Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 X Review

It’s been about 3 weeks since I released my review of the Sony E-mount version of this lens, but I wanted to revisit with an X-mount review because A) this is an important lens for X-mount and B) the most natural competition for the lens comes in the form of the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR, a lens I happen to own. I love the optics in the 56mm Fuji, but the autofocus motor is coarse and primitive. The Viltrox Pro 56mm offers the robust build (including thorough weather sealing) and awesome optics of the Fuji lens but adds their high end HyperVCM focus motors for faster, quieter, and smoother autofocus. I have the unique opportunity to test both the Sony E-mount version along with the Fuji X-mount version, as Viltrox sent me test copies of both. When it comes to things like autofocus, the Sony platform is more sophisticated than Fuji, so lenses typically perform better there. That doesn’t really help Fuji shooters, however, so this secondary review will key in on specific areas where the build, autofocus, and optical performance (on Fuji’s demanding 40MP sensor) diverge from the Sony E-mount version. Is the $580 Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 X as good as the $1200 Fuji lens, or, gulp, even better? You can either read on in this review or watch the video review linked below to find out.

Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 E APS-C Review | Viltrox Steamrolls the Competition

Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review sampler 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 are done on my 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 camera. You can see the product page for the 56mm F1.2 here.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

AI SUMMARY: The Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 X lens offers impressive optical performance, comparable or even slightly superior to the higher-priced Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR, especially when testing on the demanding 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 sensor. It features a robust build quality, weather sealing, and the new HyperVCM focus motor that provides fast, smooth, and quiet autofocus, making it a strong competitor in the APS-C portrait lens market. However, autofocus performance for video on Fuji remains problematic, with choppy and unreliable results, highlighting limitations in Fuji’s focus algorithms rather than the lens itself. Overall, this lens provides excellent image quality at a significantly lower price point, though its size and weight might be a consideration for some users.

Strengths:

Excellent optical performance with sharpness, contrast, and pleasing bokeh
Robust build quality, weather sealing, and high-quality materials
Fast, quiet, and smooth autofocus on Sony E-mount; improved focus motor on Fuji version
Great value for the price, offering high-end features at less than half the cost of the Fuji OEM lens

Weaknesses:

Autofocus for video on Fuji is unreliable, choppy, and frustrating
Larger and heavier compared to some competitors, less portable for travel
Lacks some custom controls, switches, and video-specific features found on other mounts
Slightly marginal autofocus accuracy on Fuji for stills, with occasional misses in certain conditions

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

It’s a bit of an irony, but I would argue that with the Pro 56mm and the other two Pro APS-C lenses, the better version has been the Sony while the more important version is the Fuji. There tend to be more choices on Sony, though that is increasingly less true as more and more lenses find their way to Fuji’s X-mount. The first Pro lens (the 75mm F1.2) came at a time when few third-party lenses were available on the system, so it sold very well as a less expensive premium alternate to lenses like the 56mm F1.2 or 90mm F2. Viltrox’s first Pro series lens had an AF | MF switch on X-mount, which is unconventional on that platform and so they dropped it for later models. Fuji’s own lenses never have an AF | MF switch as Fuji often has direct physical controls on their camera bodies for controlling this function. The Fuji standard is to have an aperture ring, but not the ability to declick it. I actually hope the Fuji standard changes in the future, as Fuji cameras often have excellent video capabilities but thus far their lenses have not shifted to a more video-friendly feature set.

Viltrox has aligned its lenses with the feature set of each platform. On Sony E-mount and Nikon Z-mount, you will get a more robust feature set, including the ability to declick the aperture, an AF | MF switch, and a custom/Fn button. The Fuji version will be simpler, featuring just the aperture ring. All three mounts will share a very robust build quality, a nice aperture ring, and thorough weather sealing throughout the lens.

I’ve had the opportunity to test a lot of the alternatives to the new Pro 56mm, which includes the:

Fujinon XF 56mm F1.2 WR (my review here)
Sigma 56mm F1.4 DN (my review here)
Sirui Sniper 56mm F1.2 (my review here)
Viltrox AIR 56mm F1.7 (my review here)
TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8 (my review here)

There are others as well, but these tend to be most popular. Viltrox also has an older 56mm F1.4 as well, though I would prefer this newer F1.2 lens in every way but size/weight and price. The Sirui Sniper is a direct competitor on multiple platforms, and while it can be had for considerably less (at right under $300 USD it the value alternative), it doesn’t really compete on any level. It has much poorer autofocus and optical performance. The Fujinon lens is over 100g lighter, is 16mm shorter, and has fantastic optics, but it suffers from rather crude autofocus and is priced at $1200 USD – making it about double the price of the Viltrox. The Sigma is considerably smaller and lighter, weighing about half the Viltrox Pro lens and measuring about 32mm shorter. It is about the same in price, but has a smaller maximum aperture, no features, less thorough weather sealing, and a smaller maximum aperture. The final lenses on the list are budget alternatives with much smaller maximum apertures for those who want to travel light or who are on a tight budget.

