Samsung Lenses

Est. 1938 · Suwon and Seoul, South Korea · 3 lenses

Samsung began as a trading company in 1938, while Samsung Electronics, the business behind the NX camera system, was founded in 1969. Samsung entered consumer imaging through compact film and digital cameras, then worked with Pentax on GX-series DSLRs before developing its own mirrorless platform. The result was the NX system, launched publicly with the NX10 in 2010: an APS-C mirrorless camera line using a short-flange Samsung NX mount and electronically coupled native lenses.

Samsung's NX lens program was unusually broad for a short-lived system. Early lenses included the 30 mm f/2 pancake, 18-55 mm OIS, and 50-200 mm OIS; later designs added compact pancakes, macros, portrait primes, and premium S-series zooms. The i-Function control concept put camera settings behind a lens-mounted button and focus-ring interface, an attempt to make lens handling part of the camera's main control language.

The NX1 and NX500 generation showed how much sensor, processor, video, and autofocus technology Samsung could bring to cameras, and lenses such as the 16-50 mm f/2-2.8 S and 50-150 mm f/2.8 S made the system credible beyond entry-level mirrorless. Samsung withdrew from dedicated camera markets in the mid-2010s and the NX system became dormant, but the optical work remains a compact example of a major electronics company briefly building a complete interchangeable-lens ecosystem from scratch.

Notable designs: NX 30mm f/2 pancake, NX 16mm f/2.4, NX 45mm f/1.8, NX 85mm f/1.4 ED SSA, NX 60mm f/2.8 Macro OIS, NX 16-50mm f/2-2.8 S, NX 50-150mm f/2.8 S, NX Mini lenses