Best pancake lens for NX1100?

Caleb PM wrote:

Unless I'm mistaken, a "pancake" lens is a fixed focal-length lens that is fairly compact (right?).

I have a Samsung NX1100, which I think is a pretty good camera, but I have always found the images to be somewhat soft. I'm thinking that a fixed-length lens (25mm to 45mm, although 35mm would be ideal) would give me sharper images. Can anyone recommend a sharp lens that is not too expensive?

Let me add that I would use this lens for pleasure photography (outdoors). Can I also use a prime lens for macro shots? My macro shots are never very close -- always about 18 to 24 inches away.

30mm/2f. 45mm in 35 equiv.

For macro, there are some cheap macro extension tubes, that transform every NX lens to macro.

Thanks.

Thank you for the advice.  I assume I can find the model numbers for these lenses on the Samsung site.

A little about my photography skills:  I've been using cameras for years, but mostly on automatic settings.  I don't have a clear understanding of F-stops, etc.  My macro photography is of products:  I put jewelry components on a plate on my desk, stand over them and shoot (in aperature-priority mode, F5.6, which I found gives me the sharpest shots).  I hold the camera about 20-22 inches above the desk surface.  I am zoomed out when I do it.

This brings me to another topic:  The camera settings for macro photography have always confused me.  My kit lens is always in the wide position when I photograph, but I have read that some experts recomment zooming in.  As you know, the NX1100 doesn't have a macro mode, so the camera does the focussing for me.  So if I'm using my kit lens in wide mode to do my macro photography, why can't I use a prime lens for macro photography, since the prime lens is always in wide mode?

Of course, with the camera at least 20 inches above the jewelry components, some might consider my jewelry shots to be more portrait than macro.

By the way, the 30mm lens is 30mm on the camera, or is there a conversion factor?

Thanks!

Caleb PM wrote:

Thank you for the advice. I assume I can find the model numbers for these lenses on the Samsung site.

A little about my photography skills: I've been using cameras for years, but mostly on automatic settings. I don't have a clear understanding of F-stops, etc. My macro photography is of products: I put jewelry components on a plate on my desk, stand over them and shoot (in aperature-priority mode, F5.6, which I found gives me the sharpest shots). I hold the camera about 20-22 inches above the desk surface. I am zoomed out when I do it.

This brings me to another topic: The camera settings for macro photography have always confused me. My kit lens is always in the wide position when I photograph, but I have read that some experts recomment zooming in. As you know, the NX1100 doesn't have a macro mode, so the camera does the focussing for me. So if I'm using my kit lens in wide mode to do my macro photography, why can't I use a prime lens for macro photography, since the prime lens is always in wide mode?

Of course, with the camera at least 20 inches above the jewelry components, some might consider my jewelry shots to be more portrait than macro.

By the way, the 30mm lens is 30mm on the camera, or is there a conversion factor?

Thanks!

In my reply just above, "45mm equiv." .

More precisely it is 1.54Xwhatever number.

You have mixed up some concepts and techniques. You do not do macro photography that way.

If you have a 20-50, then "wide" is 20, which is close to 32mm equiv. (to 35mm photography, that is). The key here is "focal length". Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and zoom lenses have variable focal lengths. "Wide" and "Tele" are indications on zoom lenses (or compact/bridge cameras) to show you what way to turn the zoom ring.

You should read the latest NX camera's manual, the first chapters are very good describing basic photographic concepts and variables.

The cheapest way to experiment is to buy the afforementioned macro tubes (they go something between 30-50$, I think they are all the same, so the cheaper you find are keepers!). The only real macro lens is the 60mm macro, which is manufactured with macro photography in mind.

Kisaha wrote:

Caleb PM wrote:

Thank you for the advice. I assume I can find the model numbers for these lenses on the Samsung site.

A little about my photography skills: I've been using cameras for years, but mostly on automatic settings. I don't have a clear understanding of F-stops, etc. My macro photography is of products: I put jewelry components on a plate on my desk, stand over them and shoot (in aperature-priority mode, F5.6, which I found gives me the sharpest shots). I hold the camera about 20-22 inches above the desk surface. I am zoomed out when I do it.

