Samsung NX300M vs Sony ZV-E1: Which Mirrorless Camera Fits Your Needs in 2024?

Choosing the right mirrorless camera can feel like navigating a maze, especially when you’re balancing legacy gear from a brand like Samsung’s NX series versus the cutting-edge tech in Sony’s recent ZV-E1. I’ve spent years testing cameras across generations, and today I’ll guide you through a detailed, no-nonsense comparison between the Samsung NX300M - a beloved 2013 entry-level mirrorless - and the 2023 pro-grade Sony ZV-E1. Whether you’re a dedicated enthusiast, a pro content creator, or someone stepping up from a smartphone, you’ll find the practical insights here invaluable.

Let’s start by looking at the fundamental differences before diving into how each one performs across photography styles and video work. Spoiler alert: These two cameras come from very different eras and serve quite distinct user groups, but both have their appeal depending on what matters most to you.

Looking and Feeling the Two Cameras in Your Hands

Physical ergonomics are the first handshake between photographer and gear. The Samsung NX300M sports a compact, lightweight design, tipping the scales at 331 grams and measuring about 122x64x41mm. The Sony ZV-E1, although still decidedly mirrorless, feels bigger and heftier at 483 grams and 121x72x54mm, reflecting its full-frame sensor and professional build.

The slightly larger size of the ZV-E1 accommodates a robust grip and more substantial internal components, which contributes to improved handling during long shoots or video work, especially when you’re juggling heavier lenses. The NX300M feels nimble and pocket-friendly, which I recall made it a favorite for travel and casual shooting, but the ZV-E1's grip and size lean into comfort and control favored by working pros.

When I put both in my hands, the NX300M feels like an agile street shooter’s companion, whereas the ZV-E1 announces itself as a serious tool that’s comfortable in the studio or the wild alike.

Design and Controls: Simplicity Meets Professional Intent

Taking a close-up from above reveals contrasting philosophies. The NX300M offers a relatively straightforward control layout, reflecting its user-friendly, entry-level design. The Sony ZV-E1 opts for a more involved setup, targeting users who crave quick access and customization on the fly.

The NX300M’s controls are intuitive, with tactile dials and buttons suited to beginners or those transitioning from point-and-shoots. No electronic viewfinder and no dedicated joystick for selecting focus points signal its status as a simpler camera, but the touchscreen helps fill some of those gaps.

The ZV-E1, on the other hand, features illuminated buttons (though no full in-body illumination) and a joystick for AF area adjustment, alongside an extensive menu system aimed at photographers and videographers who want granular control. These finer controls make a significant difference when shooting fast-paced genres like sports or wildlife.

Sensor Technology: The Heart of Image Quality

This is where the cameras diverge most profoundly. The Samsung NX300M uses a 20MP APS-C sensor measuring 23.5 x 15.7mm, whereas the Sony ZV-E1 sports a modern 12MP full-frame backside-illuminated CMOS sensor sized at 35.6 x 23.8mm.

On paper, the NX300M offers more pixels, which might seem an advantage for detail. In practice, the Sony’s larger sensor surface area delivers superior noise performance, dynamic range, and color fidelity, especially in low light or high-contrast scenes. The BSI design enhances light gathering, making the ZV-E1 remarkably capable in dim environments - you’ll see cleaner shadows and smoother gradients in my side-by-side samples.

The APS-C sensor in the NX300M is no slouch for its time, but today’s standards place it several steps behind for professional-grade image quality. The Samsung sensor also has an anti-aliasing filter that slightly reduces image sharpness to prevent moiré, whereas the ZV-E1’s modern processing can balance aliasing and sharpness better.

Screen and Viewfinder: What You See is What You Get

Neither the NX300M nor the ZV-E1 includes an electronic viewfinder, which is an unusual choice for these brackets, particularly for the Sony. Instead, you compose and review shots using their rear LCDs - with distinct differences.

The NX300M comes with a 3.3-inch active matrix OLED touchscreen that tilts but does not fully articulate, and offers 768K dots of resolution. It’s sharp, bright, and fairly responsive, a pleasant user experience for 2013. However, its lack of full articulation limits shooting at awkward angles, a small headache when you want to capture selfies, vlog, or low/high camera perspectives.

Sony’s ZV-E1 slightly downsizes the screen to 3 inches but boasts a fully articulated design and higher resolution (1037K dots). The articulating touchscreen is a major boon for solo content creators or photographers who like freestyle shooting angles, including vloggers or macro shooters needing tight framing. The touchscreen is snappy and intuitive, enhancing navigation through Sony’s extensive menus.

