0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you another one of my verses-slash-comparison videos
0:16
and that is to compare Viltrox's new 40-millimeter F2.5 against what has been the standard from
0:24
Nikon, the NICOR 40-millimeter F2 in this class. Both of these are for Nikon-Z-mount. They're
0:29
They're both full-frame lenses, and they're not radically different in price, size, and in some ways, performance
0:37
Though I will say that I found this comparison actually more complicated than what I expected it to be
0:43
On paper, I actually expected the easy edge to go to the NICOR for several reasons that will detail here
0:49
But in actuality, the real answer is a little bit more complicated
0:53
Now, on paper, the difference in price would suggest a wider margin than what actually exist in the real world at the moment
1:00
On paper, the Viltrox is MSRP'd at $168 U.S. dollars, whereas the NICOR is right under $300 U.S
1:10
However, the NICOR has been consistently discounted for quite a while by about $70, dropping the price down to $227 currently
1:20
So obviously, that makes the margin between these lenses much smaller, makes them much more directly competitive with each other
1:27
So the answer is, is if you can get the NICOR, at the lower price, is it the better choice if you're looking for an inexpensive normal lens
1:35
Well, maybe. I'm going to hit the highlights here. I'll give you some reasons to choose the Viltrox, some reasons to choose the NICOR
1:44
and then if you want a deeper dive into how they compare head-to-head in a variety of situations
1:49
you can look at that at the end of the video where we'll do an optical breakdown. So let's talk about some reasons to choose the Viltrocks
1:55
The first of those we've already hinted at, and that is when it comes to price
2:00
depending upon the current market fluctuations right now. The Viltrax is going to be anywhere between 60 to up to 130 U.S. dollars difference in price
2:09
So considerably cheaper. And if you're on a tight budget, obviously that could be a very compelling factor
2:14
The second reason is a surprising one, and that is when it comes to the build quality
2:18
it's actually the cheaper Viltrox, which is the better build. It feels like it's nicer made just in the hand
2:25
It has a metal lens mount. And then a third reason that is connected here, it also includes a lens hood where the NICOR does not
2:34
In fact, the NICOR is not even bayoneted to receive a traditional lens hood, which means that even if you're going to use an aftermarket lens hood, you'd have to actually screw it on to the filter threads, which I think most of us can agree is not really advantageous
2:47
So not only do we have a lens hood here, it is the typical bayonet style that can be reversed for storage on the Viltrox
2:54
that's never going to be an option on the NICOR lens. So I certainly think that that is an area of advantage for the Viltrox lens
3:02
Ironically, considering that the Viltrox is a third-party lens, and that even while it's not nearly as fast as the NICOR when it comes to autofocus speed
3:12
I actually would say of the two that it's actually a little bit more stable when it comes to autofocus
3:16
I didn't notice any kind of pulsing during video. I also had some surprising misses with the NICOR when I was shooting at
3:24
smaller aperture values like landscape type images and sometimes it would misfocus
3:29
whereas the Viltrox was solid in the various scenarios that I put
3:33
and so again there's give and take with both lenses but at least in my experience
3:37
I found slightly more stable auto-focus with the Viltrox lens. The fifth reason to choose the Viltrox is sharpness
3:44
and this one is an undisputed one. The Viltrox is clearly sharper all across the frame in terms of optical performance
3:50
It is a very strongly performing lens when it comes to sharpness and contrast for the price
3:57
And that is reason number six. It is definitely higher contrast with more pop to the individual textures
4:03
And even when viewed at a global view, you can see the advantage for the Viltrox when it comes to overall contrast
4:10
And so it's both global contrast and microcontrast where it wins in that regard
4:16
While the NICOR is able to produce higher magnification images and able to focus a little bit closer
4:22
the Viltrox is the winner when it comes to the actual performance up close
4:27
and that it delivers much stronger details on the various textures and delivers a better up close performance
4:34
It also has considerably less VINET. Vignette is extremely strong on the NICOR lens
4:39
and the Viltrox has a more moderate amount of vignette. It also has less fringing particularly in rural world applications where it a little bit cleaner in its result And then the final reason to consider the Viltrox is really neither a strength nor a weakness
4:53
