Outstanding value!

A camera cannot be better than the lens that is on it, no matter how good or expensive the body is. And the Samsung 45mm lens yields images that are sharp and pretty darn close to perfect. It is among the best consumer lenses out there. It is not to be confused with the other 45mm lens produced, the 2d/3d. This is the "normal" lens.

Focus:

It focuses very well, images are very sharp. Auto-focus works flawlessly. This review is with the lens on an NX20. As auto-focus is dependent on both the lens's execution of commands from the camera's auto-focus system, your results may vary depending on whether you have an older camera model or a more recent one.

Build:

The lens seems to be very well built. There are no loose parts, the control ring turns smoothly, buttons work as they should. It mates well with the camera: not snug that you have to push it in, not loose that there is any tilting play. However, once locked into place, there is a little bit of turning play (where you can turn the lens' mount in relation to the camera just a little bit), but this is not something that would affect sharpness or image clarity. Mating the surfaces, and a good snug fit, is important - but the width of the tabs, so the lens doesn't rotate even slightly when you try, would have enhanced the owner's impression of quality.

Don't try this at home, but I've already dropped the ensemble a couple of times, and no damage to the lens (or the camera). In all fairness, I had a lens cap on it, which, being pushed into the threaded opening, absorbed some of the impact, but still, it this lens is not as fragile as one would fear of a lens with a plastic body.

iFn Control:

Like all Samsung iFn lenses, pushing the iFn button gives you immediate access to the main functions you want to change on the fly while doing your creative photography. Your Samsung camera menu, under iFn Customizing allows you to choose up to 5 out of 6 of the following features you want to appear in your sliding iFn menu: Aperture, Shutter speed, EV, ISO, WB, iZoom - the ones you have access to depend on what your mode-dial is set on (ie: P, A, S, M). This is with 2014 firmware on Samsung NX20 and the 45mm respectively. The lens has the usual switch for selecting AF and MF modes. In AF, it works as it should according to your preference settings in your camera, where you determined how you want the AF to work, ie. whether you want just auto-focus, or auto-focus with the possibility of manual override, etc.

Manual focus:

The same control ring is used for the iFn menu and manual focus/MF override. Turning the focus ring gives absolutely no tactile feedback, and nothing tells you if you should turn clockwise or counter-clockwise to focus closer or farther. There is also no indication whether you have reached infinity or the closest focus: you can just keep on turning and turning, not sure where the focus is at in the scheme of things. If I am trying to photograph a small bug on a thin branch, for example, where the camera's focus system only picks up other objects in the background with auto-focus, I don't know if I am turning the ring too fast, too slow, if I have overshot the right point and should continue turning or if I should turn back the opposite way. Although technically it works flawlessly, manual focus can be a bit frustrating in sutuations like my bug on a branch. The manual focus ring is much more convenient when you are using a wide-open aperture, with a very shallow depth of field, and you just need to make fine quick adjustments - for example to bring a subject's eyes into focus, where the camera may have locked focus not exactly at the depth you wanted.

Bokeh:

Bokeh is simply a side-effect of larger openings, where it becomes impossible to have everything in focus at all distances. Surprisingly, although at f1.8 the DoF is as shallow as one would expect, background defocus is not as marked as one would think. There are no huge spheres being produced in the background as with some vintage lenses or as we see from a Leica $10,000 lens - rather, focus drops off predictably as the distance increases from the focused pane. Yet the subject still "pops" out from the background. For example, shooting my dog or daughter, they are in very sharp focus, and look to separate and stand out from the background, but a background where you can still make out some fuzzy shapes. The background blur is not as significant as one might hope - although this lays testament to just how phenominally good the optics design and execution are, it might not be what eveyone would hope for (ie: less-good design for more blur).

Final Thoughts:

Despite the turn-forever manual focus ring, this is an outstanding lens, which is right up there with some of the best lenses available for much more money. This lens allows my Samsung NX20 to perform at it's utmost, and I'm certain it will do the same for more recent NX cameras. It has been permanently on the camera now, as I prefer it to any of my other NX lenses. the only lens I could see replacing this one, is Samsung's new, but (understandably) much more costly $1200, 16-50mm S-series f2-2.8 zoom lens. I also own a vintage Minolta Rokkor 50mm f1.4 lens, with a modified-for-NX lens mount, that I no longer use now that I have this 45mm. At f1.8 the depth of field for portrait and street is so shallow already, that I no longer see the point to use the vintage lens (unless I would be out to do night-photography with manual focus).

It is easy to get enthused with the latest camera bodies (understandably), choosing that first, and then the lenses to go along with it. (mea-culpa)  But lenses this good certainly make an argument to look at the lens lineup first, and then the camera bodies that can go along with it. After all, the lenses we keep, the bodies we change. And this is one of those lenses we want to keep.

eFilm wrote:

Thanks for the mini-review. Sounds like an interesting lens, especially when considering the price. It probably is one of the lenses that make the whole NX system more attractive to newcomers.

Although the manual focusing sounds like a big bummer.

I wonder if all the NX primes behave the same way? I also wonder if the manual focus ring is at least linear, 1:1 type, rather than dynamic, like in some Sony lenses? Both types are almost useless in video use, but the dynamic type is both useless and annoying.

It is the same for the 30mm f2 that I own. But I don't consider it a deal-breaker, because as you can witness, it didn't prevent me from buying the 45mm.

I do not know what you mean by line an versus dynamic - but even if I make the assumption that dynamic would be like on a logarithmic scale, I couldn't answer that, because nothing is telling me what the distance increments are, when I turn the ring. If my assumption is wrong, and it were just speed-sensitive, I'm not sure... I don't think so.

