With the launch of the new NX series of mirror-less cameras it seems there is very little chance now that Samsung will ever re-enter the DSLR market. Samsung UK?s head of digital imaging, Robert King, would not commit to a definite answer on the subject during an interview with Amateur Photographer at CES in Las Vegas today. He repeated that the company was focusing its efforts on developing the NX system and that he could not state that the GX series would not be revisited in the future. It is clear though, as former vice president of Samsung Techwin Byung Woo Lee said when he first broke the news of the NX system to AP in 2008, that Samsung has moved into this new category as it realises that there is no chance of successfully competing against the developed DSLR ranges held by Nikon and Canon. Kim told us ?We will create a new category that we can dominate?. Interestingly SS Park, BJ Kim?s replacement, told AP today that Samsung does not see the NX series as a competitor to the Micro Four Thirds products of Panasonic and Olympus, but that Samsung?s models will broaden the mirror-less micro camera choice.
When asked how the NX range would develop Park said that the company obviously intends to produce more bodies in different forms and of different sensor resolutions, and that some models would appeal to professional users. With this in mind it is obvious that Samsung will have no need of GX DSLRs. Alongside the technology products that Samsung Electric has on show here the idea of an optical viewfinder seems rather old fashioned and inflexible.
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