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KASE vs VILTROX 85MM SHOWDOWN
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Jun 30, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a comparison between the two most recent 85mm F1.4 lenses for Sony FE. - the Viltrox PRO AF 85mm F1.4 and the KASE 85mm F1.4 FE. Sigma Reviews: Video Review https://bit.ly/85DNDef | Text Review https://bit.ly/85DNReview Kase Reviews: Video Review: https://tinyurl.com/Kase1485vid | Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/Kase8514review Purchase the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DN ART @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/2PoKQVg | Amazon https://amzn.to/33DXOH7 | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/2DoHG1a | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2DrQHGL | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/30AoDtP | Ebay https://bit.ly/sig85DN Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:08
[Music]
0:10
hi i'm dustin abbott over the last
0:12
couple of weeks we have got two new 85mm
0:15
f1.4 lenses that have released for sony
0:18
fe now maybe a little bit longer than
0:20
that before you see this particular
0:21
video but the viltrox pro af is i think
0:25
a lens that most of us expected to be
0:27
good at this point that says a lot about
0:29
viltrox's rising star and growing
0:31
reputation that when they release a new
0:33
lens most of us who review lenses expect
0:35
it to be good but the contender here is
0:39
a complete unknown out of left field and
0:42
that is from filter company case they
0:44
have released their first lens and it's
0:46
actually a really really good lens the
0:48
case af 85mm f1.4 4 is a lens that
0:52
actually brings some innovation to the
0:54
segment and for that reason i in
0:56
particular i gave it a very positive
0:57
review so today we're going to put these
0:59
two lenses head-to-head if you're
1:01
looking at these two contenders and
1:02
wondering which one is going to be a
1:04
better fit for you well hopefully i'll
1:05
be able to help you answer that question
1:07
by comparing them side by side in a
1:09
variety of different ways and examining
1:11
how they play out for you so we're going
1:13
to talk about what's similar some things
1:15
that are different but not necessarily a
1:16
pro for either one then we'll talk about
1:18
some reasons to choose the viltrox
1:20
reason to choose the case and then wrap
1:22
it up in the end sound interesting well
1:24
let's dive in and let's find out so
1:26
what's similar between the two lenses
1:28
well they both have the same focal
1:29
length and maximum aperture combination
1:31
85mm and f1.4 they both have a fairly
1:35
similar feature set the ability to
1:37
de-click the aperture an afmf switch a
1:40
function button at least one and in
1:43
another case actually two they have a
1:45
similar degree of build quality similar
1:48
type materials they both feel like
1:50
well-made lenses they both offer weather
1:52
sealing in the case of the viltrox i
1:54
actually have a breakdown there are 10
1:56
seals inside i don't have the number
1:58
inside but it does have weather sealing
2:00
beyond just at the the gasket at the
2:02
rear lens mount and so i think that it
2:04
has probably a similar degree of weather
2:07
sealing overall as we're going to see
2:09
their autofocus speed is close between
2:12
the two lenses and we'll try to parse
2:14
that out a little bit more but not
2:16
terribly different between the two we'll
2:18
also see that they have a similar
2:20
performance when it comes to something
2:21
like aperture rack if you declick the
2:23
aperture and you rack through the
2:25
aperture you can see here first with the
2:26
viltrox you're able to smoothly rack
2:28
through the various aperture settings
2:30
without any kind of pulsing or you know
2:33
uh preset positions along the way you
2:35
can do the same thing with the case
2:37
however and so you can move smoothly
2:38
throughout the aperture range while
2:40
doing aperture racking so let's talk
2:43
about a few things that are different
2:44
but not necessarily a pro or con for
2:46
either one although the case is the
2:48
smaller lens it actually frames a little
2:50
bit tighter than what the viltrox does
2:52
and so in doing head-to-head tests i
2:54
definitely noticed a difference in how
2:55
tight the framing was now there's always
2:58
a tolerance with all of these lenses
2:59
it's within a couple of millimeters but
3:01
there is a variance between the two also
3:04
on the viltrox it has floating elements
3:06
and so some people are put off when they
3:08
feel things moving around when the lens
3:10
is just loose like this however that is
3:12
a purposeful design that allows it to
3:14
perform more consistently throughout the
3:17
focus range all the way up to close
3:19
focus and so that does come with a
3:21
little bit of advantage that we'll
3:22
detail in our breakdown now there's also
3:25
a neutral difference when it comes to