This brings me to another topic: The camera settings for macro photography have always confused me. My kit lens is always in the wide position when I photograph, but I have read that some experts recomment zooming in. As you know, the NX1100 doesn't have a macro mode, so the camera does the focussing for me. So if I'm using my kit lens in wide mode to do my macro photography, why can't I use a prime lens for macro photography, since the prime lens is always in wide mode?

Of course, with the camera at least 20 inches above the jewelry components, some might consider my jewelry shots to be more portrait than macro.

By the way, the 30mm lens is 30mm on the camera, or is there a conversion factor?

Thanks!

In my reply just above, "45mm equiv." .

More precisely it is 1.54Xwhatever number.

You have mixed up some concepts and techniques. You do not do macro photography that way.

If you have a 20-50, then "wide" is 20, which is close to 32mm equiv. (to 35mm photography, that is). The key here is "focal length". Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and zoom lenses have variable focal lengths. "Wide" and "Tele" are indications on zoom lenses (or compact/bridge cameras) to show you what way to turn the zoom ring.

You should read the latest NX camera's manual, the first chapters are very good describing basic photographic concepts and variables.

The cheapest way to experiment is to buy the afforementioned macro tubes (they go something between 30-50$, I think they are all the same, so the cheaper you find are keepers!). The only real macro lens is the 60mm macro, which is manufactured with macro photography in mind.

The kit zoom lens is 20mm-50mm, and I set it at 20mm when I take my macro shots.  Is that the wrong thing to do?

The word "tube" is new to me.  I know what a lens is, but not a tube.

If the 30mm pancake lens is 45mm equivalent, that's pretty narrow isn't it, or do you find that a flexible width for street photography?

Caleb PM wrote:

Kisaha wrote:

Caleb PM wrote:

Thank you for the advice. I assume I can find the model numbers for these lenses on the Samsung site.

A little about my photography skills: I've been using cameras for years, but mostly on automatic settings. I don't have a clear understanding of F-stops, etc. My macro photography is of products: I put jewelry components on a plate on my desk, stand over them and shoot (in aperature-priority mode, F5.6, which I found gives me the sharpest shots). I hold the camera about 20-22 inches above the desk surface. I am zoomed out when I do it.

This brings me to another topic: The camera settings for macro photography have always confused me. My kit lens is always in the wide position when I photograph, but I have read that some experts recomment zooming in. As you know, the NX1100 doesn't have a macro mode, so the camera does the focussing for me. So if I'm using my kit lens in wide mode to do my macro photography, why can't I use a prime lens for macro photography, since the prime lens is always in wide mode?

Of course, with the camera at least 20 inches above the jewelry components, some might consider my jewelry shots to be more portrait than macro.

By the way, the 30mm lens is 30mm on the camera, or is there a conversion factor?

Thanks!

In my reply just above, "45mm equiv." .

More precisely it is 1.54Xwhatever number.

You have mixed up some concepts and techniques. You do not do macro photography that way.

If you have a 20-50, then "wide" is 20, which is close to 32mm equiv. (to 35mm photography, that is). The key here is "focal length". Prime lenses have a fixed focal length and zoom lenses have variable focal lengths. "Wide" and "Tele" are indications on zoom lenses (or compact/bridge cameras) to show you what way to turn the zoom ring.

You should read the latest NX camera's manual, the first chapters are very good describing basic photographic concepts and variables.

The cheapest way to experiment is to buy the afforementioned macro tubes (they go something between 30-50$, I think they are all the same, so the cheaper you find are keepers!). The only real macro lens is the 60mm macro, which is manufactured with macro photography in mind.

The kit zoom lens is 20mm-50mm, and I set it at 20mm when I take my macro shots. Is that the wrong thing to do?

The word "tube" is new to me. I know what a lens is, but not a tube.

If the 30mm pancake lens is 45mm equivalent, that's pretty narrow isn't it, or do you find that a flexible width for street photography?

It is not wrong, it just ain't macro!

