Samsung The 30mm is just a great lens

I thought that it would be pretty difficult for anyone to make a better pancake lens than the Panasonic 20mm f1.7, but I think that Samsung probably has. The reason why I would give the nod to the Samsung is that it has more character to the out-of-focus areas than the Panasonic (which tends to be a bit clinical). Both are very sharp lenses, and again the Samsung impresses by maintaining sharpness across a larger image circle.
 
In my opinion, the Samsung 30/2 is probably the best lens for a mirrorless camera out there so far; it's very compact, making the camera jacket pocketable (it's smaller than the Pana 20 while covering a larger image circle), it has a very useful "normal" focal length, it's fast enough to give some proper shallow DOF, and it's high quality.

Shame the NX system isn't more popular, the lenses in particular deserve to get recognised and the camera's are getting better and better as well.
 
It's better then the panasonic imo because it covers an APS-C sensor instead of micro 4/3 @ 20mp (nx200 in my case)

I had never looked into samsung before but damn, upon reading reviews the 85mm 1.4 is a superb lens and the 60mm macro is a very very good one too
and the upcoming 45mm looks very promising, as does the nx300

I wonder if the 70-400 will ever be made :)

anyway, I took the nx for a small morning walk

(crop)
8457371729_a14c421356_b.png


8458473644_0a85ff322b_b.png



PS, is the nx10 (14.8mp i think ?) and 20mm 2.8 any good ?
I might be able to get a kit with the NX10 + 20mm for 199 euro
 
Hi,

I read several comments here about the out-of-focus area / bohek to be good. I actually like the 30mm, too, but the bokeh is quite harsh and not very nice to look at.
Example:
9651448719_fbca0c1a49_o.jpg
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Torrent Walk von Matt Everglade auf Flickr

Another drawback is the slow AF and the missing iFn button, but I hope we'll see a new revision soon with a better AF and an iFn button. I doubt that the bokeh will improve though.

Matt
 
What does the bokeh look like SOOC? The bokeh in the pic above looks like the processing of the image affected it. Like it sharpened the out of focus stuff just as much as the in focus stuff. The rock in front of the waterfall looks like it was sharpened in post, it looks like it is trying to make a strong line from something that wasn't in focus to begin with. My 30 bokeh is typically pretty pleasing.
I have a Tamron 70-300VC and the bokeh from that can be pretty "busy" and hard. It isn't as smooth as I would like but not terrible. A blur layer can help smooth it out but it isn't as buttery smooth as the 70-200VC by any stretch of the imagination.

I need to play with my processing techniques more. I absolutely LOVE how you process your images. They look 3d and just pop of the page!
 
Good point. The bokeh wasn't good in the original (I generally don't like the 30mm bokeh), but the postprocessing made it even worse (in case of bokeh). I attached the (cropped) original to this post for comparison. I am normally underexposing my images that is the reason why it's so dark. I can restore the shadows much better than the highlights in PP. My sharpening process is quite long as I am doing several "shrink and sharp" steps.

I need to play with my processing techniques more. I absolutely LOVE how you process your images. They look 3d and just pop of the page!
I think I'll write a blog entry on this topic later... :)
 

Attachments

  • SAM_3536-2.jpg
    SAM_3536-2.jpg
    322.5 KB · Views: 176
The results from this lens look amazing. I've just bought myself an NX1100 for use on my quadrotor. It's a light little drone and can handle a ~300g payload which makes my purchase ideal because it's the only sub 200g APS-C camera that I could find. Sony's A2000 comes in a little heavier but their lenses tend to really stack on the weight. I've been interested in this lens and this is the first example images I've seen from it.

Unfortunately, I'm not really an expert on cameras. I get the basics of ISO, f-number etc. but I don't quite know what pancake lens would be best suited. The stock lens (20-50mm II f3.5-5.6) is a bit on the heavy side but quite utilitarian. I'm filming landscapes and scenery mostly ... quadrotors aren't exactly ideal for portraiture.

Would a pancake be good for video at night at range, assuming I want a large frame ... a wide angle.

Do I have to manually focus this lens?

What is the difference (other than f-number) between this and the 16 & 20mm pancake?
 
Thanks Matt!

The problem I'm having when making this decision is I'm trying to balance a requirement for good night shooting (including video), which is what makes the 30mm look so attractive. Short of making a decision for me, if the lens needs to be lightweight and good for night time video with a tertiary objective of wide angle, what would you recommend?
 
That seems to be a really complex decision...

Just some thoughts:
- Why do you think is the 30mm better than the 16mm for night time? 0.4 better aperture?
- 30mm on APS-C is 45mm for 45mm cameras, which isn't really a wide angle lens anymore.
- Actually I would take no unstabilised lens for video, especially not the 30mm as the autofocus is slow and loud. The 16mm and 20mm are only slightly better though. The probably best option for "lightweight" filming is the new 16-50mm PZ, but that has only an aperture of 3.5 and is not available yet.

Actually I would recommend more than one lens :tongue: :D or the 16-50mm PZ.
 
Yeah, I thought that a better aperture would help a bit for night shooting. I guess the 16mm would be more helpful if you think that it's not a huge difference.

I don't mind the lens being unstabilised as this means it's more lightweight and the drone will fly less erratically.
 
It's lighter and smaller and really good for your quadrocopters I assume, but your night video plans will be more difficult to realise. The lens is quite slow compared to the 16mm/30mm lenses and the sensor is smaller.
 
Back
Top