3:27
the front filter thread the case uses a
3:29
72 millimeter front filter thread while
3:31
the viltrox uses a 77 millimeter front
3:34
filter thread both of those are fairly
3:36
common and frankly there's not really
3:37
much of a price difference between
3:39
filters in either one of those sizes not
3:41
enough for me to really consider an
3:42
advantage for one or the other so how
3:46
about some reasons to choose this new
3:47
case lens well first of all as you can
3:49
see it is significantly smaller it is 82
3:52
millimeters in diameter by 99
3:55
millimeters in length whereas the
3:56
viltrox is 84.3 millimeter in diameter
4:00
but more importantly it is 108.5
4:03
mm in length and so about 10 mm longer
4:06
that's enough to definitely make a
4:07
difference the case is also
4:09
significantly lighter it weighs in at
4:11
just 580 g versus the fairly hefty 800 g
4:16
for the viltrox the viltrox is a little
4:18
bit of a tank of a lens and so certainly
4:20
it carries some heavier weight and that
4:22
could be a factor for you the case
4:25
brings some really interesting
4:27
innovation when it comes to filter
4:29
integration and if you haven't watched
4:30
my review on this lens i recommend that
4:32
you take a look if you're interested at
4:34
all in filtering this lens is designed
4:36
with a built-in magnetic inlay ring here
4:39
which will allow you to just
4:40
magnetically attach filters and even to
4:43
attach filters and be able to rotate
4:45
them so it's a really smart
4:46
implementation when it comes to using
4:48
those filters it also is designed or at
4:51
least case designed filters that are
4:52
able to drop in to your uh in front of
4:55
between the lens and the sony sensor
4:57
though to be fair those filters could
4:59
work with other lenses not just this
5:01
particular lens but definitely that
5:03
filter integration is a really cool
5:06
feature and certainly worthy of
5:07
consideration if you're someone that
5:09
likes to use filters particularly
5:11
something like maybe variable nd filters
5:13
as a part of your video workflow this is
5:15
a really cool application for that this
5:18
lens also has the case lens also has a
5:20
little bit less fringing than what the
5:22
viltrox does it's not to say that the
5:24
viltrox is bad but in some situations as
5:26
you can see here on the front of my uh
5:28
slr you can see that there's definitely
5:30
some fringing that shows up for the
5:32
viltrox that is not present there on the
5:34
case the case even though it has that
5:37
smaller front diameter it actually is
5:39
the one that has the less amount of
5:41
vignette it only requires a plus 31 for
5:44
correction which is really quite low for
5:46
an 85 f1.4 whereas the viltrox requires
5:49
a plus 48 not that saying that that is
5:52
bad at all it's really again not bad for
5:54
an 85mm lens however the case has less
5:57
of it now also as far as the feature set
6:00
the case adds a second function button
6:03
here and it's not just a redundant
6:05
button but rather it actually has a set
6:07
purpose and that set purpose is is that
6:10
by default you can when you click it
6:12
it'll take you right to minimum focus
6:14
and so if you're wanting to get the
6:15
maximum level of magnification you can
6:16
get which we'll talk about that in just
6:18
a moment uh you can click to get there
6:20
but you can also preset another focus
6:23
position if you're wanting to instantly
6:25
go back to another focus position you
6:26
can hold that down and it will set it
6:28
into memory and so that when you click
6:30
that it'll jump right to that position
6:33
and so an extra layer of functionality
6:35
that the vtrox doesn't have and then the
6:38
final point in the favor of the case is
6:39
that it does have a higher degree of
6:41
magnification it's right up near the top
6:43
of the class for an 85mm lens with a
6:46
0.14 times level of magnification and as
6:49
you can see compared to the viltrox lens
6:51
that is significantly higher and so you
6:54
are going to be able to get both closer
6:55
to objects and also get a higher degree
6:58
of magnification so there are certainly
7:00
some reasons to choose the case lens
7:03
here how about some reasons to choose
7:05
the viltrox well the first and obvious
7:07
one is going to be price the viltrox uh
7:11
msrp is $598 though by using the code in
7:15
the description down below you can save
7:17
a bit more off of that and drop that
7:18
price even further into the $560 range
7:22
or so the case comes to market with an
7:24
msrp of $738
7:27
and so by the time you get the discount
7:29
from the viltrox there's about an $180
7:31
difference that's significant and so
7:34
that might be a you know kind of a deal
7:36
maker or a deal breaker for you the
7:39
viltrox also exhibits better contrast
7:41
and i noticed that not just on my test
7:43
chart but also in some real world
7:45
comparisons shooting head-to-head
7:47
there's just a little bit more pop and
7:48
so if you're more about the the pop and
