Viltrox has proven to be an aggressive new player on the lens market that isn’t afraid to take some risks.  I started reviewing manual focus lenses from them, which quickly turned to autofocus lenses.  They’ve boldly gone into new market space – Fuji X, Canon M, Canon RF, Nikon Z, along with the Sony platform they started on.  What’s interesting is that three of those platforms (Canon RF, Fuji X, and Nikon Z) have been mostly closed platforms with little apparent interest in third party development (though that is changing over at Fuji).  The newest lens from Viltrox is the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 STM which joins the Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8 STM as one of their very best to date.  

Why?  Because it builds on the formula they’ve had to date but improves some key areas of weakness that I’ve consistently seen over my many Viltrox reviews.  The Viltrox AF13 has the most mature autofocus performance I’ve yet seen (and that is on Fuji, as the XF mount is the one that arrived to market first.  I typically don’t find autofocus performance as good on Fuji as I do on Sony or Canon).  They’ve done a great job of reducing distortion and chromatic aberrations relative to previous lenses.  That’s particularly impressive when you consider that this is the widest lens that Viltrox has made to date and also when you consider how wide the maximum aperture is at this focal length (F1.4).

So how wide is this lens?  Since it is designed for APS-C cameras, you have to apply the crop factor of the camera to the effective focal length.  Fuji’s is called 1.5x (like Sony), but is actually a little larger than that, so we get a 20mm full frame equivalent rather than the 19.5mm we’ll see on Sony.  Either way, this is a great focal length.  It isn’t extreme but is rather in what I call the “sweet spot” for most landscape and architectural use.  Interior spaces look wide but still natural in a way that wider focal lengths can lack.

You can see the low levels of distortion in the lines of the room.  This will be a nice lens for those that want to do real estate video or photos.

It’s not a perfect lens, as we’ll see, and there are still a few of the familiar Viltrox weaknesses around, but I do think the new Viltrox AF13 is one of Viltrox’s best efforts to date.  The MSRP as it comes to market is $430 USD (though if you buy it from the Viltrox store and use code DUSTINABBOTT you can get 10% any Viltrox product, including this lens) .  For that money you are getting a nicely built, versatile lens, though it isn’t a perfect performance.  You can get more details by watching my video review or reading my text review…or just enjoy the photos below.

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Thanks to Viltrox for sending me an evaluation copy of the 13mm F1.4.  As always, this is a completely independent review.

Images of the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4

Images taken with the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 

Gear Used:

Purchase the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 STM @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% 0ff)| Pergear  | Amazon UK 

Purchase the Fujifilm X-T4 @B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase the Viltrox AF 33mm F1.4 XF @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase the FUJIFilm X-T3 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay

Purchase the Fujifilm X-S10 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Purchase the FUJIFILM X-T30 @ B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Ebay 

Peak Design Leash Strap:  Peak Design Store | B&H Photo | Amazon | Amazon Canada  | Amazon UK
BenQ SW271 4K Photo Editing Monitor – B&H Photo  | Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon UK
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Exposure Software X7 (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
Visit Dustin’s Amazon Storefront and see his favorite gear

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