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Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/2.4
Exposure
1/2500s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/2.4
Exposure
1/640s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/11.0
Exposure
1/250s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/2.4
Exposure
1/2000s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/8.0
Exposure
1/320s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
800
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/4.0
Exposure
1/200s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/2.4
Exposure
1/2500s
Make
SAMSUNG
Model
NX200
ISO Speed
200
Focal Length
16.0mm
Aperture:
f/5.6
Exposure
1/800s
Verdict
The Samsung NX 16mm f/2.4 gave us quite a ride during testing - it has some bright aspects but it's certainly not without issues. The center portion of the image field is extremely sharp even at max. aperture but the corner and border quality leaves something to be desired till reaching very good results between f/4-f/8. However, this is not the complete story here. The lens suffers from a hefty degree of field curvature so it is generally advisable to stop down to f/11 in order to hide the curved focus field within the increased depth-of-field at this setting. A smart positioning of the AF field is also a good idea. Lateral CAs are usually nothing to worry about. The amount of light fall-off can be disturbing at large aperture settings so it is advisable to stop down to f/4 if needed. Another weakness of the lens is the very heavy amount of (native) barrel distortion. However, most NX users will probably prefer to enable distortion auto-correction anyway so this may not be an overly important issue from a real-life perspective.
The build quality of the lens is very fine and very comparable to its cousin, the NX 20mm f/2.8. Given its extremely light-weight nature it is not a "substantial" lens but we can't really find much to complain about (there's no weather sealing if you wish). The AF speed is pretty high and the noise level is unobtrusive. At less than 250EUR/350US$ it is an affordable lens although it is no bargain offer considering its performance problems due to field curvature.