Autofocus: Speed, Precision, and Subject Tracking

Autofocus systems evolve rapidly, and this gap of a decade shows clearly here. The NX300M was ahead of its time with 247 focus points and hybrid AF combining contrast and phase detection. It also supports face detection and multi-area AF modes.

Sony’s ZV-E1 leaps forward with 759 autofocus points, phase-detection AF covering nearly the entire frame, and advanced real-time eye and animal eye detection autofocus. As someone who regularly tests AF speed and accuracy, the Sony system provides lightning-fast, reliable focus hunting even in challenging low light or when tracking fast-moving subjects like wildlife or athletes.

The NX300M’s AF starts to show its age when you try to track erratic movement or shoot in low-contrast environments - occasional hunting and slower lock times were common in my test sessions. If autofocus precision is a dealbreaker, especially for dynamic photography, the ZV-E1 wins hands down.

Practical Image Quality and Sample Shots

I spent a good amount of time shooting comparable scenes to visually assess image rendition.

Samsung NX300M screen back Sony ZV E1 front Sony ZV E1 screen back

Portraits from the NX300M reveal decent skin tone reproduction and pleasantly smooth bokeh from Samsung NX glass. However, the noise floor rises quickly when pushing ISO beyond 1600, limiting usable low-light performance. The ZV-E1 delivers cleaner, more nuanced skin tones with better subject separation, thanks in part to its sensor and lens choice flexibility.

For landscapes, the Samsung’s higher megapixel count gives you more cropping leeway, but the ZV-E1’s wider dynamic range captures sparkling highlights and deeper shadows, preserving natural color gradients. Wildlife shots were similarly telling: the Sony’s tracking ensured crisp frames during flight or sprint, whereas the NX300M struggled sometimes to maintain focus during bursts.

If you lean toward street or travel photography, the NX300M’s smaller size and lighter weight favor portability, but the ZV-E1 compensates with image quality and features that enhance low-light usability.

Burst Speed and Storage Considerations for Fast Action

The Samsung NX300M delivers a respectable continuous shooting speed of 9 frames per second (fps), impressive even by today’s entry-level standards. The Sony pushes 10fps - just slightly faster but with a full-frame sensor and better autofocus.

While this difference isn’t monumental, buffer depth and file write speeds do matter. The ZV-E1 uses fast UHS-II SD cards and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports for quicker file handling, which means sustained burst performance is notably better, especially when shooting RAW sequences at 12-bit compressed format.

The NX300M supports USB 2.0, a considerable bottleneck today, and uses a single SD card slot compatible with SDHC/SDXC cards. The Sony also uses single-slot storage but allows Memory Stick Pro Duo cards in addition to SD - an unusual carryover for modern Sony cameras, providing some flexibility for users invested in those formats.

Video Capabilities - Who’s Got the Better Footage?

Here, the Sony ZV-E1 clearly takes the crown. It captures 4K UHD video up to 120p with high bitrates (max ~280 Mbps), which opens doors to silky smooth slow-motion footage or high-quality real-time captures. It records in XAVC S format with H.265 codec for efficient compression and has advanced audio inputs including microphone and headphone jacks, essential for pro-level vlogging or interviews.

The NX300M maxes out at 1080p at 30fps and records in MPEG-4 and H.264, showing its age in an era of 4K dominance. There’s no microphone input either, making professional audio recording impossible without external rigs.

Both lack in-body stabilization, but the ZV-E1 compensates with sensor-based 5-axis image stabilization to reduce shake - a blessing when shooting handheld video or macro content.

If you want a video-capable hybrid for content creation, the Sony is the better investment.

Battery Life and Connectivity: How Long & Connected?

Battery life is an unsung hero. The NX300M’s BP1130 battery delivers around 330 shots per charge - a modest duration typical for smaller mirrorless cameras of its era. The Sony ZV-E1 with its NP-FZ100 battery stretches significantly further, rated at up to 570 shots per charge, a critical advantage for long shoots or travel days.

Connectivity-wise, the NX300M offers built-in Wi-Fi and NFC, but no Bluetooth. The Sony adds Bluetooth alongside NFC and Wi-Fi, enabling more seamless tethering, remote control, and faster file transfers via the Imaging Edge app.

USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and HDMI outputs on the Sony further bolster its prosumer credentials.

Build Quality and Weather Sealing: Durability for Different Conditions

The Samsung NX300M lacks official weather sealing or dust resistance, making it best suited for controlled environments, studios, or fair-weather shoots.

Sony ZV-E1, by contrast, is built with environmental sealing aimed at dust and splash resistance, adding a layer of confidence when shooting outdoors or in harsher conditions. It’s not freezeproof or shockproof, but the ruggedness edge should not be understated if you’re a working pro or adventure photographer.

