Samsung NX 20 mm f/2.8 review - Image resolution

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Samsung NX 20 mm f/2.8

16 January 2013

Arkadiusz Olech

4. Image resolution

A small number of NX system lenses, tested by us so far, doesn’t allow us to tell you unanimously what maximum results can be obtained by the best devices. So far in our tests conducted on the Samsung NX10 camera we’ve had mainly ‘pancakes‘ and the best of them got as high as about 50 lpmm. Traditionally we determine the decency level by measuring the values lenses reach near f/16. In this case it ranges from 34 to 36 lpmm.

The graph below shows the results of the Samsung NX 20 mm f/2.8 in the frame centre and on the edge.

Samsung NX 20 mm f/2.8 - Image resolution

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A great performance in the frame centre sticks out at once – at the maximum relative aperture the lens goes near 47 lpmm. The stopping down doesn’t help much because by f/4.0 and f/5.6 the values are 47-48 lpmm. These are certainly not record-breaking results but, taking into account the aperture fastness of the lens and its size, we find them satisfying. In this category the tested lens can be certainly praised.

However, it must pay for its ‘pancake‘ quality with the performance on the edge of the frame. First of all the results lag behind the values in the frame centre very significantly. Additionally the image at the maximum relative aperture is far from being useful and only the stopping down to f/4.0 can take it to a decent level.

In the photos below we present crops of our test chart taken from JPEG files which were saved using the lowest sharpening level.