I would say that the new Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 XF positions itself very well, with the only real marks against it being size and weight. It otherwise dominates the competition. It oozes quality.

But does that make it the lens for you? Let’s dive in a find out.

Build and Handling

*As noted, this section will focus on the X-mount version of the lens. Check out the E-mount review if you want a look at Sony performance.

56mm is a valued focal length for the simple reason that once you apply the 1.5x APS-C crop of all of these camera systems, the resulting focal length is an 84mm full frame equivalent. This is the APS-C 85mm lens, essentially, making it a prime portrait lens. Combining that with a faster maximum aperture of F1.2 allows a lens like this to produce images that look more like they were taken on full frame, with that nice shallow depth of field and 3D pop.

Viltrox’s Pro Series has maintained a consistently high level of build quality. The lenses are feature rich, well made, though definitely big and heavy. The Pro 56mm is about the same size as the 27mm F1.2, which makes it smaller than the 75mm F1.2.

In Fuji-mount, it is 78.4mm (3.08”) in diameter by 92mm (3.61”) in length. That is slightly narrower than the 27mm (82mm) but almost identical in length. The 75mm is +8.5mm in diameter and 9mm longer. The weight of the Pro 56mm is 575g (20.28oz), which is 15g heavier than the 27mm lens but 95g lighter than the 75mm. That makes the Pro 56mm very slightly the smallest lens in the series, though not the lightest (at least on X-mount).

The Fuji X and Nikon Z mounts are both very slightly larger and heavier than the Sony E-mount version.

The Pro 56mm shares a 67mm front filter size with the 27mm.

Viltrox gives us a thoroughly weather sealed design here. I don’t yet have a diagram of the internal seals, but based on previous lenses, I would expect 10-12 different seal points inside the lens. Viltrox says this on their website: “Full metal construction with dust, splash, and smudge resistance for all conditions.” That kind of language lends confidence, for sure. What we can see, visibly, is a nice thick gasket at the lens mount.

This is an internally focusing lens, so there is nothing that moves where dust might intrude. There’s also an HD-Nano multilayer coating on the front element to help with water and fingerprint resistance, making the front element easier to clean. As always, however, “moisture-proof” does not mean “water-proof”, so don’t go crazy!

Viltrox continues with a trend that other lens makers are now imitating by including a 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. This allows Viltrox to future proof their lenses and continue to improve them through firmware…and they do release updated firmware when needed.

I slightly prefer the appearance of the Sony E-mount versions, as, for some reason, Viltrox employs a stylish orange/red color to the rear sealing gasket only on Sony that adds a bit of style points.

The manual focus ring is made of metal with tight ribbing. It moves smoothly and with nice damping, and, while manual focus is a simulation (this, like all autofocusing lenses on mirrorless, is focus-by-wire, meaning that input on the focus ring is actually routed through the focus motor which then moves the focusing group of elements), it’s very good manual focus simulation without visible steps (something I see too often on X-mount lenses). Manual focus on Fuji gets better if you spend time in the menus and set up the camera according to your preference. There’s a fair amount of customization available in those menus.

The left side of the barrel is missing the AF | MF switch and the custom/function button found on the Sony version. Interestingly, the 75mm F1.2 (the first in the series) actually came first to X-mount and did have an AF | MF switch, but I did note a few quirks because of this. Many Fuji bodies have a switch on the camera to switch between MF | AF-C | AF-S, and sometimes using the switch on the lens would interfere with proper function of the switch on the camera. Viltrox made the decision to drop the switch in subsequent lenses. Basically the Fuji standard is to have an aperture ring but nothing further, and Viltrox really doesn’t have the control to change that standard.

