Luckypenguin
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
- Name
- Nic
The Olympus 45mm f1.8 has developed a great reputation as an affordable, tiny, and optically high quality package as a short tele (~90mm) portrait lens for Micro 4/3, and I've been a satisfied owner of one for almost two years. Less well known is that Samsung has a 45mm f1.8 lens of their own for the NX system which on an APS-C sensor gives a seemingly odd field-of-view (for a prime lens) of a ~68mm FF lens. After very good experiences with the 20mm f2.8 and 30mm f2 NX lenses I finally decided to bite on a 2D version of the 45mm f1.8, at a cost of under $AUS200 including shipping after a $50 rebate from Samsung.
Any fears of the focal length being neither here nor there fade away simply by putting it on the camera (an NX300 in this case) and shooting with it. The lens is not a pancake like the 20mm and 30mm primes, and while it also bigger than the Olympus 45mm it weighs almost exactly the same. Where it scores over the two pancake lenses is that it is internal focusing rather than unit focusing and so it's ultimate focusing speed is faster than those two, however it is still not Micro 4/3 fast.
It's definitely very sharp when stopped down. In fact one thing to watch for even at a larger like aperture of f/2.8 is that it can produce light moire on fine patterns in combination with the 20mp NX300 sensor.
SNX300-04200045-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200046-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200049-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200051-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04190023-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
It is a very useful half body portrait lens with nice smooth backgrounds when opened up (f/2.5 here)
SNX300-04190025-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
f/2.2
SNX300-04200050-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
Face detection might be considered a gimmick but it does it make it very easy to hand off the camera to someone else and know that you're going to get an in-focus if somewhat touristy photo (f/2.8)
SNX300-04190026-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
An example of the aforementioned moire from the image above, visible as the colouration on the black strap and shirt material. It can just be seen on the full image if you look closely.
Works with portraits of inanimate people too
SNX300-04200044-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
One of the fascinating things about Samsung lenses is that while they can be as sharp and clinical as you like they also have a lot of character to them.
SNX300-04200042-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200040-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
And a couple of more images to finish with
SNX300-04190028-P2R Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200039-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
If I was to mention a negative about this particular copy the NX 45mm f1.8 it is that at larger apertures it does seem to show slightly heavier vignetting in right hand side of the image than the left, although in terms of sharpness there appears to be no evidence of decentering.
While not completely surprising give that this lens has an "easier" field-of-view to design to, it does manage to pull off the feat of being technically better than the already excellent 30mm f2 pancake. There are some wonderful lenses available for mirrorless cameras and you can chalk this up as another one.
Any fears of the focal length being neither here nor there fade away simply by putting it on the camera (an NX300 in this case) and shooting with it. The lens is not a pancake like the 20mm and 30mm primes, and while it also bigger than the Olympus 45mm it weighs almost exactly the same. Where it scores over the two pancake lenses is that it is internal focusing rather than unit focusing and so it's ultimate focusing speed is faster than those two, however it is still not Micro 4/3 fast.
It's definitely very sharp when stopped down. In fact one thing to watch for even at a larger like aperture of f/2.8 is that it can produce light moire on fine patterns in combination with the 20mp NX300 sensor.
SNX300-04200045-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200046-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200049-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200051-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04190023-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
It is a very useful half body portrait lens with nice smooth backgrounds when opened up (f/2.5 here)
SNX300-04190025-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
f/2.2
SNX300-04200050-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
Face detection might be considered a gimmick but it does it make it very easy to hand off the camera to someone else and know that you're going to get an in-focus if somewhat touristy photo (f/2.8)
SNX300-04190026-PR Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
An example of the aforementioned moire from the image above, visible as the colouration on the black strap and shirt material. It can just be seen on the full image if you look closely.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Works with portraits of inanimate people too
SNX300-04200044-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
One of the fascinating things about Samsung lenses is that while they can be as sharp and clinical as you like they also have a lot of character to them.
SNX300-04200042-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200040-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
And a couple of more images to finish with
SNX300-04190028-P2R Samsung NX300 Glasshouse Mountains Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
SNX300-04200039-PR Samsung NX300 Brisbane Australia by Nic (Luckypenguin), on Flickr
If I was to mention a negative about this particular copy the NX 45mm f1.8 it is that at larger apertures it does seem to show slightly heavier vignetting in right hand side of the image than the left, although in terms of sharpness there appears to be no evidence of decentering.
While not completely surprising give that this lens has an "easier" field-of-view to design to, it does manage to pull off the feat of being technically better than the already excellent 30mm f2 pancake. There are some wonderful lenses available for mirrorless cameras and you can chalk this up as another one.