(Probably) The smallest AF single lens, Samsung NX 30mm F2 Lens Review

(Probably) The smallest AF single lens,

Samsung NX 30mm F2 Lens Review

The most fitting lens of the concept of the NX10

I don’t know if I need any more explanation for the NX 30mm F2 lens having a small size, high quality, and AF. There will be a lot of lenses for the NX cameras, but most of users will still choose this, I think.

(Actually, M.Zuiko Digital 17mm F2.8 is the smallest.)

Appearance of the NX 30mm F2 lens.

Let’s take a look at the appearance of the NX 30mm F2 lens.

It’s a small enough to be hid by a Samsung lens cap.

As you see, there’s no lens distance window, and the lens name and filter caliber (43mm) are written on the side. Because it’s a pancake lens, in order to reduce the size of the lens, there’s no tool for Image Stabilization.

I compared it with the LUMIX G 20mm F1.7 lens. The NX 30mm F2 is a little slimmer. This is the reason I chose the NX10.

It’s the real competitor AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N. Even though it’s a zoom lens, I selected it, because of its great performance. Among all the lenses I have, these 2 lenses NX 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 O.I.S.랑 AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N are comparable to the NX 30mm F2.

NX 30mm F2 Lens mounted

To be honest, I don’t think the NX10 has a good design, but with the NX 30mm F2 lens, it’s quite a good match. One of my friends who saw the NX 30mm F2 lens mounted on the NX10 even said ‘The design of the NX10 is appropriate for the lens’ to me. Personally, there’s no problem at all, if the design of the NX10 was more like a compact camera.

When I got the Panasonic LUMIX DMC-GF1, I didn’t think I needed to prepare the 2 lenses, so I only took the appearance. The design is different depending on people, but personally, I preferred the GF1 with the 20mm F1.7 mounted.

It’s not quite comparable in the appearance,, but I think the combination of these 2 is quite good. The combination of the D3 and AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N is used for a main, and the combination of the NX10 and NX 30mm F2 is used for movie recording or snap shots.

I actually used the D3 with the NIKKOR 200mm F2G Super ED VR mounted and took snap shots or a move with the NX10 with the NX 30mm F2 mounted. It’s light enough to have 2 bodies.

NX 30mm F2 vs. AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N – Comparison of Resolution

This might be unreasonable, but I try to compare the central resolution of the NX 30mm F2 lens with the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N. Although it’s a standard zoom lens, but it’s known for its great performance with the Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM lens, so I try to compare to find out the performance of the NX 30mm F2 lens and other NX lenses released later. Let’s start with the appearance.

As an expensive lens keeping F2.8 for all length, it’s incomparably bigger than the 30mm F2. Let’s see them mounted.

The difference looks bigger. The lenses for the above 2 cameras were tested with being mounted. Because the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N is a zoom lens, I adjusted the angle to the 30mm F2 lens mounted on the NX10, and F2.8 is the maximum opening, I started the 30mm F2 lens from F2.

I cropped the blue rectangular part from the original image, and put the 30mm F2 on the left, and AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N on the right. Here is the result.

Looking at the results, we can say the AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G ED N mounted on the D3 shows the better results. Looking at the NX 30mm F2 lens showed almost the same results, the NX10 cares too much about the noise reduction, so it’s kind of indifferent of the details. The performance of the NX 30mm F2 lens is quite great, I think.

Sunstar test of the NX 30mm F2 lens

Let’s test the sunstar of the NX 30mm F2 lens. This test was made without a filter and after fixing on a tripod, I checked the difference of sunstar by aperture.

The red rectangular is the cropped area of light source on the front, and the blue one is the back. Below is the resuls by aperture.

Because it has the odd number of blades, although it’s a single lens, the sunstar doesn’t look so pretty, and is inappropriate for night scenery. It’s because the lens is to show the best quality at the maximum opening, I think.

Sample pictures

Let’s take a look at the sample pictures taken by the NX 30mm F2 lens. Only the NX10 has been released now, so it was mounted on the NX10 and the images are resized without compensation. From portrait shots, you can see depth expression in the maximum opening, and the quality in opening.

Looking forward to essential lens for mirrorless cameras

The NX 30mm F2 Lens with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 17mm F2.8 from Olympus and LUMIX G 20mm F1.7 APSH from Olympus is a lens suggesting the way of the lenses of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.

When it comes to DSLR cameras having flange back, even though the lens is a little bigger, the camera and lens can be well balanced, but mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras need to minimize the size of the lenses. This lens is the most appropriate for this concept. Especially, the NX 30mm F2 lens can be highly graded just by the small size. However, the sunstar not pretty needs to be improved, I think. It has to be considered when designing another pancake lens. (Especially wide angle)

Of course, zoom lenses are important, but I hope other makers manufacturing mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras secure various pancake lenses.

Like Limited lenses from Pentax, I hope mirrorless interchangeable camera lenses seduce users with their cute design and finish the review of the NX 30mm F2 lens.