I guess Samsung managers are hitting their heads against the wall trying to figure out why their NX system isn’t becoming popular as it should. There could be many reason why their strategy isn’t working but it certainly doesn’t depend form their lens offering (and future roadmap). Photozone (Click here) just tested the Samsung 85mm f/1.4 lens and got a huge appraisal by the reviewer Klaus. If you know Klaus you will also know that he is very sever in his judgment. But he writes about that lens: “The Samsung NX 85mm f/1.4 ED SSA is a lighthouse product – it’s a truly professional grade lens and the best news is that it’s even a comparatively affordable one (in Europe at least). It stands out from the crowd – also quality-wise – which is why we recommend it highly to all Samsung NX users.“
Overall I think Samsung needs a breakthrough camera like Fuji did with the , Sony with the or Olympus with the [shoplink 100170]E-M5[/shoplink]. Maybe that would help them to get a momentum?
Menatime here are the search links to the superb Samsung lens: .
69 Responses
The selection of native NX lenses may be good meanwhile but a mirrorless system without the option to adapt M-mount lenses is a big disadvantage compared to the competitors.
That´s not true, everyone doesn´t want expend thousand of dollars for M-lenses.
Great lens, but not excellent. I have recently checked Nikon 85mm test results at Photozone: This lens reaches a resolution of 2800 and a Nikon 85/1.4 reaches 4000, the 1.8 version 3700…..
You can’t compare that way. The figure is Line Widths per Page Height (LW/PH) and the page height is the height of the sensor. So a 16mm (approx) APS-C sensor vs a 24mm on the vertical 135 format full frame sensor, and the 135 format should be about 1.5 times the LW/PH since the page height is 1.5 times as much.
What that means is if the NX200 is resolving 2800 LW/PH and the 135 format is resolving 4000, the NX200 is doing better in an absolute sense because the 135 format camera should be resolving 4200 LW/PH to have the same absolute pixel level resolution.
Not to mention, you shouldn’t compare this type of metric directly between cameras. It is meant to compare how sharp one lens is next to another on the same system. You could mount the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4G on the NX and do a real comparison.
sorry, misplaced.
Yep, a rangefinder camera is the only thing that can save nx
i think they should adopt Zeiss Ikon for the body design!!!
that will boost their sales as well…
I looked at the Samsung in a shop. It feels great in the hand and has a super fast focus.
Nevertheless I hated zooming into the pics, as the noise reduction destroyes everything, takes away any details. So Samsung, do better and your cams will sell.
Well if a company brings out those humongous lenses for a mirrorless system which is designed for portability, sales will definitely not take off.
Bad advertisement for Samsung photo business.
If they adopt rangefinder style they are done…
They would need to make all the lenses small to look attractive on their aps-c rangefinder.
Looks is what creates the buzz and sells 50% of the cameras of this type
Again, it is not very hard to see why the NX system doesn’t take off and possibly never will. Brand image, Sony and Panasonic are the only outsiders from the traditional that play in the main league and sell. I think they represent the very limit of the proconsumer. Samsung is seen as a very good producer of…well…er… everything, TVs, phones, cranes, ships, cars (yes, the Renault Koleos is made by Samsung), but not of a very particular product known to the consummer.
I don’t think a 85/1,4 lens is a good offering for the NX system. It is way too large pretty useless without an electronic viewfinder.
My suggestio to Sammy would be to develop a simple camera like the Lumix GF-3/5 to try to seduce high end samsung users to move to the NX system. They seem to be doing the opposite, trying to bring in folks from the major names…like if!
The NX20 is a good balance for this lens and the Macro 60mm.
Like Panasonic they need a DSLR-styled camera because the don´t have a real DSLR segment.
Samsung already have small bodies like NX210 and NX1000.
They clearly need bring more pancakes but also few more Premium lenses like this 85mm.
+1
> There could be many reason why their strategy isn’t working
1. Poor cooperation with 3rd parties to receive RAW support sooner than later. Bundled software is all good and well, but most photogs already have established workflows centered around other tools.
2. The #1 confines many reviewers to test with OOC JPEGs which are pretty … poor. Samsung should license JPEG engine from Oly or Sony (or allow hackers to write a better one for them).
3. NX cameras are (or were) relatively expensive.
4. Camera customization options are very limited (e.g. the infamous hard-wired noise reduction at high ISOs). Price-wise cameras are targeted at enthusiasts, but feature-wise they are as if targeted at amateurs.
