Samsung Samsung's primes

Brian style

Regular
Samsung says they want to make an NX1 aimed at "pros" and after reading some rumored specs I have 2 questions that make me wonder how serious can be/is Samsung about their desires:

1: The rumor is that it will run Android OS. How excited is that going to get advanced users and pros? The Galaxy NX was an experiment in Android OS but it didn't go over universally well, so that is a strange choice. The extended start up time of the Galaxy NX because of the Android OS is not going to make any serious users happy.

2: Samsung doesn't have an impressive prime lens lineup. They have nice primes that keep the small form factor with their 3 pancakes and a really nice 45 1.8, but only ONE f1.4 lens, and that lens (85mm) is pretty universally regarded as amazing but that is where it ends. I would argue that Fuji has proven that having fast quality primes is a BIG step to garnering attention from the serious and pro users.

Most of Samsung's lineup and choices are clearly aimed at casual users, so wanting to make a camera aimed at pros with these two choices seems doomed to fail right from the start. Is it just me??
 
I think, as an OS, Android is fine, and they can implement everything necessary to make it work for more serious photography. In the case of the primes I can't agree more, as it is what made m4/3 such a good system and if Samsung don't invest in their lenses, it will be hard to make their system profitable as a whole. That said, I can say that, being new in NX system, I overall pleased by the quality of what I got (NX300, 18-55mm and 30mm), but the desire of grew our gear is normal and we go where there are better options.
 
I think that the idea of using the Android operating system still has merits, as long as it is built into the camera rather than the camera being built around it i.e Galaxy NX.

The existing range of Samsung primes presents an interesting case since bang-for-buck there is nothing close to the 20mm, 30mm and 45mm trio from either Panasonic, Fujifilm, Sony, or Olympus. If there is a higher resolving APS-C lens than the 45mm f1.8 then I would like to see it. Two more faster, higher build quality and faster focusing primes in the ~23mm and ~35mm focal lengths would provide a nicely rounded range of higher-end lenses alongside the 60mm f2.8 macro and the 85mm f1.4. Easier said than done, of course.

What would make the NX system more interesting to me is a mid-range zoom lens. There are the multiple iterations of the kit lenses and now a fairly large 16-50mm f2-2.8 but nothing in between.
 
In all honesty MOST of my frustration/sadness with the Samsung system is that I actually think it has huge potential and is pretty good already. They should NOT be so disregarded compared to Sony and Fuji when technically they've been in the mirrorless game longer right? Their choices don't make much sense in that they price for the high end/pro user but design for the casual user. Fuji is well steeped in cameras so they appeal to heavy users with a lot of their choices and especially their lenses...and people will pay the money, it shows.

The pancake primes are aimed at staying small and compact which is consumer in design, but pros would rather have a 35 1.4 or a 23 1.4 than a 30 f2 or 20 f2.8 (my emphasis on PROS). The S line tells me they're ready to step it up but it is in the form of 16-50 2-2.8 and 50-150 2.8. Nice as that is, the fast primes are arguably more important because they can give you fast, quality options for under $1k (which neither of the new S lenses will be). Fuji started with a 35 1.4, not a vast zoom.

Sony got ahead in the tech department, Fuji got ahead in the lens department. Samsung is right in the middle. IMO, Samsung does better menus and wireless tethering than either of them. They do lenses better than Sony NEX and the touchscreen is better than Sony and Fuji obviously.

It is like Samsung's mirrorless cameras are being headed by the phone department. They have the resources and tech to really push ahead and become much more of a player, but they think like a phone builder, then turn around and price for pros. Frustrating to me, a user who would really like to see Samsung take the advantages they have and really run with it! Hire someone from Fuji to advise your camera department and you'll probably see a spike in power users ;) I would get excited about fast primes.
 
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