Conclusion

As the second lens in Samsung's premium "S" series, the Samsung S 50-150mm f/2.8 ED OIS is another serious statement of intent, offering excellent image quality, great build quality, weather-proofing, and intuitive handling. It is very large and heavy, though, dwarfing some of the smaller NX camera bodies, and the sky-high price will undoubtedly put off all but the keenest of Samsung enthusiasts.

The Samsung S 50-150mm f/2.8 ED OIS managed to exceed our expectations in terms of sharpness and general image quality. Centre sharpness in particular is good to very good when shooting wide open at f/2.8 at all focal lengths, with the edges being quite decent too, and both being excellent when stopped down to f/4. The lens is also very well corrected for chromatic aberrations – you have to look really hard to find any trace of them, even along contrasty edges. Close-up performance is nothing to write home about – with a maximum magnification of 0.17x and a close-focus point of 0.7m, the Samsung S 50-150mm f/2.8 ED OIS certainly won't double as a macro lens, but at least the working range is decent.

The Samsung S 50-150mm f/2.8 ED OIS was very fast to focus even on the new Samsung NX1 camera that we tested it with, with the ability to customise the focus range making it more than capable of shooting fast-moving subjects. The internal focusing mechanism makes the use of polarisers and graduated neutral density filters easy, as it keeps the filter thread from rotating on focus. The OIS system allows the use of shutter speeds that might otherwise result in blurry photos, while the weather-proofing means that you can keep on shooting even in inclement conditions (just so long as your camera body is weather-proof too).

Priced at around £1200 / $1600 in the UK and the US respectively, the Samsung S 50-150mm f/2.8 ED OIS is certainly a very serious investment, but if you can stomach the cost and use one of the larger Samsung camera bodies, then the combination of the classic focal range and fast aperture may prove too hard to resist.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	4