ camera was the excellent Samsung NX1000 smart camera. It was an excellent introduction into photography for me and I loved what this little budget camera could do. Personally though I had outgrown the NX1000 and was starting to research a new camera when the NX1 was announced. I then pre-ordered the NX1 so I could have it at launch! It was after I had pre-ordered the NX1 that I was contacted by Samsung to be one of their ‘Imageloggers’. This is a program Samsung run worldwide in which they provide the selected photographers with a camera, in return the photographer supplies images, and blog posts, etc. I was very flattered to be chosen for this, and the camera they supplied my with was the NX1.
What Initially attracted you to the NX1?
There were a few things that made me pre-order the NX1, I had already experienced a Samsung Smart Camera and was impressed with it, and then the specs of the NX1 looked very good, especially the new sensor tech. I had seriously considered going to a Full Frame camera but the NX1’s potential was something I could not ignore. I guess I also liked the fact that all my lenses and accessories would work with the NX1.
Do you use any of the Smart Camera features i.e. Sharing pics etc
Yes I do, I often link the camera up to my Samsung Android Tablet and edit pictures on the fly. Samsung have also developed some great apps that allow remote control of the camera. As I mostly work in RAW though the majority of my stuff is just transferred to the PC and Lightroom for editing. The ability to email and share images though when out on location is excellent. I used this on a recent trip to the Isle of Skye to edit and post pictures on social media.
What are your thoughts on it now?
It just keeps on getting better and better, Samsung seem to be updating the firmware at an impressive rate and fixing the issues or making improvements. Unlike my NX1000 which I outgrew its abilities, the NX1 is everything I need in a camera. Hopefully my work speaks for itself and people will also see the improvements in it? Don’t get me wrong, you can take a good or great picture with any camera, it is after all only a tool. However as anyone knows the better the tool, the better the results you will get. It’s not just the extra capabilities, it’s also the fact that it pushes you, the person behind the lens, to work that bit harder too.
If you had to pick one thing you really like about the NX1 what would it be!
One thing? That is hard, but I think it has to be the cameras ability to catch huge amounts of data/information when shooting in RAW mode. The dynamic range is very impressive, especially in the details the camera captures in the darkest areas of an image. A tip from me is to try and expose your shot for the brightest part of an image, as you will be able to recover the details in post processing of the shadowed areas. See example below.
Where can people see your NX1 pictures?
If people are interested in seeing my work the they can head over to my website andicampbelljones.com, from there they will find links to all my ways of sharing my work as well as some more tips and thoughts on this camera.
What features would you like Samsung to Introduce to this model?
There are only a couple things I would like to see added. The ability to adjust the zoom area when manually focusing, its currently fixed to the centre only. The next is that when you do a firmware update that it backed up your settings. Samsung have added the ability to upgrade the firmware via WiFi which is so convenient, and although using the menu systems is so easy on the camera, it would be nice not to have to set them all up again each time. Neither of these are deal breakers though, just would be nice.
And finally, apart from the NX1 what else is in your kit bag?
Well I have a selection of NX Lenses, the NX 12-24mm, NX 16-50mm S f2-2.8, NX 50-200mm, and the 45mm f1.8. I also use the Lee Sev5n filter system, so I have a selection of these, be it ND or Grad filters. The all important tripod, mine is a Manfotto BeFree, and of course multiple fast memory cards. All this fits well in my Hama Katoomba 190RL Camera Sling Bag.
I thank Andi for his time in taking part in this Interview and I look forward to seeing what else he creates in the near future.
Reference Links
Website: andicampbelljones.com
Flickr: flickr.com/photos/andi-cj/
Facebook: facebook.com/AndiCJPhotography