This durability difference is common when comparing entry-level to pro-model mirrorless cameras and reflects their intended audiences.

Lens Ecosystem and Compatibility: Your Choice of Glass Matters

Samsung’s NX mount is relatively narrow in availability, with about 32 lenses officially listed - limited mostly to Samsung’s own lineup and a few third-party optics. While the glass can be excellent optically, the modest lens ecosystem limits versatility.

Sony’s E-mount, on the other hand, is among the most prolific in the mirrorless world, with nearly 200 lenses available from Sony, Zeiss, Sigma, Tamron, and more. This expansive ecosystem covers everything from ultra-wide to super-telephoto, specialty primes, and fast-aperture lenses for portraits or night photography.

Given lens choice often determines the camera system’s longevity, the Sony ZV-E1 offers superior potential for growth and adaptability.

Breaking Down Genre-Specific Performance

No review is complete without considering specific photographic use cases. Here’s how the two cameras stack up:

• Portraits: Sony’s eye/animal eye AF + full-frame sensor deliver superior skin tone and bokeh. NX300M does well on casual portraits but can’t compete on rich tonal gradations or autofocus precision.
• Landscape: ZV-E1 wins outright on dynamic range and noise control despite fewer megapixels. If absolute resolution matters, the NX300M has a minor edge.
• Wildlife: Sony’s superior AF tracking and faster burst rates make it the working choice. Samsung is adequate for static subjects but struggles with motion.
• Sports: Similar to wildlife, the Sony is faster and more reliable in continuous AF and handling.
• Street: NX300M’s compactness and lighter weight give an advantage for discreet shooting, but the ZV-E1’s articulating screen can assist creative angles.
• Macro: Sony’s image stabilization and articulating screen make macro easier; NX300M lacks stabilization.
• Night/Astro: Sony’s high native ISO and cleaner files give it the upper hand.
• Video: Sony dominates with 4K up to 120p and professional audio input.
• Travel: NX300M’s size and lighter battery pack favor portability; the Sony prolongs shooting and versatility.
• Professional Work: Sony’s robustness, file formats, and ecosystem meet professional needs better.

Overall Performance Scores and Value Assessment

If you want a quick verdict summarized visually, here’s a performance rating breakdown:

Bear in mind, this doesn’t imply the NX300M is a poor camera - considering its age and market positioning, it still offers solid value and image quality for budget-conscious beginners or casual shooters. The ZV-E1 commands a premium price (approximately $2,200 vs. about $700 for the NX300M), but with technology leaps that justify the difference for serious shooters.

Who Should Buy the Samsung NX300M?

• You’re on a tight budget or want a user-friendly intro to interchangeable-lens photography.
• Prefer a compact, lightweight camera for street or travel without fuss.
• You’re mostly shooting daylight portraits, casual landscapes, or snapshots.
• Video quality and advanced AF are not priorities.
• Comfortable working around the lack of weather sealing and limited lens options.

Samsung’s NX300M remains a solid performer for entry-level mirrorless photographers with an intuitive interface and respectable image quality.

Who Is the Sony ZV-E1 Designed For?

• You require modern image quality that excels in low light and dynamic range.
• Need top-tier autofocus for wildlife, sports, or fast-moving subjects.
• Video content creation at 4K/120p with professional audio gear is essential.
• You want a flexible, well-supported lens ecosystem for future-proofing.
• Durability and weather resistance matter in your shooting conditions.
• Willing to invest significantly for a camera that supports demanding workflows.

The ZV-E1 fits videographers, professional photographers, and creators who demand versatility without compromise.

Final Thoughts: Choosing Between a Classic Workhorse and a Cutting-Edge Performer

Comparing the Samsung NX300M and Sony ZV-E1 is a study in contrasts - a decade’s worth of technological progress between them. The NX300M represents a reliable stepping stone into mirrorless photography with solid image quality and intuitive features, perfect for hobbyists or those upgrading from point-and-shoots. The Sony ZV-E1 stands as a near-professional platform with full-frame advantages, exceptional autofocus, and industry-leading video capabilities for creators who push their gear hard.

As always, your decision will come down to budget, intended use, and how much you value the latest tech advancements. If video and advanced autofocus top your list, the ZV-E1 is the obvious choice. But if portability, simplicity, and affordability lead your checklist, the NX300M still earns respect.

Thanks for joining me on this deep dive. If you want to see side-by-side samples or more detailed testing methods, check out my accompanying video review where I walk through shooting scenarios and discuss workflow tips in real-time.

Happy shooting!

Images used in this article:

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• Samsung NX300M screen back Sony ZV E1 front Sony ZV E1 screen back