That standard does need to be changed, though. Most other platforms allow for custom buttons and the ability declick the aperture ring for smooth aperture racks, and Fuji needs to update to these standards to stay competitive. Fuji’s cameras are often very capable video devices, but the lenses lack any kind of video-specific features. The Viltrox has the same standard as the twice-as-expensive Fuji 56mm F1.2 WR, namely the aperture ring and the weather sealing.

You can see that the two lenses have a different shape. In this photo, you would say that the Fuji lens on the right is wider…and that’s technically true, though just barely. It is 1mm wider but a full 16mm shorter. That extra height on the Viltrox adds up to an additional 130g in weight (the Fuji is 445g). Of the two, however, I would argue that the Viltrox actually feels slightly more premium, with very upscale looking materials.

Both the Fuji and Viltrox lenses look very similar from the front, and share the 67mm front filter threads.

The difference in height is largely eliminated when the lens hoods are attached, as the Fuji hood is very large (and wide) by comparison. The extra depth of the Fuji hood makes the two lenses look pretty similar in length with the hoods affixed, and the extra width of the Fuji hood means that it actually will take up a bigger footprint in a lens bag with the lens stood upright.

I’ve complained about a less than definite click after bayonetting the lens on in previous Pro lenses, but this one is definitely upgraded. Viltrox is clearly listening, as this one clicks into place with great precision.

In the clicked mode the aperture has detents at each one-third stop position, with a nicely sized gap between F16 and the “A” (Automatic”) position for controlling aperture from whin the camera. There is a nice degree of firmness in that gap to help prevent accidentally bumping in or out of the aperture ring, though there is no actual iris lock.

The “clicks” are a little lighter than some lenses. I would prefer just a bit more resistance there to inspire a bit more confidence on the current aperture value by feel.

The aperture iris has a high 11 blade count (as does the Fuji lens), which helps maintain a circular shape with the lens stopped down. While the geometry has a bit of lemon shape specular highlights near the edges, those become perfectly round by F2 and remain that way as you stop down (F2.8 also shown). *These samples are taken from the E-mount version.

The Pro 56X matches the Fuji XF and Sigma 56mm lenses in having a 50cm minimum focus distance, which is actually higher than either the older Viltrox 56mm F1.4 or the Sirui Sniper 56mm F1.2, both of which have a 60cm minimum focus distance and lower magnification. The Pro 56mm achieves a 0.13x level of magnification, and while that’s not exceptional in a general sense, it is on the high end of this focal length. Here’s what that looks like:

That’s enough to get in there reasonably close and blur out the background thoroughly…particularly when you have an F1.2 aperture available. Here’s a shot that shows the amount of magnification possible.

While depth of field is incredibly tiny at these focus distances, you can see the clarity even at F1.2 on the crop from this photo of Viltrox’s new flash (check out how clear the “16,000 MHz” is, which is what’s actually in focus here.)

I would be perfectly happy with the Pro 56mm in isolation here on Fuji. It oozes quality and is genuinely one of the nicest looking lenses on the X-mount platform. The MSRP will be $580 USD (599 Euro and 530GBP), though you can drop that a bit by buying through Viltrox and using the code “DUSTINABBOTT”, making this a tremendous value compared to the $1200 Fuji lens.

It has the trifecta of qualities one looks for on Fuji’s premium lenses – R (aperture ring), WR (weather resistance), and LM (Linear Motor – or even better in this case). But when I have both the Sony version and the Fuji version in hand, its hard not to notice the missing button and switches and to realize that Viltrox had to strip down the X-mount version to suit Fuji’s (lower) standard. Unfortunate.

Autofocus

The earlier lenses in this series employed an STM focus motor, but the Pro AF 56mm F1.2 is the first to receive the more sophisticated HyperVCM focus motor that debuted in the premium LAB series. This is a higher thrust voice-coil motor that delivers faster and quieter autofocus, and is, frankly an autofocus experience that few other APS-C lenses can match. Few of the Linear Motor equipped lenses can match the thrust and smoothness of the HyperVCM focus motor that Viltrox has developed, and the slow, buzzy micromotors in lenses like the 50mm F1.0 and 56mm F1.2 WR feel downright primitive by comparison.

As per usual, I found a significant difference in performance between the E-mount and the X-mount versions. While the latter performed fine by Fuji standards, focus just isn’t as sophisticated there, and I had a few random misses on Fuji. I had none on Sony, with focus instantly hitting the mark. That being said, I used the lens in a wedding setting, and focus was fast enough that I was able to nail even the difficult transition moments when subjects were moving and I had little reaction time to get the shot.

