Samsung 85mm f/1.4 ED SSA NX Lens Review

Samsung 85mm f/1.4 ED SSA NX Handling and features

Due to the fast f/1.4 maximum aperture, this lens is quite large when paired with a mirrorless camera, although it remains reasonably lightweight at around 450g, and so balances fairly well on the Samsung NX20 body used for testing.

Autofocus is very quick for a lens of this type, locking onto static subjects almost instantly with enough accuracy to make good use of the shallow depth of field created by the fast f/1.4 maximum aperture. The manual focusing ring has a smooth action and is well damped, which makes applying fine focus adjustments relatively straightforward. It can be grabbed at any time during autofocus and adjusted manually. Closest focus is 81cm, which is fairly typical for a lens of this type.

A 67mm filter thread is supplied, which does not rotate during focusing. This makes the lens ideal for use with graduated or polarising filters. High quality plastics have been used for much of the lens' construction and the lens mount is metal, which helps to convey an overall impression of good build quality.

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