5. At least in past I heard that Samsung was very picky to whom they were offering their cameras for review (aka: free review samples). Obviously reviewers would review first the cameras of manufacturers who are providing timely a free review sample and are willing to help in other ways to get the review out sooner.
First of all, this 85mm is designed for a crop sensor only – thus making it cheaper to produce (presumably). I don’t know of any 85mm primes from any of the other manufacturers that are designed for a crop sensor only. I know it’s nit-picking but it is worth considering.
Samsung do have some nice lenses in their lineup and more to follow, but their cameras are pretty dull. You have the NXxx series which are just slightly smaller, slightly less performing SLRs. The the NXxxx series, the first was a HIDEOUS camera and pretty crappily made to boot. The second didn’t have an EVF option, nor a tillable screen, so pretty much sticks it in Pentax K-01 territory, except not quite as high IQ or lens options.
It also seems to me the NX were quite inexpensive when they came out, which was a real plus for them, but seem now more expensive than their competitors.
Lastly: availability. I don’t see anywhere stocking them at all.
I have an NX10 and I think it is a great little camera, but the only one they have released/announced since then that interests me is the new NX1000. Cheap, but doesn’t skimp from it’s higher end brothers too much, is decent looking, has smart phone control capabilities and better IQ than earlier models. This is the ONLY NX Samsung should have released, maybe the NX20 I guess, but if they had an EVF add-on for the 1000 that would be enough.
and another very good samsung NX 85mm F1.4 photo review http://www.popco.net/zboard/view.php?id=dica_review&no=786
The problem with NX is that it’s caught between a Micro 4/3rds rock and an NEX hard place. If you’re one of those people who thinks sensor size is everything, NEX fulfils your needs with better quality sensors in small, well-specced bodies. If on the other hand you recognise that optical performance and lens selection also matters, then Micro 4/3rds is a much better fit for your needs. NX is neither one nor the other – it was dead the day Sony launched NEX, taking away NX’s only unique selling point (as APS-C sensor in a compact body).
Absolutely,
m43 is the most proven system now (in great measure due to the Panasonic GH2 and Olympus E-M5). Samsung should offer their best lenses in m43 as well as NX – this 85mm is one I would like to have. However, time will tell. Samsung are doing much better than Sony or Panasonic in many other areas of consumer electronics.
I also wrote a review (posted Monday) if anyone is interested:
http://erphotoreview.com/wordpress/?p=2595
Eric
Here in the US, it’s $1K, so not quite in the affordable category for me.
It’s not that hard to see, I think.
First of all, few people are aware of NX system, but I agree and I’ve been saying this for quite a while, their lenses selection and roadmap are everything that a NEX user would just dream of.
Panasonic/Olympus have the advantage of starting first, having a more established system. Sony have their market and name, plus the different design, good sensor, etc. Samsung came late, maybe too late, it’s pretty common fact, a late challenger failing to succeed in a established market, see Windows Phone, for instance, it’s a good phone, different UI, but it came too late.
Nikon is just Nikon, although the 1 System sells, it’s not very attractive, same size as the m4/3, even smaller sensor, basic lenses only so far. The Fuji XPRO came BIG, with astonishing IQ, rivaling the FF cameras and exploring a market that doesn’t have competitors and that was waiting for someone to step up – a lot of people thought that Canon e Nikon would explore that PRO market. Canon is canon, but nonetheless, they have to come with something big, it’s becoming pretty crowded. Pentax didn’t do much, since they kept the K-Mount, it’s basically their DSLR, but now it’s mirrorless, same flange distance, they figured it wouldn’t worth enter this late and have to start from scratch in the lenses department. I’m not really counting Ricoh on this.
My suggestion for Samsung? You have to make a statement, a bold one, Samsung has been coming with good small ideas, like iFn button, turning the WiFi connection a standard in their line up, but they need a bigger leap, if not it would be such a waste of what they have accomplished with their lenses selection so far.
What Samsung needs to do is read the book on Steve Jobs—then they might come out with a disruptive force that can catapult them to relevance.
I’m not sure reading a book would help much, they might even have done that already. What they need to do is make good cameras and lenses and make the prices really competitive. Since they aready have good cameras and lenses that leaves the price.