I could certainly notice that focus was not as good as shooting with the E-mount on my Sony bodies, but relative to other Fuji lenses, focus was generally good. I could capture fun moments even when the lights dimmed.

The ability to nail focus while using that F1.2 aperture to full advantage is so useful.

I was not the photographer at this wedding (I was actually the officiant!), but I did take some casual shots of the bridal party and got generally well focused results.

This was our son’s last few days with us before leaving for university, so I took advantage and got some portraits of him with the lens. There were a couple of misses in the overall series, but generally focus was accurate and delivered nice looking results.

I shot my formal AF tests side by side with the Fuji lens, and saw a few important differences. Fuji’s focus system seems to operate in two stages as always. There is the initial thrust where most of the focus takes place, a split second pause, and then a second small adjustment before focus lock is indicated. This slows down focus speed because that second phase shouldn’t be required, but on Fuji there is always this “double-clutch” action in focus. Fuji has been using the same basic focus hardware since I started reviewing the platform on the X-T3, and while everyone else has vastly improved things on the hardware side, Fuji just keeps adding software layers in the form of new focus algorithms and AI detection. This has definitely made some improvement, but the core hardware is getting further and further behind the competition.

The Viltrox lens exhibits plenty of thrust during that initial stage, which makes waiting for focus lock even more frustrating. It was more obvious indoors in the lower lighting conditions than my outdoor tests, but still present to some degree in both.

The Fuji lens (utilizing the native Fuji focus algorithms) was slower and choppier in the initial focus phase, but seemed to lock faster in the second phase, making the Viltrox lens only very slightly faster in the end. The Viltrox won the outdoor battle by a little more due to less time wasted on the focus lock. The Fuji lens had more micro-pulses during focus, and also made a LOT more noise, with audible whirring and clicks during the process. The Viltrox lens is far quieter and smoother and inspires more confidence as a result…even if the end results aren’t radically different.

Bottom line is that I would be hard pressed to think of a competing lens that focus as well or better than this on the Fuji platform. My frustrations are more with the limitations of Fuji’s AF than with the Viltrox Pro 56mm F1.2 X specifically.

Video AF

Oof! If I was frustrated with Fuji in the previous section, I’m doubly so here. On Sony, the focus pull test where I use touch-to-focus to switch between a foreground and background subject was flawless, with smooth, well damped transitions. On Fuji it is an absolute mess. Half the time when you touch the screen to try to cause a focus change, nothing happens, or, at the least, doesn’t happen until after a multi-second lag. The focus changes (when they happen), are choppy messes, with obvious steps. I counted about 4 “chunks” of focus between my subjects. With the Fuji lens mounted, I still have the issues with the touchscreen, but focus at least moves most of the way during the focus pull, with only a second step at the end to lock focus. There’s a lot of noise, however, whereas the Viltrox is silent. For this kind of work, however, I would call the Pro 56X unusable, and the Fuji 56mm F1.2 WR not far behind.

Sigh.

If I only had this evidence to work with, I would say that the problem is largely with Viltrox, but the problem is that I’ve seen it on a different platform, and the focus performance there was excellent. And it’s not just Viltrox; I’ve seen the same thing with multiple brands, from Sigma to Tamron to Sirui, and more, and always autofocus for video is dreadful compared to other platforms. This moment from my “hand test” probably accurately captures my feelings on the subject.

Focus transitions from my hand to my eye and vice versa in my “hand test” where I alternately block the lens from seeing my face with my hand and then remove it were slightly better but still rough. There were still visible steps between my hand and my eye, and I could tell that focus wasn’t really nailed on my eye, either. The Fuji lens was better, as before, but still not accurately locking on my eye. You can see from the screen grab before that focus is actually on my ear rather than my eye.

It’s all rather frustrating.

Focus breathing exists, but not too bad. That’s about the most positive thing I can come up. If I locked onto a subject and approached it, there are a lot of focus slips and readjustments. If I approached the camera, it did generally better but still showed some slips, and when I crouched out of frame and then stood back up, focus didn’t pick me back up although I filled most of the frame.

Not good, Bob, not good.

Now, to be fair, the Fuji lens wasn’t really any better, but the fact that it is able at all to do a better job in any of these tests with its clearly inferior autofocus motor tells me that the Fuji lens has access to focus algorithms in a way that the Viltrox lens does not.