Macro photography is the very close focusing (a bee on a flower) and the reproduction of 1:1 life size ratio images. There are dedicated lenses for such a job, the NX one is the 60mm macro (go check the Samsung website about it, they explain thongs too!).

You can achieve similar results with cheap adapters, which called the macro tubes. What they do, is simply move your lens further from the sensor, but that increases lens magnification of the said lens.

Search on ebay "Fotga macro extension tube for Samsung NX mount", they go from around 20$. Pretty cheap and they can be very exciting if you are not familiat with real macro lenses.

There is another thing you can do now (and maybe zoom in, is better than wide shots) and that is Crop. Because the NX500 has the biggest megapixel count in its segment, you can take a picture, and crop it further, and still have a perfect usable high quality picture. And you can do that for free!

30 is tiny small, 2f apperture, very sharp and you can find for really cheap. It is like a standard lens (the well known 50mm lenses that are so common, that called "the standard") but a bit wider (closer to what the human eye sees, something like that). I believe it is a  very good lens for general photography and I use it like this. Sometimes I use the 45mm, which is excellent and fast focusing (30mm is not very fast focusing, and its main disadvantage) but it is 77mm equiv (around there 1.54X45mm= do the math!) so more of a short tele portraite lens, still I do use it for street photography, 30mm is wider. These two lenses are among the NX highlights, cheap, very good performers.

Kisaha wrote:

It is not wrong, it just ain't macro!

Macro photography is the very close focusing (a bee on a flower) and the reproduction of 1:1 life size ratio images. There are dedicated lenses for such a job, the NX one is the 60mm macro (go check the Samsung website about it, they explain thongs too!).

You can achieve similar results with cheap adapters, which called the macro tubes. What they do, is simply move your lens further from the sensor, but that increases lens magnification of the said lens.

Search on ebay "Fotga macro extension tube for Samsung NX mount", they go from around 20$. Pretty cheap and they can be very exciting if you are not familiat with real macro lenses.

There is another thing you can do now (and maybe zoom in, is better than wide shots) and that is Crop. Because the NX500 has the biggest megapixel count in its segment, you can take a picture, and crop it further, and still have a perfect usable high quality picture. And you can do that for free!

30 is tiny small, 2f apperture, very sharp and you can find for really cheap. It is like a standard lens (the well known 50mm lenses that are so common, that called "the standard") but a bit wider (closer to what the human eye sees, something like that). I believe it is a very good lens for general photography and I use it like this. Sometimes I use the 45mm, which is excellent and fast focusing (30mm is not very fast focusing, and its main disadvantage) but it is 77mm equiv (around there 1.54X45mm= do the math!) so more of a short tele portraite lens, still I do use it for street photography, 30mm is wider. These two lenses are among the NX highlights, cheap, very good performers.

I think that you've answered all my questions.  Thank you very much.  I'll get the 30mm lens.  The price of $250 to $300 is almost as much as I paid for the camera, but it will be worth it if it gives me sharper shots.  I'll try the lens by itself for my macro shots (which really are more like portrait shots than macro shots).  If the images aren't good, I'll get a tube.

I have indeed been cropping all of my shots.

One of the reasons I got the NX1100 is that the color accuracy was better than average (according to one review site).  I didn't know this at first, but camera manufacturers purposely tweak the color reproduction to make it more pleasing, but that's bad if you are shooting colorful products (like the beads that I sell), and you want the colors to be accurate.

Thanks again for all your help.  I'm very grateful.

ttbek, thank you for all the information.  It was more than I actually needed, but some of it will be very useful.  I'm very grateful.

I've decided to buy the 30mm pancake lens and a tube, if the tube is needed.

No problem!

250-300$ is too much thought, most of us here get it for definitely less than 250$. I got mine used from ebay. Even thought lenses tend to be more expensive than cheap camera bodies (just check the 2 S lenses, the best native NX lenses one can buy, you wouldn't be able to count how many 1100 cameras can you buy with the money the 2 S lenses cost!), they really worth it.

The macro tubes can be found for very cheap, you should try them, they are good fun! There are a couple of threads here about them with more information.

Good luck and good pictures taking!