7:51
high contrast in your lenses the viltrox
7:53
does a little bit better job there i
7:56
also found that when it comes to the
7:58
specular highlights and i don't know if
8:00
it's kind of case specific here whereas
8:02
the case has the higher number of
8:04
aperture blades as you close that
8:06
aperture down you notice that the blades
8:08
don't close completely evenly and so
8:10
what that means is in the specular
8:11
highlights is that they're just a little
8:13
bit lopsided whereas the viltrox offers
8:16
more consistently round specular
8:18
highlights and so i appreciated that it
8:20
also exhibits i think a more neutral
8:23
color rendition and i think that the
8:25
case has maybe just a it's just skews
8:28
very slightly warmer and its overall
8:30
tone whereas the viltrox lens delivers a
8:33
more neutral color profile and so you
8:36
may actually visually prefer one or the
8:38
other so that may or may not be a
8:40
positive for you but as you can see in
8:41
these comparisons and in the optical
8:43
breakdown to come they definitely do
8:45
render a little bit different i also
8:47
found when it comes to the autofocus
8:49
side of things that while stills
8:51
autofocus speed is roughly similar i did
8:53
notice that for video autofocus pulls
8:56
were a little bit more confident on the
8:58
viltrox lens a little bit more
8:59
consistent uh moving with a little more
9:02
speed and also a little bit more
9:04
confidence there it's a minor difference
9:07
but the viltrox does exhibit a little
9:09
less vignette both of them are not bad
9:12
but the viltrox is a minus two so a tiny
9:14
bit of pin cushion distortion and the
9:16
case lens has it's a minus4 to correct
9:19
so just a little bit more of that pin
9:21
cushion distortion i also felt that even
9:24
beyond the specular highlights that the
9:25
bokeh rendering in a number of
9:27
situations was just a little bit
9:29
smoother from the viltrox lens that's
9:31
particularly true as you get close to
9:32
the edges and close to the edges it just
9:35
it's a little better engineered out to
9:37
the corners and so the bokeh remains
9:40
smooth even towards the edge of the
9:41
frame and then finally one final vote in
9:44
favor of the viltrox is that it is
9:46
consistently sharper not by a big margin
9:49
but particularly as you stop the lenses
9:51
down and in the corners the viltrox will
9:53
sharpen up to outstanding levels whereas
9:56
the case never quite does and even wide
9:59
open there's you know there's different
10:00
points of variance throughout the frame
10:02
as is often the case but the viltrox is
10:04
just consistently better at the various
10:06
tested apertures that i looked at and so
10:08
i would say in general it is the sharper
10:11
lens though both of these frankly are
10:12
very nice and sharp so my conclusion is
10:15
this the case is a surprisingly strong
10:18
contender for a first go in many ways it
10:21
it the feature set and the overall feel
10:23
of the lens it actually reminds me a lot
10:25
of a sigma lens which is a positive
10:27
thing it is a strong contender
10:29
particularly if you want the smaller
10:30
size and if again if you're interested
10:32
in in filtering there is a few more
10:35
feature options particularly when it
10:37
comes to filtering with the case lens as
10:39
compared to the viltrox the viltrox lens
10:42
wins in the areas where viltrox lenses
10:44
often do win it's very very good
10:47
optically probably a little bit better
10:48
than the case optically in general and
10:51
it's also cheaper and nobody is doing
10:54
the combination of price and performance
10:57
like viltrox is doing at this point and
10:59
so if you can handle a bigger size and
11:02
more weight and you're in all about the
11:04
optical performance the viltrox is an
11:06
amazing performer for its price tag and
11:10
so hopefully that helps you to determine
11:11
which of these lenses is going to be the
11:13
more appealing option for you frankly i
11:15
don't think that either one of them is a
11:16
bad choice they just have strengths in
11:18
slightly different areas now if you want
11:20
a deeper dive into the performance of
11:22
either one of them you can either check
11:24
out my full text review of each of them
11:26
linked in the description down below
11:27
there's links in this video embedded to
11:29
the video reviews of them and also links
11:31
in the description below and if you want
11:33
to stay tuned right now let's jump into
11:35
an optical comparison where you can take
11:37
a little bit closer look at how they
11:38
compare head-to-head in identical
11:40
situations
11:42
okay let's start by taking a look at
11:44
comparison of vignette and distortion so
11:45
you can see that the viltrox wins a bit
11:48
when it comes to distortion that pin
11:50
cushion distortion is so mild that you
11:52
really don't need to correct it it's not
11:54
bad on the case lens but you can
11:56
definitely see a little bit more of a
11:58
