Favourite/best lenses for NX1/NX500

Just a bit of fun but wondered what your favourite lenses are for the NX1/NX500 and why. I chose these 2 cameras because they are arguably the best in the system.

I'll go first;

NX500

1. 16-50 pz - compact and light, this is great for everyday use, it's quite sharp and has good autofocus, also great for video.

2. 30mm - smallest lens on the system, fantastic image quality and wide aperture.

3. Here I'm torn between the 10mm (very sharp, works well with 4k crop) and the 45mm (great portrait lens, relatively compact and fantastic IQ).

NX1

1. 16-50s lens - great image quality and autofocus, this is pretty much glued to the camera.

2. 18-200mm - really versatile and although a little slow, this lens has IQ that really isn't that bad. And for video it's fantastic.

3. Hard to pick a third, I'd say that the 60mm is great as a portrait and macro lens but it gets used rarely.

30mm is the bomb glued to my nx500 for any grab and go.  My first non kit nx lens on the nx100 that kept me in the nx system!

For travel 30mm plus 16mm and 45mm covers most situations, light and awesome trio.  If im expecting landscapes i might go to rokinon 12mm and the 85mm that is heavy and forces me to bring larger filters, rarely used but special.

For birds the 50-200 works but i usually adapt another lens. Goofy on nx500 but has image stabilization and autofocuses fast.

I dont have the macro lens (would like to try with nx500 focus stack hack but still too expensive), I jjust use 50mm canon fd with macro adapters for hiking but use the leica 100mm bellows for copying slides and negatives, it is really sharp.

30mm is overall the best and makes nx500 way better than fuji x100 series or most oyher "small" setups imo.

Nx ifunction is indispensable for me as well!  Highly criticized but if used correctly is great especially for old eyes!

james _ wrote:

markyboy81 wrote:

Just a bit of fun but wondered what your favourite lenses are for the NX1/NX500 and why. I chose these 2 cameras because they are arguably the best in the system.

I'll go first;

NX500

1. 16-50 pz - compact and light, this is great for everyday use, it's quite sharp and has good autofocus, also great for video.

2. 30mm - smallest lens on the system, fantastic image quality and wide aperture.

3. Here I'm torn between the 10mm (very sharp, works well with 4k crop) and the 45mm (great portrait lens, relatively compact and fantastic IQ).

NX1

1. 16-50s lens - great image quality and autofocus, this is pretty much glued to the camera.

2. 18-200mm - really versatile and although a little slow, this lens has IQ that really isn't that bad. And for video it's fantastic.

3. Hard to pick a third, I'd say that the 60mm is great as a portrait and macro lens but it gets used rarely.

I really like the 10mm fisheye...it was my first fisheye and just opened up a new, fun world.

I have a Rokinon 12mm f2 that I really love. sometimes wish for AF and focus peaking, but for the price is great for wide angle.

I love the fisheye too, had lots of fun with that one. I also owned the 12mm for a bit but found it tough without autofocus, even though I'd read you could just set it to infinity and not worry about it for everything past about a metre. It never seems to work that way!

homestar_kevin wrote:

I am using one of the two S lenses 90% of the time with my nx1, they're just so good.

So for me it's:

1) 50-150mm S f/2.8--All hail the king

2) 16-50mm S f/2-2.8

3) 12-24mm

For the nx500 I like the 12-24 a lot as well as the 16, 30, 45 primes.

1) 12-24mm

2) 30mm

3) 45mm

I've recently gotten the nx 85mm so I'm excited to try that out some more too.

I need to get hold of another 50-150mm. I had it for a bit but wasn't using it that much. Now I don't see any deals..

PhotoLouP wrote:

30mm is the bomb glued to my nx500 for any grab and go. My first non kit nx lens on the nx100 that kept me in the nx system!

For travel 30mm plus 16mm and 45mm covers most situations, light and awesome trio. If im expecting landscapes i might go to rokinon 12mm and the 85mm that is heavy and forces me to bring larger filters, rarely used but special.

For birds the 50-200 works but i usually adapt another lens. Goofy on nx500 but has image stabilization and autofocuses fast.

