Viltrox EVO 85mm F2 FE Review

Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review copy of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV and the Sony A1 II. You can find the listing for the EVO 85mm F2 here.

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Viltrox EVO Series Lens Reviews

• EVO 85mm F2

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AI SUMMARY: The Viltrox EVO 85mm F2 FE is a compact, lightweight lens that offers impressive optical performance at an exceptional price point of $275 USD. It features a robust build with a declickable aperture, weather sealing hints, and a USB-C firmware update port, making it versatile and user-friendly. The lens delivers notable sharpness, contrast, and minimal chromatic aberration across various shooting conditions, including portraits and landscapes. Overall, it fills a niche for affordable, high-performance autofocus 85mm lenses, appealing especially to budget-conscious photographers seeking quality.

Strengths:

• Outstanding sharpness and contrast, especially wide open at F2
• Compact, lightweight, and well-built with a feature-rich design (declickable aperture, programmable button, weather-sealing hints)
• Excellent value for the price, offering performance comparable or superior to more expensive alternatives
• Good autofocus performance for stills and smooth video AF, along with minimal flare and good resistance to optical issues

Weaknesses:

• Limited weather sealing, possibly only partial at mount and front element
• Some vignette and corner softness at wider apertures requiring correction
• No lens-based stabilization, reliance on in-camera stabilization
• Autofocus motor, while good, is not as silent or fast as higher-end focus systems (e.g., HyperVCM)

There are 85mm F1.4 and F1.8 lenses on Sony, but to this point no 85mm F2 autofocus lenses. The primary competitors to the EVO 85mm will be the LK Samyang 85mm F1.8 Prima (an excellent little lens), the Sony FE 85mm F1.8, and the admittedly long-in-the-tooth but still popular Viltrox AF 85mm F1.8, one of their earliest lenses. Of these three, I consider the LK Samyang to be most direct competitor, as it is another modern lens that isn’t priced in a completely different class. It is more expensive (at $399 USD), but not like the Sony ($698), or, worse still, the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8 at a whopping $1249 USD. I’ll reserve my comparisons to the Samyang, as it is a lens that I recently reviewed (July of 2025) and still have on hand to directly compare.

85mm Comparisons

F2 is not a particularly bright maximum aperture for an 85mm lens, but the EVO 85mm compensates by delivering outstanding sharpness at F2. Images have a lot of pop, with excellent contrast, color, and detail.

In many ways a good optical analog is the Zeiss Loxia 85mm F2.4, a lens that also has a slower maximum aperture but compensates by delivering outstanding performance wide open. That Loxia lens was a manual focus lens with an MSRP well north of $1000, however, so once again Viltrox delivers extraordinary bang for the buck. I think a lot of people are going to love this new EVO 85mm because it is small, inexpensive, but delivers a feature rich build and great optics in that small package.

Let’s explore the details…

Viltrox EVO 85mm Build and Handling

I absolutely love the formula Viltrox has chosen for this new mid-level series, as it checks just about all the boxes for me. The first is a robust approach to aperture control, starting with an aperture ring that can be used with traditional “clicks” at the one-third of a stop points throughout the aperture range.

The aperture ring works perfectly here, with markings at the one third stop positions and light detents at those places if you have the “clicks” on. You also have a declick option where you can smoothly rack from F2 to F16. There is a firmer detent between F16 and the A (automatic) option which will allow aperture to be controlled from within the camera. The one aperture feature that is missing is an iris lock which would allow you to either lock into or out of the aperture ring.

I was able to perform aperture racks in the declicked mode without visible steps. It is worth noting that the EVO 85mm is the only lens in this class that has this level of feature set, which is impressive considering that it is also the cheapest (the Meike 85mm F1.8 is cheaper, yes, but it is nowhere near this class of lens).

The iris itself has 9 aperture blades, and these make for a nicely rounded aperture (though with a slight outline of the blades) even when stopped down a fair bit. Here’s what the bokeh geometry looks like from F2.8-F5.6:

When the blades are retracted, there is a pretty decent amount of glass in there.

Other features include an AF | MF switch and a custom/Fn button that can be programmed to various functions from within the camera.

We’ve got a shiny new EVO badge on the side of the lens.

Viltrox is a little more coy about the weather sealing on the EVO lineup. There is no mention of weather sealing in the packet that they sent me, though I do see a weather sealing gasket at the lens mount and the information packet does mention a special coating on the front element to resist moisture and fingerprints. I suspect that weather sealing is limited to those two seal points and doesn’t approach the more thorough level seen on the PRO and LAB series of lenses. I will update this review if I discover otherwise after public release.

