Buying a Samsung NX300 - 18-55mm or 20-50mm lens

Hello everyone,

Hope you are well.

I am thinking of getting a NX300 and I was wondering which lens I should go with? I am buying it used from Amazon and the brown one comes with a 20-50mm lens, and the black one comes with the 18-55mm lens. I do not mind with either focal length, so I was wondering if you can help me decide which lens to go for.

Many thanks and have a great day.

Funnily enough I researched this info a little earlier today, purely out of interest, and came to the conclusion that they both have their advantages!

The 18-55mm has OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) ... quite useful, but is physically bigger than the 20-50mm, which has iFn, if that feature is compatible with your (potential) camera.

On-line comparisons suggest both lenses give similar results and have similar minimum focus distances. The 20-50mm uses 40.5mm filters whereas the 18-55mm uses 58mm, which may be of consideration if you already have a circular polariser in either size.

My 18-55mm came with a lens hood, I don't know about the 20-50mm, but I use a hood almost always, so is a point of concern for me.

I'm thinking I could probably use both. I have an 18-55mm and it's very good, but I sometimes think it'd be nice if the assembly wasn't quite so bulky.

Hope this all helps

Thank you very much. I'm leaning towards the NX300, NX1 seems to be very difficult to get one at this moment. Do you know image quality wise which lens has the advantage?

Manzur Fahim wrote:

... Do you know image quality wise which lens has the advantage?

As I said : "On-line comparisons suggest both lenses give similar results ..."

...however, IMO, the 18-55 is the better lens. But then that opens up the reality that kit lenses tend to have copy-to-copy variations in optical qualities. The 18 MM wide end of the 18-55 is equivalent to a 27-28 MM wide angle field of view and it has IS in the lens. The 20 MM wide end of things on the 20-50 gives you even a less angled view, and it does NOT have IS in that particular lens.

If you wind up with the brown version and the 20-50 lens, PM me and if you're in the market, I can sell you a new (was part of a kit - never used) 18-55 III with a metal lens mount - for only $95 shipped. I know that statement sounds like an opportunistic one - but at least you wind up with both lenses. It's a good copy also (had to test it on the NX300 when I first got mine).  It's just sitting in the box (NX300 box) and right now I have the 16-50 PZ and some primes that I use with the NX300.  So it's yours (or anyone else for that matter) if you (they) want it.