sucking in here in the center and so a
12:01
minus4 to correct here and a minus two
12:05
on the verge of a minus one here so not
12:07
bad at all vignette however you can see
12:10
is a little bit more pronounced in the
12:12
corners for the vtrox it's around 50
12:15
whereas here i only used needed to use
12:17
about a plus 37 to correct for it and so
12:21
definitely kind of a give and take here
12:24
when on distortion front for vtrox when
12:26
on the vignette front for case now when
12:30
it comes to the fringing front there's
12:31
actually an element that i neglected to
12:33
mention during the uh discussion of pros
12:36
and cons for each lens so i will go back
12:39
over one of the uh pros for the case
12:42
versus the viltrox you can see here when
12:44
it comes to longitudinal style chromatic
12:46
aberrations it's really really neutral
12:48
in all of these shiny places whereas you
12:50
can see some of this blue green fringing
12:53
that is present on the viltrox lens
12:55
likewise if we look at these specular
12:57
highlights you'd see that there's some
12:59
fringing from the viltrox there that is
13:01
not present from the case lens and on a
13:04
positive note for the case you can also
13:05
see that inside here it's really clean
13:07
not much in terms of inner lining not a
13:10
lot of stuff inside the specular
13:11
highlights so some good things for case
13:14
on that front where the viltrox has an
13:16
advantage however is when it comes to
13:18
lateral style chromatic aberrations near
13:20
the edge of the frame you can see that
13:21
the case does suffer suffer a bit from
13:24
that whereas the viltrox is really
13:26
really nice and neutral and so no
13:28
problem for it on that front now when it
13:30
comes to resolution and contrast this is
13:32
on a 61 megapixel sony a7r mark i
13:36
showing you this at 200% magnification
13:38
so this is a torture test but you can
13:40
see that in the center of the frame the
13:42
viltrox is a little bit better a little
13:44
bit better contrast and a little bit
13:46
better detail it's not a significant win
13:49
in the center of the frame but it's
13:50
there a bit as we move towards the
13:52
midframe you can also see there is a
13:54
little bit of an advantage for the
13:56
viltrox that continues there just a
13:58
little bit more contrast a little bit
14:00
more popping to this maybe a hair more
14:02
detail in some of those areas if we go
14:04
down into the corners you can see that
14:06
the viltrox advantage is extended a bit
14:09
further uh it's a little bit better here
14:11
in this corner we pop over to this side
14:13
you can see it looks better here and it
14:16
looks better up in this corner as well
14:18
and so it's a more consistent
14:21
performance on the edges as well if we
14:24
stop these lenses down um you can see
14:26
that in the center of the frame that the
14:28
case has made some good improvements in
14:31
the mid-frame you can see again case has
14:34
come up better it's i don't know if it's
14:37
quite as good as the viltrox but it is
14:39
very very close and there's kind of some
14:40
give and take here if i look at this one
14:42
for example it pops more from the
14:44
viltrox than it does from the case the v
14:47
the case looks nice here in the hair i
14:49
would say that this text here is nice
14:51
and inky looking on the uh case lens and
14:55
so like i said there's some give and
14:56
take when you get to the corners it's uh
14:59
still bit a more pronounced wind for the
15:02
viltrox it's definitely stronger uh as
15:04
you move towards the edge of the frame
15:06
both these lenses are extremely sharp
15:08
already however as you stop on down to
15:10
f5.6 six you can see that the viltrox it
15:13
just has a little bit extra in the tank
15:16
it gets a little bit stronger though the
15:18
case does look really good here in the
15:20
mid-frame i particularly see it in the
15:22
corners however where the viltrox gets
15:24
to truly excellent levels in the corner
15:27
the case never really matches those when
15:29
it comes to corner performance but in
15:32
lots of places you know they're both
15:34
looking very good i would say in the
15:36
rule of thirds zones the case is doing a
15:38
really good job which is arguably the
15:40
most important it's not doing a better
15:42
job necessarily than the vtrox but close
15:44
to being equally good now we mentioned
15:47
that the case has the better minimum
15:49
focus distance and up close level of
15:52
magnification as you can see here that
15:54
is significantly different when it comes
15:57
to the actual resolution up close the
15:59
viltrox is actually the winner it's a
16:02
has again it has those floating elements
16:04
it allows it to do just a little bit of
16:06
better job even at f1.4 of giving you
16:09
more detail now contrast is still not
16:11
exceptional but if you stop the vtrox
16:13
down a little bit it has a more capacity
16:15
for delivering fine details up close now
16:18
as mentioned previously the the framing