You probably also noted the USB-C port in the lens mount that allows you to do firmware updates right to the lens.  I’m a fan of this approach, as it eliminates the need for a separate dock or lens station for firmware updates, and I find the process a little more intuitive than even doing firmware updates through the camera.  Viltrox gives you a variety of ways to do the firmware updates. Here’s the screen I got after doing a firmware update via their PC app.

The build materials feel like they fall somewhere between the AIR and PRO series. The body is engineered plastics rather than the magnesium-aluminum alloy found in the PRO series, but the finish is more upscale. It’s a great looking little lens and feels more high end than the LK Samyang Prima 85mm.

This is an extremely nice build quality for this price point.

Included is a small pouch and the lens hood. The lens hood is plastic, yes, but it is also fairly thick and robust. It bayonets on a little too tightly for my tastes, but on the upside it locks into place with good firmness and doesn’t move around.

There is no lens based stabilization, so you will need to rely upon the in-camera stabilization if your camera is so equipped.

The EVO 85mm is a moderately lightweight lens that actually competes nicely in this class of lens. The smallest and lightest lens in the class is the LK Samyang 85mm F1.8, which is just 71.5mm in length and weighs in at 272g. The EVO 85mm is a one millimeter slimmer in diameter at 69mm (2.71″) but is a bit longer at 76mm (2.99″) in length. It weighs in at 340g (12oz), though, to be fair, it has some features (like an aperture ring) that the Samyang lacks. The Sony 85mm F1.8 is both bigger (78 x 82mm) and heavier (371g) despite also lacking the aperture ring, so it feels like Viltrox has done a good job on keeping the size and weight moderate.

The front filter thread is the smallest in the class at just 58mm. Perhaps this is a byproduct of having a slightly smaller maximum aperture.

The manual focus ring is tightly ribbed and moves nicely. It has a medium weight to it, but is nicely reactive and doesn’t have any apparent lag. I was able to focus smoothly and with precision. Full time manual override is not available, however.

The EVO 85mm can focus as closely as 74cm and produces a decent 0.13x magnification. In an absolute sense, 0.13x is unimpressive, but 85mm lenses have a low standard in this metric. This is a closer minimum focus distance than all the competing lenses, and the maximum magnify either ties or betters all of them. Here’s what the magnification looks like.

Up close performance at F2 is excellent, with a nice, flat plane of focus and good sharpness and contrast.

If the Viltrox AF 85mm F2 EVO is anything to go by, the EVO series is going to hit the sweet spot for a lot of people. This is a LOT of lens for the money, but thankfully it isn’t a lot of lens when it comes to traveling! $275 (or less!) is amazing value for the quality of lens you are getting here; the build and handling are excellent.

Autofocus for Stills

Viltrox has now moved to higher end HyperVCM (voice-coil motor) focus in their recent premium lenses, but it looks like they will be sticking with their STM motors for the AIR and EVO series. These lenses have smaller optical elements to push in their focus group, so the STM (stepping motor) produces enough thrust. Focus isn’t quite GM level fast (the best are basically instant), but focus moves back and forth with almost no lag. In this shot, for example, I had to walk quickly ahead of someone who was blocking my view and snap the camera up and grab the shot before my subject moved out of the composition I wanted and before the other person walked back into frame. No problem.

Focus was also consistently accurate, locking onto very slim subjects and delivering excellent focus.

The focus motor is quiet but not as silent as their HyperVCM focus motors. There’s a very light whirring to be heard if you put your ear right up to the lens barrel.

Portrait results were flawless, delivering perfectly focused results even in a backlit situation (and, due to flash issues, no front fill!).

I had no problem tracking the moderate action of people playing lawn games.

As per usual, my recommendation for those wanting to photograph fast action on Sony is to use a first party Sony lens. They tend to have good autofocus, for one, but also Sony does a few things to advantage its own lenses and disadvantage third party lenses.

For most things, however, the EVO 85mm F2 is going to work great.

In general I found focus to be pretty great.

Video AF

STM motors definitely cover a spectrum of performance, and fortunately the STM motor in the EVO 85mm is one of the better ones. Video focus pulls were smooth and crisp, with no visible steps and confident focus lock. There is some focus breathing, but not bad for an 85mm lens. I would consider the quantity of focus breathing to be on the lower side for an 85mm, though, as a third party lens, the focus breathing compensation available on some Sony cameras will not work.

My “hand test” where I alternatively block and unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand went well, with smooth and confident transitions from my hand to my face and back, though sometimes focus wanted to stay locked on my face rather than transitioning to my hands.