Definitive solutions to the NX Mini Problem

sillycornlotty wrote:

1. Never use the flimsy 9-27 OIS, because it breaks!

2. Buy 2 bodies for the 2 spectacular lenses, so you no longer needed to swap lens

3. Use NX Mini as Ricoh GR3 and GR3v, so you save money for next trip.

4. Bring both of them when travelling, so you can enjoy fantasy world of both.

and there you go, enjoy NX Mini as if they are premium digital compacts with fixed primes!

Sorry, but there is no solution for the wifi problem. The best remedies are getting a smartphone with mircoSD slot or simply get a cheapo mobile card reader.

Thank you for the useful tips.

I have a couple of remarks:

1. I agree about the 9-27: the ribbon cable inside the lens becomes very fragile over time and can break at any time without a warning.
2. I suggest buying two more bodies : one for the Fuji 2.7mm f/1.8 fisheye with a C adapter ring and one with either the NX 30mm f/2.0 or the NX 45mm f/1.8 lens with a Samsung NX adapter.
3. Then you have everything covered with high quality primes from ultrawide to tele. Better than Ricoh!

Cheers!

Abbazz

ge0rg wrote:

I suggest buying two more bodies : one for the Fuji 2.7mm f/1.8 fisheye with a C adapter ring and one with either the NX 30mm f/2.0 or the NX 45mm f/1.8 lens with a Samsung NX adapter.

That advice is quite great, but looks like the Fujinon 2.7mm is 450$+

I bought it used for much less money with an old CCTV camera attached. Just search for "Axis 212 PTZ" on Google or eBay and you should get dozens of hits. You can buy a non functioning camera but make sure its Fujinon lens is in good shape.

and whom do I need to murder(*) to get the NX / NX-M adapter?

I reckon it is quite rare. I was lucky to buy one from a fellow member here (thanks mate!). Maybe posting WTB ads here and on other photography forums could help? Or asking a Korean fellow member here to help sourcing one in their country?

I'm thinking about getting one of the actually existing adapters for the mini plus an affordable prime just for the fun of it, do you have any recommendations?

There are a few C-mount lenses that work well with the NX Mini, but it's safer to look for a lens with a focal length over 20mm, as many shorter lenses might not have enough image circle for an 1" sensor.

I particularly like the Computar 55mm f/2.8 Telecentric Macro lens or the Tamron 75mm f/3.8 (a 200mm eqv. tele the size of your middle finger). But, believe me, the Fujinon fisheye is the one you need to get first.

Cheers!

Abbazz

sillycornlotty wrote:

While it is fun to own a nx nx-m adapter, from a collector's point of view. I have found using adapter on this camera might entirely defeat the purpose of being nx mini.

The NX Mini with an NX adaptor and the NX 30mm f/2.0 lens remains very compact. The 30mm offers the same angle of view as a 81mm lens on a 24x36 camera: it's an ideal portrait lens,with a fast 2.0 aperture and a perfectly usable autofocus...

The NX 45mm f/1.8 becomes a great fast telephoto (120mm eqv.). The 60mm Macro looks a little goofy on the small camera but it is a long focal (160mm eqv.) macro lens with optical stabilization, something very useful for portraits of skittish critters.

You have a very tiny camera body, then an adapter half the weight of the body, and a lens heavier than the two aforementioned. Practically speaking, it no longer feels like a mini anymore as the combo would make it excessive front heavy.

I used to pair my nikon j5 with FT1 adapter plus various dslr lens, but ended up realizing that kind of setup defeat the purpose of being Nikon1 user, so i have sold many dslr lens already and decided to only use N1 native lens to stay light.

The big difference here is that NX lenses are fully functional on the Mini: aperture control, autofocus and optical stabilization, all work as intended.

There are also many limitations to use larger format lens on smaller sensor cameras. As APSc lens were designed to perform the best on APS-C bodies, you could expect image quality to degrade when using them on smaller format bodies.

You can indeed only use the best lenses, as the 1" sensor has a much higher pixel density. For exemple, in y opinion, the 50-200mm is not good enough to be useful on the Mini. But there are a few great lenses designed for the NX that work well on the Mini: 30mm, 45mm, 60mm Macro, 85mm. Even the lowly 20-50mm is quite good.

Cheers!

Abbazz

What's the point of getting NX Mini in the first place if you can't swap the lens?