Unless you're trying to photograph bugs on a branch, where you have to go from focus very afar to closest - but how often do you do that?  I would be more concerned how the 60mm macro lens performs in such situations (which I don't own, thus can't comment).

Manual focus fulfills it's purpose quite adequately, when you want to make quick, minute adjustments to the distance chosen by AF when in AF mode, where the camera's on-screen tools, namely the 5X/7X on-screen enlargement, or the sharpness-peak bar, are of help (I think that is model-dependent though, as some may offer focus-peaking).

Agreed, I too like it a lot, it is a good value. For my uses the oof areas are blurred enough. I need to use it more, but frequent changes of lenses are not always an option ... For general purpose I like the 12-24 even better

Regards

Skipper494 wrote:

$350 here in Ontario.

I've got mine for slightly less than 600 PLN here in Poland (Not via standard retail channel, though.) and I still think it was a bargain for quality (both build & image) and usefulness of this lens.

Also it's an odd focal length, rather short for portrait and too long for street or general use.

This is a platitude. It's 70mm FF equivalent, the long end of the common 24-70mm FF zooms.  I ensure you that it can be creatively used not only for portraits.  Even when used for portraits, it gives a nice touch which makes them stand out from the ones you can find in each professional photographer's portfolio and every corporate address book.  For example, this lens gives very slight perspective compression, which combined with low f-stop and at a certain distance allows you to do a "semi-portrait" of a person from the waistline up - it focusses on a person whilst proving some context because the surroundings are defocussed, yet still recognisable.

How often do most of us take portraits? I take one maybe once a year.

I can't tell for yourselves, but I do take portraits quite often.  A trait of family photography, perhaps

I find the 30mm pancake far more useful. If the 45 was a macro, that would be great. As it is, the 60 macro wins for portrait and macro use.

To each his own.  30mm has horrible AF when compared to the 45mm, which makes me miss these precious moments; it is also too narrow for the street (I feel more comfortable at 20mm there.).  60mm is too expensive for me (2000+ PLN) and it's more than 3 times heavier than the 45mm, which makes the camera/lens combo not portable anymore (Portability is key for me.).

All in all, 45mm is a nice piece of kit and I'm happy that I bought it despite it being "an odd focal length" etc.  If you only feel comfortable when shooting at 35mm, 50mm and 135mm FF equivalent, you loose lots of fun IMHO.  The point I'm trying to make here is not to offend anyone, but to encourage people to experiment with this little but excellent lens.

vatazhka wrote:

60mm is ... more than 3 times heavier than the 45mm, which makes the camera/lens combo not portable anymore (Portability is key for me.).

Portability is important for me also.

All in all, 45mm is a nice piece of kit and I'm happy that I bought it despite it being "an odd focal length" etc. ... The point I'm trying to make here is not to offend anyone, but to encourage people to experiment with this little but excellent lens.

I think you stated the case very nicely for the 45mm. I have the 60mm - very good lens, not as fun to work with as the 45mm.

The 45mm does lovely portraits. Plus I don't hesitate to use it when I go out to do mostly landscapes, where I know the 16mm or my Samyang 12mm might be more appropriate. When I need the width I just pan and stitch in post, e.g.:

3 shot vertical stitch with the 45mm of a 70' tall sycamore

I've done as much as a 6x2 stitched hand held panorama with the 45mm in the past. This lens is also a favorite for me, along with the 16mm, for video; I like its fast focusing.

eFilm wrote:

eFilm wrote:

So, I'm still curious to know if some of the new, more premium NX lenses have the same kind of focus clutch and hard stops built in them, (I would think/hope they do), or are they all like the 45mm lens, with no manual focus 'feel' whatsoever. If someone can confirm that, please feel free to chime in.

Oh well, nevermind, I figured it out. Apparently only the 60mm macro and the 85mm are like that, and the rest of the primes are like the 45mm, with a 'numb' focus ring. Maybe the new S series zooms are, too. That's not much, but it's a start. Hopefully Samsung will improve their lens selection soon. The existing lens lineup may not (will not) be enough for the potential new NX1 buyers.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you - I just hadn't visited here in a while is all.

There aren't any fancy stops, or any nice special feel to the focus ring... personally, I find it a bit confusing, unintuitive - not at all like using an old manual lens.

If you are into the NX1, I think that the new 16-50mm f2 is more appropriate for your needs.

Unfortunately, I don't own one of those (but would love to, as it would replace all my current lenses).  Choice of lenses is one of the most important factors (if not the most important) in choosing a camera system - and I don't just mean choice, but what is among the choice.

Skipper494 wrote:

$350 here in Ontario. Also it's an odd focal length, rather short for portrait and too long for street or general use. How often do most of us take portraits? I take one maybe once a year. I find the 30mm pancake far more useful. If the 45 was a macro, that would be great. As it is, the 60 macro wins for portrait and macro use.

If you're a pro, you would probably consider that indeed, 90mm equivalent is the shortest you want to do portrait with.  But none of the equipment we are discussing here will be in a pro's hands (someone who actually earns their living with it) - it's not the target market (unless maybe wedding photography, I suppose).

But others will argue that 70mm equivalent, is the minimum needed for portrait.  In that sense, the 45mm is spot on.

There are instances where you want a bit longer for street and general use. I was the first to be surprised at number of situations where I found myself removing my 30mm and putting on the 45mm... so much that, now, the 45mm is on more often than the 30.

But both are good lenses, and they are so cheap, that owning both is a no-brainer. no debating needed - just get both.

I am a bit surprised at your conclusion though... you take one portrait a year, yet the 60mm wins it for you.  (???)  I do agree though that it would be nice if the 45 were a macro.  That would be awesome.  But it isn't, and the price reflects that.