Both Canon and Nikon entered the mirrorless space with a moratorium on third party lenses, but Nikon has been more proactive about easing that stance, and now we are seeing a wave of excellent third party lenses come to Z-mount. I’m new to Z-mount myself, but I bought the excellent Nikon Z8 with a mind to being able to cover both Nikon Z-mount products as well as evaluate how third party lenses perform on Z-mount. I spent time with the excellent Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 in May 2023 on Sony, and gave it high marks in my review there. I’m delighted to see this excellent lens come to Z-mount, as at the moment there really aren’t high quality wide angle primes wider than 20mm on the platform. The Viltrox 16Z will really fit a need here. This review will explore how well the Viltrox navigates the transfer to Z-mount. Find out more in my video review below or by reading my text review…or just enjoy the photos below.

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Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review copy of this lens.   As always, this is a completely independent review.  All opinions and conclusions are my own. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the 45MP Nikon Z8, which I reviewed here.

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The 16mm was Viltrox’s first full frame lens to receive their new build, feature, and optical performance upgrades, which include weather sealing, the option to declick the aperture, two custom function buttons (more on that later), and, in a feature not seen since the Zeiss Batis series, an LCD screen on the lens that serves a variety of purposes. The response to this lens on E mount has been nothing short of enthusiastic, and I fully anticipate more of the same on Z-mount. Cameras like the Z8 are great landscape cameras while also being capable of capturing fast action; a 16mm lens with a fast maximum aperture can be handy for both.

But the Viltrox 16Z does not just impress on a feature level.  This is a very wide angle lens (105.6° angle of view) that also happens to have a larger than average maximum aperture of F1.8 – that’s  1 1/3rd stop faster than the typical F2.8 zoom that covers this focal length.  It manages to do this while retaining a moderate size (105mm in length) and weight (5653g) while delivering an exceptional optical performance.

This is a professional grade lens in both features and performance and will easily be perceived as being a very strong value.  The MSRP as it comes to market is $549 USD (though if you buy it from the Viltrox store and use code DUSTINABBOTT you can get 8% any Viltrox product, including this lens), which makes this lens an absolute bargain. The closest competitor on Nikon at the moment is the Nikkor 20mm F1.8 S, a lens that costs nearly double that of the Viltrox while offering fewer features.  That’s certainly going to make it interesting to perspective buyers!

Build and Handling

Image Quality Breakdown

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GEAR USED:

Purchase the Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 @ Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 8% off) | B&H | Nuzira | Adorama | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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Purchase the Nikon Z8 @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

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