Natural transitions were a bit better, though focus adjustments were still very choppy and uncinematic. In its current state, the Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 X and the Fujifilm X-H2 I tested on were simply not on the same page when it came to video.

Image Quality Breakdown

Viltrox has gotten ridiculously good at optical design, regularly able to produce lenses that compete with the very best in class optically. That’s certainly true here, as this is an amazingly good lens even at F1.2. The optical design is 13 elements in 8 groups, including 3 HR (high refractive) elements, 1 ED (extra-low dispersion) lens, and 1 element I’ve not previously heard of – a UA element, which stands for ultra-large and precision aspherical). The MTF shows excellent center and mid performance with only a mild drop to the corners. Astigmatism is low, with both the sagittal and meridional planes staying close together. At F8 (shown in the red), the MTF basically shows a straight line – perfect.

On Sony, the lens was pretty much perfect, but the 26MP APS-C standard on Sony is a far cry from the much more demanding 40MP standard available here on Fuji (the equivalent of over 90MP on a full frame sensor). This is a sensor that many, many lenses struggle to keep up with. Fortunately the Pro 56mm isn’t one of them, and, at its best, delivers results that are both technically and artistically special.

There is essentially no distortion (about a -1 to correct a tiny amount of pincushion distortion), though as per usual I needed a bit more vignette correction (+68) than I did on Sony (+42). Neither figure is too bad, however.

For context, I needed the same amount of distortion correction on the Fuji 56mm F1.2 WR and a little less vignette correction (+52). No meaningful difference between the lenses.

You will probably want to correct the vignette in most situations, though you may find it flattering in some portrait situations. This F1.2 image, for example, I preferred uncorrected.

I saw only a minimal amount of LoCA (longitudinal chromatic aberrations) on my test chart. There’s a mild amount of fringing before and after the plane of focus.

I do see some mild fringing in my 3-dimensional test on my father’s old SLR, but it isn’t bad. I saw about the same amount of fringing on the Fuji WR lens.

Lateral style chromatic aberrations that show up near the edge of the frame are visible but not bad. I didn’t notice real world issues with LaCA.

So how about resolution and contrast? I’m testing on the ultra-high resolution 40MP of a Fujifilm X-H2. All tests have been done on a sturdy tripod with a 5 second delay, and crops are shown at 200% magnification to emphasize any flaws. Here’s a look at the test chart.

And here are F1.2 crops from the center, midframe, and lower right corner.

You can see the excellent consistency of sharpness from the center to the corner, with only some mild softening becoming apparent near the edge. I consider the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR to be optically excellent, so I was interested to see how the two compared. When shot side by side, I found the Viltrox to be slightly sharper and higher contrast across the frame.

That places the lens in excellent territory, as the XF 56mm F1.2 WR is one of Fuji’s absolute best performers. When the two lenses were stopped down, I found that the two lenses were more evenly matched, though the Viltrox is still a bit stronger in the corners.

If you want a more vivid demonstration of how much better the Pro 56X is than most of the “cheaper” competition, here’s a look at how it compares to the Sirui Sniper 56mm F1.2 in the center:

…or in the corner.

That’s what this sensor does to lesser glass. Frankly you need lenses as good as the Viltrox to really make it shine.

The centering on the Pro 56X was solid, with fairly consistent performance in all four corners even at F1.2.

In real world use this equates to exceptional detail and contrast for an F1.2 lens, with textures popping due to the low astigmatism we saw in the MTF chart. This shot of Nala shows good detail in the fur even at F1.2…and on 40MP!

There’s a bit more contrast at F1.4:

A bit more can be seen from F1.4 to F2. The increase in contrast is a bit more obvious on Fuji than it was on Sony due to the higher resolution.

There is plenty of detail for portrait work even at F1.2, however.

Stopping down will improve contrast and detail, as we have seen, but you have plenty at F1.2 to use in most applications. Just to put things in persec

You’ll see steady gains as you continue to stop down. The corners are extremely sharp by F4 and F5.6.

The detail across the frame is excellent in real world landscapes.

Diffraction will show up by F11, and a bit more by the minimum aperture of F16, resulting in a bit less sharpness and contrast.

Sharpness and contrast are definitely well covered here, with no real optical shortcomings emerging. But what about bokeh and overall rendering? One of the standouts to me about the Fujinon XF 56mm F1.2 WR it is both sharp and also has beautiful rendering. Is that true of the Viltrox as well?

The truth of the matter is I had a hard time distinguishing the rendering from the two lenses. They are both extremely nice, with soft backgrounds and nice transitions to them.