I dont have the macro lens (would like to try with nx500 focus stack hack but still too expensive), I jjust use 50mm canon fd with macro adapters for hiking but use the leica 100mm bellows for copying slides and negatives, it is really sharp.

30mm is overall the best and makes nx500 way better than fuji x100 series or most oyher "small" setups imo.

Nx ifunction is indispensable for me as well! Highly criticized but if used correctly is great especially for old eyes!

30mm is great I agree but it's the only lens lacking in i-function. If it had that and OIS and better,quieter autofocus it'd be unbeatable!

My standard small bag is
NX500 + 30 on it (or just this in jacket pocket)
10, 16-50pz and 45
Spare batteries, cards, etc.

If going indoors add Metz 44 af-1
If going outdoors add 50-200 and SEF8A for fill

Funnily, it's the same bag that used to barely hold my Nikon D300 body only.

Agreed the 45mm is in some ways better than 30mm (still havent tried 3d lol) but just bigger than 30mm which is great for a coat pocket.

I was about to spring for nx1 and the s lenses when samsung stopped their cameras, still too expensive especially for a defunct system. Fuji looks interesting but nothing seems just right for small mirrorless to my hands compared to the nx500! I even use my nx100 on occasion but it is really slow.  But fun.

PhotoLouP wrote:

Agreed the 45mm is in some ways better than 30mm (still havent tried 3d lol) but just bigger than 30mm which is great for a coat pocket.

I was about to spring for nx1 and the s lenses when samsung stopped their cameras, still too expensive especially for a defunct system. Fuji looks interesting but nothing seems just right for small mirrorless to my hands compared to the nx500! I even use my nx100 on occasion but it is really slow. But fun.

I've tried the 3d and it's good fun as long as you have plenty of light as the aperture stops right down. There are some guides on the internet for how to convert the photos to be viewed using standard 3d glasses. I was quite impressed but haven't used it since!

It's T/6 in 3D mode and you have to be quite close to the subject as the intra ocular distance is very short.

Difficult to pick the best because all NX prime lenses are extremely good. This doesn’t happen often. My other system (Pentax) has several “meh” primes, but there is no “average” prime lens in Samsung world.

If I have to choose, I’ll pick the 60mm f/2.8 Macro, primarily because of its multipurpose use. Macro lenses are rarely without a barrel-extension-type focus mechanism and this one is. Internal fast focus is extremely useful for everything.

Among zoom, I’ll pick the 12-24mm lens. Its rare, but extremely useful. NX500+12-24mm together weigh less than ANY wide-angle zoom lens for ANY DSLR 😊

45mm in 2D, 50-150mm, 60mm are my favorite NX lenses

Peter Her wrote:

Hello,

My favorite lenses are 30mm f2 and 85mm F4.

For portrait photography, the 85mm is a beast with an incredible sharpness and creamy bokeh. I've never found similar satisfaction even in my other setup for example (fuji xt2 with 56mm f1.2).

For everyday shoot, the 30mm is great as well. Such quality in that small package.

These 2 lenses are the only reasons i'll continue to stick with my NX500 for as long as it will survive from being totally worn out. I'll eventually be looking for another NX500/NX1.

Finally only drawback is the AF, that may be unreliable at times. Never had one of those S- Line lenses, a d Wonder if AF is really improved or not.

Good choices! Love that 85mm!

Autofocus is better on the s lenses, markedly so. It's much quieter too which is great for video.

My favorites are the 85mm and the 50-150mm - both are great for portraits. The 45mm is no slouch either in this department. The tele-zoom is a bit bulky so more often than not I find myself not having it in my bag. It can also a bit intimidating for the subject. But the shots I got with it are amazing and the autofocus is superb.

I got both the NX1 and NX500. For the smaller camera I use smaller lenses - 10mm, 30mm, 45mm. The 12-35mm makes the NX500 hang, not sure what's up with that. So the wide-angle zoom only gets used on the NX1 these days. On the NX1 the 15-50S stays on most of the time. This lens is truly amazing as well.

All these NX lenses in my kit are fantastic. If someone came up with a way to adapt them to Fuji cameras I would go for it immediately. The XT4 looks quite tempting, but I wouldn't want to let the NX lenses go to waste.