Am I the only one who thinks that Samsung NX cameras and lenses are just ugly? I guess Apple not producing cameras is a huge minus for the design department in Samsung.
anyway I dont see Samsung committed to their cameras. they announce 3 cameras on the same day, and they dont seem to care too much about them. there are too few reviews also.
despite the worse lens offering from Sony, I think the tie with the alpha line makes them a more credible competitor in the mirrorless market.
As great a lens this is, the 85mm is a brick in weight relative to the bodies. I know it balances ‘better’ with the NX20 design but when one of the key features of mirrorless is size/weight improvement, the lens puts what you’re carrying on your shoulder strap back to dSLR weight.
Those with a NX200 or NX1000 would have difficulties with this imbalance unless there was an EVF option of some sort.
superb… and so small……
There is always at least one “ugly camera” comment every time a new camera is shown. wtf.
It’s not just the resolution, which is great from wide open. It is the lack of CA’s, great bokeh, and colors. The build quality is top notch. Mine was $750 new – a steal.
Photozone says something? Who cares? Nerd alarm!
Perhaps if Samsung marketed the NX system as well as they marketed their TVs, phones, and appliances their Imaging managers could stop beating their heads against the wall.
Perhaps if Samsung switched to M43, had a good look at what Panasonic and Olympus don’t provide, and filled a few gaps in the market, the wall would be relieved.
Samsung would then have two revenue streams – cameras that no one else provides and lenses that would fit on many, many existing cameras.
I think now is too late for Samsung in the mirrorless sector, the momentum once Canon is in will be lost.
Now there are too many options, and the direct Sensor competitor (Sony) has a too good camera (despite the lenses).
Those who want to buy different can get the Fuji, cannot see any market for Samsung.
I think Samsung clearly knows what its doing otherwise why would they be the #1 electronics company in the world. They are almost twice as big as Sony in terms of revenu. Samsung might not sell well in the States but in Korea alone they have the entire market and probably other places in Asia where the the sales are much more important than North America. I think they just need time for people to assimilate the fact that Samsung is ALSO making cameras and not just TVs and rice cookers. Lets face it, it’s not the technological knowledge or $$$ that will stop them.
One of the main reasons I rejected the NEX system, about two years ago (and I did have a look at them in shops) was the lack of native superwide lenses, a deficiency Samsung have still not addressed. I was also suspicious of the lack of lens information (MTF curves) on their website, something which they still do not seem to have addressed.
If I was looking at the system now, the only improvement is the presence of the 60mm macro lens. I would regard the 85 mm f1.4 as irrelevant, too big and heavy and a sign of muddled thinking. If they want to make a “portrait” lens then something at 55-60mm with f1.8 would serve the needs of most people and be much smaller and more affordable.
Is it really a marketing issue though? When I was first looking at mirrorless cameras over a year ago my assessment of Samsung was great lenses, crappy sensor. Sony, on the other hand, had a great sensor but crappy and too big lens selection. So I passed on both and went m4/3. But as the majority of camera buyers never move beyond the kit lens, having the better sensor is a much more important selling point than a better lens lineup. For those “kit lens only” type folks, Sony wins hands down. And what about the more advanced users who want to use expensive legacy glass? Again, Sony wins. The substandard sensor was really something that was holding Samsung back. If they fixed that, then they need to publicize it better. If they haven’t, then that is their problem and they need to address it. A good JPEG engine is a must in this sort of camera too. You can’t just tell people to shoot raw because most people buying this class of camera don’t want to do any post processing.
Im not sure why you suggest NX camera aren’t good with legacy glass. Personally i find the manual controls on the NX camera very well suited. Sony do use focus peeking which is a nice touch, but i cant say im crying out for it.
I would agree that the NX range is more suited to users who use raw. I think both the sensor on older and newer NX is rather good, but you do want to stick to raw for best results.
For people who will not be expanding their lens collect and shooting jpeg. i would agree m4/3 is a better option.
samsung is more “me too” than “breakthrough”.
one proper lens cannot save the show! btw, is that thing HUGE or what?!
Have you considered adding some differing opinions to the article? I think it will really enhance viewers understanding.
I could suggest to visit this gallery of “real world” picture i’ve shooted with the Samsung 85mm f/1.4 and the Nx-200. I think this lens is stunning!
http://www.corsi-workshop-fotografia.it/samsung-85-mm-f1-4-test/