Sorry it was sarcasm and didn't get it.

ge0rg wrote:

The question that's bugging me the most is: does manual focus using the lens ring work? The manual focus on the touch screen / backside buttons is catastrophically bad. The only thing it's good for is to frustrate the photographer.

The problem is that the NX Mini lenses have no focusing ring, so manual focusing has to be done through rather inconvenient onscreen touch buttons. All NX lenses, including the 10mm fisheye, have dedicated focusing rings. It is indeed possible to focus with these focusing rings when the lenses are used on the NX Mini. Focusing is just like on the NX cameras: turning the ring magnifies the image on the LCD and controls the focus motor inside the lens.

Here is the 20-50 on the NX Mini in Manual Focus mode:

Cheers!

Abbazz

ge0rg wrote:

I bought it used for much less money with an old CCTV camera attached. Just search for "Axis 212 PTZ" on Google or eBay and you should get dozens of hits. You can buy a non functioning camera but make sure its Fujinon lens is in good shape.

Wow, that's exciting! Quite a few of these cameras ranging around 30$. Now all I need is to find a C adapter...

Beware if you plan to buy from eBay as most of these used cameras in the $30 range are sold without their Fujinon Fisheye. The Axis 212 ptz was a great CCTV camera but it is now becoming obsolete because there are better solutions on the market. Resellers buy lots of these used cameras for cheap from surveillance companies, harvest the Fujinon lenses, then resell the lenses for ten times the purchase price. They also try to sell the useless cameras without their lenses and that's where you have to be cautious,

For example, the camera #392574161402 has no lens, while the #393258408550 or #224170287050 come with the lens.

If you buy one of these cameras, be prepared to use brute force for unscrewing the lens from the camera module. As the lens is sold with the camera as a whole unit which is not meant to be disassembled, the lens is held in place with some kind of strong adhesive which requires quite a lot of torque before it gives way...

And here is a picture taken with this lens on the NX Mini:

Fujinon 2.7mm f/1.8 Fisheye on NX Mini (full picture)

Fujinon 2.7mm f/1.8 Fisheye on NX Mini (center of picture, partially defished, more than 180° horizontal field of view)

Cheers!

Abbazz

ge0rg wrote:

This is probably the only adapter that sells used for more than the cost of the camera it is going on.

Yeah. I saw one on local "craigslist" and made an offer, ~50% of the go-to NX mini price, but it got sold for a higher amount and the seller refused to say how much

I would advise to monitor the Korean market. Even if you don't speak Korean or have no firends in Korea, you can always check proxy sites like GMarket or KoreanBro. For example, they both have the 17mm available right now:

https://koreanbro.com/products/samsung-nx-mini-17mm-silver-lens-refurbished

http://global.gmarket.co.kr/item?goodscode=640354534

Cheers!

Abbazz

markyboy81 wrote:

I'd just be a bit worried that one of those links shows the incorrect aperture

Caveat emptor!

But I suggested these sites mainly as indications for trying to locate an NX Mini to NX lens adapter.

Here's a recent shot with the 20-50mm at 20mm on the NX Mini:

And the same lens at 45mm:

Cheers!

Abbazz

doceyes wrote:

Purchasing a Samsung nx to nx mini adapter ….I think that is the joke of the decade! Did they manufacture 3,4,or 5 of them? This is probably the only adapter that sells used for more than the cost of the camera it is going on.

I guess this is what is called the supply and demand economic model...

The ED-MA4NXM has never been cheap (It was priced at $240 when introduced) and was a commercial failure. I guess the reason is because most of the people who bought the NX Mini were casual photographers looking for a small camera, easy to use and good looking. So they didn't bother to buy the adapter because they had no use for it.

Now, the people who are buying used NX Mini are nerds who are interested in the great versability of this small wonder. Since they want to use the NX Mini with all kind of adapted lenses and photographic contraptions, they are all after the ED-MA4NXM adapter, which is the most useful of all adapters available for the NX Mini. This adapter can be used with NX lenses but also with lenses in other mounts that only have adapters available for NX Mount (and not NX Mini).

So I guess you have to accept to pay a hefty sum for the ED-MA4NXM adapter, since it is such a rare and useful item. By the way, there is one availbale on eBay at the moment. And no, it is not cheap...

Cheers!

Abbazz