New York City is famous for many, many things, among them the Rockettes’ Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall—a show I hadn’t seen since I was a little girl. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity offered by Samsung to be part of a small group of photographers and journalists with special access to capture the high kicks and fancy footwork of the dancers with the new Samsung NX1 mirrorless camera.

Tech editor Greg Scoblete has a full review of the NX1 in the March issue of Photo District News but I wanted to give you a sneak peek before the review appears. Granted, I only shot with the NX1 for an hour or so but given the challenging conditions of shooting from the far side of the house, with ever-changing stage lighting and a large group of dancers, I got a good feel for how this camera performs.

I hadn’t used the NX1 before, but it took only a few minutes to set up and once the curtain lifted, I didn’t stop shooting until after the fourth act when we had to return to our seats. I shot RAW + fine JPEG, on manual exposure averaging 1/400^th second shutter speed and aperture settings ranging from about f/2.8-f/4.0 at ISO 800. Because we were positioned a fair distance from the stage, I opted for the Samsung NX f/2.8, 50-150mm lens rather than the kit 16-50mm power zoom lens.

Even with the zoom lens, the NX1 is comfortable to hold for long periods of time. Most controls were conveniently located and it was easy to adjust manual exposure settings with the camera’s forward and rear thumbwheels so operation was smooth and intuitive once I got a feel for the buttons and dials.

What’s really impressive about the NX1, though, is its AF tracking. Regardless of where—and how fast—the dancers moved, autofocus followed swiftly and smoothly. Multiple AF points covered a large part of the frame and, like the dancers, moved in perfect sync. While not all images were perfectly focused, the number of hits were surprisingly high thanks to the NX1’s 205 phase detection points and 153 cross-type sensor points.

The NX1 is fast, too. Samsung claims up to 15fps full resolution shots per second with AF and while I didn’t keep track of the speed, I don’t think the camera reached its peak since it was equipped with a Micro SD card in an SD adapter. I should have swapped out the card for a fast SDXC for faster results. However, I was able to shoot about 20 RAW + Fine JPEGs (or more) in a single burst before the camera slowed. On a couple of occasions, I had to wait until the camera finished writing to the card before I could shoot again. I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened had a fast card been used. Nevertheless, I have plenty of continuous sequences that can easily be turned into a timelapse.

Again, keep in mind this is just a sneak peek and you’ll find much more information in Greg Scoblete’s full review in PDN. However, even in the brief time I used the camera, I was impressed with its superfast AF tracking and burst modes, as well as its image quality. The NX1 also offers 4k video, Wi-Fi and a host of other features that make it a strong contender for professionals and enthusiasts who are looking for a highly capable mirrorless camera.

Price: $2,800 with 16-50mm lens

www.samsung.com