16:21
is different between these two lenses
16:23
and so here though the camera was set up
16:24
on a tripod at equal distance you can
16:26
see that when i swap the lenses the case
16:28
actually frames tighter the viltrox
16:31
frames looser and it's it's actually
16:33
quite a noticeable difference between
16:34
the two it's probably only boils down to
16:37
two or three millimeters the viltrox
16:39
could be a little bit short of 85 mm the
16:42
uh case could be a little bit longer
16:43
than 85 mm but in both cases it can only
16:46
be about 2 millimeters in each direction
16:48
there is tolerances that they have to
16:50
stick to and so what we can see here at
16:53
f2.8 is that the specular highlights are
16:56
bigger than on the case lens but we can
16:59
also see that it can the geometry
17:01
continues to suffer and as we stop it on
17:04
down you can actually see that it the
17:07
aperture is a little bit lopsided on the
17:09
case and so it never is quite as
17:11
circular as what you're going to get
17:13
from the viltrox which gives you more
17:14
consistent roundness and so you know
17:16
there's a pro if you're up close for the
17:18
case going to give give you bigger and
17:20
softer but the viltrox is going to give
17:22
you better geometry now what follows
17:25
will be just a series of quick
17:26
comparisons where we take identical
17:28
images and just evaluate a few different
17:30
things in the frame so here at f1.4 we
17:33
can see that yes again there's a higher
17:35
level of magnification from the case
17:37
there's a little bit better detail and
17:38
contrast from the viltrox lens it
17:41
delivers more fine details and then if
17:43
we move beyond that and we look towards
17:45
kind of defocus regions on this image
17:48
there's a difference in the color tone i
17:50
tend to prefer the color tone out of the
17:52
viltrox personally i think it's just a
17:54
little bit more accurate but in general
17:56
it's you know the the bokeh rendering
17:58
here is not radically different as you
18:01
can see here as you look towards areas
18:04
of defocus i think that the viltrox has
18:06
very slightly less outlining and so
18:09
there's a little bit more edges that
18:10
show up here but in this image it's not
18:13
a huge difference now here at f2 uh we
18:16
can just take a look at how things are
18:18
comparing now and so here a composition
18:21
that's closer to the edge of the frame
18:23
viltrox is still just a little bit
18:25
tighter but it's you can see it's not a
18:26
radical difference between the two
18:28
looking towards like these specular
18:30
highlights here's again where the case
18:32
wins in terms of being bigger and softer
18:35
when it comes to the actual rendering of
18:37
areas it's less of a difference because
18:39
the viltrox does a little bit better job
18:41
of having like less outlining around
18:44
things and so i feel like the the
18:46
rendering of these specular areas here
18:48
or defocused areas is just a little bit
18:50
more organic looking than what i find
18:53
from the case lens i think that's more
18:56
obvious maybe in this image and you can
18:57
see here the color difference and so if
18:59
we zoom in on the subject here uh in
19:01
this particular shot i feel like i'm not
19:05
sure that the uh the point of focus is
19:07
identical it's it's close but you can
19:10
see that in this real world shot
19:11
definitely for whatever reason you're
19:13
definitely getting more pop in the
19:14
detail from the viltrox lens you can
19:16
also see the difference in color where
19:18
the case looks a little bit warmer but
19:20
here we're really more looking at the
19:22
bokeh and so let's look at a few areas
19:25
here here we have got uh some like
19:28
raindrops or dew that is here on these
19:31
grasses and so you can see again there's
19:33
just more outlining from the case where
19:35
it looks a little bit bigger or busier i
19:37
should say in this transition zone and i
19:40
think it's just a little smoother
19:41
looking from the viltrox as we go
19:44
towards the edge of the frame in this
19:46
zone here again i just i find that
19:48
there's a little bit more edging that
19:50
catches my eye whereas this looks a
19:52
little bit softer a little better
19:54
defocused here's a really complicated
19:56
area with these pine needles and again i
19:59
just find that this looks busier to my
20:01
eye than what it does on the viltrox so
20:03
i think in particular around the edges
20:05
the viltrox has an advantage of i think
20:08
maybe it just does a better job off
20:10
towards the edges of the frame it's
20:12
engineered a little bit better out there
20:14
whereas the case a little less so and so
20:17
as you can see both of these tend to be
20:19
very very good lenses and so hopefully
20:22
the deep dive into the optics has helped
20:23
you to determine which one is the better
20:25
for you as always thanks for watching
20:27
have a great day and let the light in
20:31
[Music]