Apart from the German Leica – whose cases are too expensive and exclusive to appear in this competition, Samsung is the only non-Japanese major player in the world of digital photography. Attached to the electronics division of the Korean Samsung, the photographic branch of Samsung finds its DNA in a military branch of the conglomerate.
If the brand has made its first arms in the field of interchangeable lenses in partnership with Pentax, it is now only that the Korean advances with its NX range.
The lens segment is not very rich and most zooms are mediocre-apart from the wide-angle zoom. Samsung, however, saves a bit of the game with good quality fixed lenses: the kit of any NX photographer must include the 20 mm, 30 mm and 45 mm, so their quality/price ratio is good.
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Best Samsung Camera Lenses
Compatible Devices: Samsung Nx10, Nx5, Nx100, NX11, NX200, NX20, NX210, NX1000, NX30, NX300, Nx1100, NX2000, Galaxy NX
1. Samsung NX 18-200 mm f/3.5-6.3 OIS
A little heavy ($649) and not particularly bright, this lens is the only one available in its kind at Samsung.
2. Samsung NX 50-200 mm f/4-5.6 OIS
Here again, this telephoto zoom is the only one available for the NX range. It’s not a luxury lens, but it’s all there is.
3. Samsung NX 12-24 mm f/4-5.6 OIS
If this wide angle is the only zoom of its kind available it is, unlike other optics, of very good quality. The Pique is good, the construction impeccable and the AF pretty good. One of the best lenses of the whole Samsung lens range.
4. Samsung NX 16 mm f/2.4
Not very pricey, this 24 mm equivalent is however very light, bright enough and inexpensive. It will be necessary to close the diaphragm well in broad daylight in order to limit the many optical defects (chromatic aberrations and distortion) of this small pebble.
5. Samsung NX 60 mm f/2.8 Macro and OIS SSA
Just like the 12-24 mm, the 60 mm is the only lens of its kind, but turns out to be of good quality. The rendering of the images is frankly not bad; nice colors, nice bokeh and excellent Pique from f/5.6.
6. Samsung NX Premium s 16-50 mm f / 2-2. 8 ED OIS
First extra-bright high-end zoom (f/2-2.8) is the reference zoom on the NX system. Well stabilized, spiked and very well built, it offers the same focal range as the traditional 24-70 mm zoom of full-format SLRs. Its price is high, but this is the report zoom.
7. Samsung NX 20 mm f/2.8
This moderate wide angle (30 mm in 24×36 equivalent) is, like its brother the 30 mm, at the same time light, space-saving and cheap. If it is not so pricked, it is however one of the three major lenses on NX Mount.
8. Samsung NX 30 mm f/2
The optics to have on an NX. Light (85 gm), very compact (2.2 cm thick) and offering a very good definition, it is a lens of choice for reporting and indoor & low light photos. And since it is not too expensive (295 dollars), you have no excuses.
9. Samsung NX 45 mm f/1.8 2D IF
To perfect your fixed focal length kit, the 45 mm is a lens of choice: equivalent to an 81 mm, it is light and bright and delivers shots of a beautiful softness. If it is less efficient than the 85 mm f/1.4 (sharper, more precise, brighter), it is not only much cheaper – $350 against more than $700 to $800 for the 85 mm. But also, much less heavy. And since the Samsung cases are rather light, only the 45 mm turns out to be balanced, the “true” 85 mm unbalancing far too much the case.
