Every camera brand has a few consensus picks: lenses or gadgets that every owner must choose or at least consider. For NX owners the 30mm f/2 pancake is one of these. Its tiny size, fast aperture and wonderful image quality is unmatched by the several kit zooms that overlap this focal length. Consider that Pentax has their FA 31mm film lens that is universally praised at around $900, and I picked up the 30mm for $175 (to my surprise and delight). I cannot compare the FA31 and NX30 as I never paid that amount for any Pentax lens - but I can say with confidence that images with the NX 30/2 are consistently great and fully deserving of its acclaim. And being tiny it has no reason to stay at home!
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| 30mm f/2 wide open |
Samsung has other pancakes at 16 and 20mm. Those are also convenient and faster than zooms in the range, but for the most part reviews are less consistently positive than for the 30. None of the pancakes include stabilization, which is too bad. Perhaps in the future I will pick up
one or both but for now zooms, the 30mm and a few Pentax primes will do just fine.