I had a little fun with the Pro 56X, using directional evening light and defocused water droplets from a sprinkler to make a fun shower of bokeh.

This shot shows the amazing isolation and lovely out-of-focus rendering possible with the lens.

This shot of table decorations shows nice work with the specular highlights and also the transition to defocus.

Bokeh is lovely, so no complaints there.

Colors are lovely as well, with nice skin tones and good saturation levels. The glass is a nice match for Fuji’s various film simulations.

Sometimes wide aperture lenses like this struggle with flare related issues. How does the Viltrox fair?

Not flawlessly, but not terribly, either. When shooting straight at the light source, as above, there is just a mild amount of ghosting and contrast remains good.

In situations where the sun is nearer the edge of the frame, however, I find that the effects change a fair bit. Here’s a series at F1.2, F2.8, and F11:

Wide open there is a bit of light veiling and a streak at the light source. Ghosting is mild. Stopped down to F2.8 (image 2) eliminates the streak for opens up a bit of ghosting, while F11 (image 3) shows the most ghosting and rays coming off the light source that are a little dominant for my tastes.

Most of the wide open effects are fairly mild, though some might find this one objectionable.

The coatings aren’t doing a perfect job, though I also didn’t see anything that I would consider majorly destructive, either.

In conclusion, the Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 X survives the monster 40MP sensor from Fuji largely unscathed. I consider this to be a very strong performance. Check out this mini gallery of additional images.

Conclusion

I already knew that the Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2 was an outstanding lens from my time with it on Sony. Previously Viltrox has released the Fuji version of the APS-C Pro lenses first, with the Sony E-mount versions following a few months later. This time both versions were available at the same time, but I almost regret it. I’ve been able to enjoy the Pro lenses despite their Fuji limitations in the past, and then testing the Sony versions was like getting an upgrade. This time I did the Sony review first, and it has been a bit disheartening to review a lens with fewer features and poorer autofocus performance. The X-mount version of the lens is still excellent, but this is definitely the inferior experience.

Other than a few additional misses on Fuji, autofocus from the new HyperVCM focus motor was pretty good…at least for stills. The video side of things was mostly just frustrating for me here on Fuji. Fortunately this is a lens that was definitely made for that massive 40MP sensor, so I did enjoy having more pixels to play with and seeing the full potent of what the lens is capable of optically.

The Pro 56X is going to put a massive amount of pressure on sales of the Fuji 56mm F1.2 WR. The Viltrox has a bit of an edge optically, a smoother, faster autofocus motor, and a build quality every bit as good. The main advantage of the Fuji is it is a bit smaller and lighter, and you could also argue that it takes better advantage of the Fuji focus algorithms despite its limited focus motor. But there’s every chance that a firmware update (Viltrox promises one is on the way) will improve autofocus further, and the fact that the Viltrox is available for less than half the price of the Fuji is going to make it a major success on this platform (at least for all those who haven’t already bought the Pro 75mm F1.2). I don’t how Viltrox does it, but I’m glad they do!

Pros:

Professional grade build
Has R, WR, and LM (equivalents)
Thorough weather sealing
First of APS-C lenses to get HyperVCM
Autofocus is smooth and quiet
Relatively low focus breathing
Extremely sharp lens (sharper than Fuji 56 WR)
Low aberrations
Low distortion
Nice bokeh
Beautiful colors
Great price to performance ratio

Cons:

Large and heavy for an APS-C lens
Some minor flare issues
Video AF on Fuji is abysmal (but the Fuji WR isn’t much better)
Less features and autofocus performance than the Sony version

_________________________________________________________________________

GEAR USED:

Purchase the Viltrox Pro AF 27mm F1.2 @ B&H Photo | Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 8% off) | Adorama | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Pergear

___________________________________________________________________

Purchase the Sony a7RV @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Sony Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

__________________________________________________________________

Purchase the Sony a7IV @ B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Camera Canada | Sony Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo | Amazon | Adorama | Camera Canada | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Ebay | Make a donation via Paypal

Buy DA Merchandise https://bit.ly/TWIMerch

Keywords: Viltrox, Pro, AF, Viltrox Pro AF 56mm, 56mm, F1.2, Viltrox Pro AF 56mm F1.2, APS-C, 27mm, 75mm, Review, X, X-mount, X-T5, X-H2, X-E5, Sony a6700,, Sony a7RV, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA