A Samsung press conference is two things: Packed with reporters (the lines to get in can be hundreds of yards long) and packed with products. This last is no surprise, as Samsung is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of anything that uses electricity.
Even so, I wasn’t quite expecting the number of lenses that formed just a small part of the Korean company’s PMA 2010 flood of products. The five chunks of glass are all destined to end up on the NX10 camera body throughout 2010 (and if you think there won’t be other – probably smaller – cameras in the NX range coming soon, you’re crazy).
The NX10 us the first of Samsung’s EVIL cameras, bodies with electronic viewfinders and interchangeable lenses. These have no mirrors inside, so they’re small, but they still use big imaging chips for better quality, less noisy pictures. They’re so hot right now.
The lenses can also be smaller, which means they need to be made especially for the new bodies. And as lenses are the most important part of any camera system, Samsung is popping them out like a chicken lays eggs. Here’s the list:
18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6
20mm ƒ2.8 pancake
60mm ƒ2.7 macro
20-50mm ƒ3.5-5.6
18-200mm OIS ƒ3.5-6.3
It’s all fairly self explanatory, but I have a few thoughts. First, remember that the NX10 has an APS-C-size sensor, which gives a crop-factor of 1.5x. So while that Olympus and Panasonic’s 20mm lenses end up at a 35mm equivalent of 40mm (2x crop factor), this pancake is like a 30mm wide-angle, which makes the relatively slow ƒ2.8 maximum aperture normal for its focal length.
Second, these lenses join the three already announced at CES this year, one of which was a 30mm ƒ2 pancake (also a 50-200mm ƒ4-5.6 and an 18-55mm ƒ3.5-5.6). That lens is the real rival to the fast standard lenses from Panasonic and Olympus.
And third, these new lenses, which will start to show up in stores in the first half of this year, give NX buyers a pretty comprehensive lens system, running from 18mm (27mm equivalent) all the way up to 200mm (300mm equivalent), and everything longer than wide-angle has image stabilization inside.
Sure, there are gaps, but considering that the camera didn’t exist until about six weeks ago, it’s not bad going. That’s the advantage that comes of starting from scratch, and being the kind of company that makes everything from washing machines to cellphones (lots of factory space).
But being big isn’t all good. It means some things slip out that shouldn’t have. Take this snippet from the press release for these new lenses:
>Consumer research carried out by Samsung revealed that camera users want convenient and easy-to-use features which guarantee value and creative freedom through innovative concepts.
Meaningless.
Samsung Unveils Five New NX Lenses [Samsung]
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