NX500 still worth it in 2020?

Kisaha wrote:

I wouldn't suggest the NX system to a lot of people these days, but you seem like a very educated person on the subject matter, and probably for you is the cheapest solution.

Thanks for chiming in. Part of the fun is to study the kit you plan to purchase! SO I had great joy reading tons of posts, reviews and downloading RAW files to check if they can fit my needs. And apparently, they do!

Where are you from? The prices of used NX are insanly cheap, also, how do you manage to be a professional with a 350euros camera? That is quite an achievement!

I am from Brazil, based in Sao Paulo. I am by no means a professional. Just happened that people started ordering prints from my instagram profile. And the requested print sizes are becoming larger than I ever thought I would print. Sure, I could go full frame buy expesive glass and call it a day. But because photography is not my main income source (hopefully this will change!) I just don't feel like buying the greatest and latest gear in advance. In my book, income comes first, and expenditure later. I will be shooting low ISO mainly anyways. So, comparing the results with current 24MP FF cameras, I could not see any meaningful difference between them and the NX500 in RAW. To my eyes at least. For the price, the NX500 seems unbeatable in the IQ department

I am not sure what kind of job you do, for landscapes the 12-24 and the 16-50PZ are probably enough, even though, a more professional kit is the NX1 with the 16-50S, which is a professional grade lens with a professional grade camera (better ergonomics, viewfinder, protected by the elements, bigger battery, e.t.c), for a lot more reasons than one.

I used to do street photography but now I am more into landscapes. And these are the ones with most demand from clients. My first option was to buy a NX1, but I could not spot a single one for sale in the past 3 months. The same was true for a NX500, until last week. However, I can find plenty of NX300, NX1000, NX2000, NX10 etc. But all of them have lower resolution sensor, which would not be a big step up from my m4/3 gear. That said, I am still looking after a NX1!

The 16-50S can be amazing as a kit lens (there is some sample variation going on, but the most I have seen are very good, for what they are) but it's not even close to the S lens.

I could not find any copy of this lens for sale locally, unfortunately. But I will keep an eye on it. Nonetheless, some reviews online pointed out that it is not as sharp as they would expect. Perhaps this boils down to sample variation that you have mentioned.

The PZ can be a little hit or miss, and you have to test it to see its limitations, because there is not a pattern among them (from my experience, reading, and samples I have seen).

Let's hope mine is not a lemon!

The 30 is incredible and an amazingly small combo with the NX500. The 50-200 is a surprisingly well build and performing cheap tele, probably the best such a small tele I have ever seen, it goes down in sharpness after 170mm or so usually. Sample variation applies (with every brand, with every cheap lens).

Both the 30 and the 50-200 are on my short list, right after the 12-24mm.

My favorite lenses are the 45mm, 10mm and the 16-50S. These are the ones I use more, the 12-24mm also.

I could not find the 10mm for sale, but I confess I am not very fond of all that fish-eye distortion. However, I've seen some great pictures from it. Perhaps it has more to do with the photographer's talent than the lens. I am curious to test one out though.

The 18-200 is a no go for high resolution photography. I may have a bad sample, but it is my least favorite lens, good for video though, and easy to carry on holidays (is on my NX500 these days) as a do it all lens, but not on a pro job (except when I shoot inside boats that I do not want to destroy my better lenses..).

That is what a heard elsewhere. However a fellow member here is quite happy with his copy and my even do some testing to check for corner sharpness in the future. I will stay tuned,