King of primes: Samsung NX 85mm f1.4

Some time ago I bought the Samsung NX 85mm f 1.4. I love this lens and, as author of our nx-funs-blog, made small hands-on review. I hate the tests, ‘pixel-pipering’ and other same things, but it is my duty to volunteer .

(all pics in post clickable up to 1920px)

So, first impressions:

Excellent built quality. Very excellent.
Heavy.
Quite wide. NX200 looks like a cap for the back of the lens. But, don’t worry, it’s shorter than 50-200/4-5.6 or 18-200/3.5-6.3.
Convenient in hands.
Silent auto-focus.
Fast. Really fast.
Bokeh… Fantastic!

I think, that this lens shows the level of Samsung photo production – it’s a new stage.

I made few ‘portraits’ of this lens. I was not first in this, but sometimes we could be need in more detailed views of lens than on official pics, so, nxcsc.com should have this.

Side:

Another side:

‘Made in..’ label with serial number:

Lens hood. Quite big. Works fine.

Lock of the hood:

Front lens (Big, is not it?):

Full metal back:

Another back view:

Front view (impressive…):

Side (You’ve guessed it? ):

Keys and blue line:

Size comparison with other lenses:

Scale:

Keys (large):

Glass&Metal:

OK.

Next step – small test.

As I said, I do not like tests. So I am not a professional in this field, my test only gives an idea of sharpness at different lens apertures. And at the same time - comparison it with the other two lenses Samsung NX, which have a 85mm – 18-200/3.5-6.3 & 50-200/4-5.6.

It so happened that I did two tests. Result of the first was not very clean. The second gave me confidence that the conclusions are correct.

So, first part:

Full scene:

(the last time I was asked what it is, so i can say: it’s a color pencils (I’m sure it pencils! ) with russian note – 1k rubles, about 33 USD)

Test result (Samsung NX200, ISO 100, auto WB, A-mode):

(I wonder if we make the same test on older cameras with 14 megapixels, the result will be the same?)

Full set of shots (full size, CaptureOne processed with full default settings) you can download HERE. (449Mb)

Second part:

After the test, I got feedback with doubts that the result is correct. And, of course, i made this test again.

Conditions: camera JPG, auto-focus for each shot, ISO100, A-mode, White Balance – ‘flash’ and true 100% crops in comparison.

Result looks more clean, but the same with first part:

My little conclusion:

This is absolutely a portrait lens (surprisingly, is not it?). Fairly sharp with an open aperture. Giving a level of detail required for photos of people. Do not worry about dermatological portraits, which are obtained by using a macro lens. Contrast ratio is lower than that of telephoto lenses, but very well suited for faces. So we got amazing lens for portrait photography.

Thats all. Just few shots from NX200 with 85/1.4 (The photos were taken in haste. I tried using an open aperture for better visibility of features of the lens – bokeh, sharping etc. All shots resized to 1920px):