We'll call it a plus or a minus. It's about your preference. And that is that it is a little bit wider in its framing what the NICOR lens is
5:01
NICOR is frames a little bit tighter, whereas the Viltrox frames a little bit wider
5:07
And you can see that even in their specifications that the angle of view is a little bit wider on the Viltrox lens
5:12
So maybe you want that, maybe you don't want that. It's either a strength or a weakness, depending on what your preference is
5:19
So how about some reasons to choose the NICOR lens? Well, the first of those reasons is that the NICOR, even though it has the larger maximum
5:25
matcher, is actually the smaller of the two lenses. It is only 45 and a half millimeters in length versus 60 millimeters for the Viltrox lens
5:34
Now, I will note the NICOR is two millimeters wider, but it's not enough to actually be
5:39
significant, the more different, significant difference in size favors the NICOR and that it is considerably
5:45
the shorter of the two lenses. It is also very slightly the lighter of the two lenses. It weighs in at
5:52
170 grams versus 180 grams. That's six ounces versus 6.3 ounces for the Viltrox lens. So probably
6:01
not a deal breaker either way, but if you're looking to travel as light as possible, the NICOR is
6:06
slightly the lighter lens. One key feature that the NICOR has that the Viltrox does not is that it does have some internal weather sealing
6:15
Now, ironically, neither one of them have a gasket at the lens mount
6:19
where you would typically see the evidence of any kind of weather sealing
6:23
Though NICOR does point to about four different seal points at other places in the lens itself
6:28
something that is missing from the Viltrox lens. Obviously, from the name itself, you can tell that the NICOR is the brighter of the two lenses
6:36
It has a maximum mapture of F2 versus the maximum mapture of
6:39
F2.5. And so it's about two-thirds of a stop brighter in terms of how much light it can let in
6:47
That's going to affect various things like depth of field and the bow cab, different qualities like
6:52
that. And so a definite advantage there. Another advantage, physical advantage that it has
6:57
is that it has a higher aperture blade count. There are nine blades versus seven blades
7:03
And I would say that not only are there more blades on the NICOR lens, they are more rounded
7:07
actually found for such an inexpensive lens that the Aptor iris looks quite pretty from the NICOR lens
7:13
and that is reflected also in the quality of the bouquet produces in certain situations
7:18
More on that in just a moment. As hinted at previously, the NICOR lens also has a higher magnification
7:24
You can focus closer, and as noted, it frames a little bit tighter, and so it gives a maximum magnification of 0.17 times versus just 0.14 times for the Viltrox lens
7:36
and that makes a pretty significant difference more than what those numbers might suggest in real-world results
7:43
It also has the faster autofocus. I'm actually very pleasantly surprised at how snappy auto-focus is with the NICOR lens
7:50
And so if you're looking for some speed, trying to capture some action as a part of what you're doing with the lens
7:56
obviously it's not a sports lens, but it does focus quick enough that it can keep up with most things
8:01
And so definitely an area of improvement there. The NICOR clearly has the nicer bouquet, and I would say the overall nicer rendering of the two lenses
8:11
Images are really very visually pleasing from this lens, and some of you who have used both S-line lenses and then this NICOR lens have commented to me, since I've done my review of this lens, that you actually prefer the rendering from this lens as compared to some of the more expensive S-line lenses
8:28
And so that's certainly an area of strength relative to the Viltrox. The NICOR also has less distortion
8:35
The Viltrox has some obvious pin cushion distortion, whereas the NICOR lens is much closer to neutral
8:41
and so that's an advantage there. Finally, that kind of plus minus factor, either a strength or the weakness, depending on your priority
8:48
this is the longer focal length of the two. And so it frames tighter than what the Viltrox does
8:54
And so if you're more interested in having a little bit more reach than you are of width in the shot
8:58
then the NICOR is the winner there. So my overall conclusion, before going into the optical deep dive, is this
9:05
I found this comparison actually very complicated. I do my best when doing these to not really put my thumb on the scale in either direction
9:12
to present data to you and allow you to make a decision. I would say that's particularly true here, because I actually currently own both of these lenses
9:20
and I really still don't know which one I would keep over the other. Both lenses have serious strengths and weaknesses relative the other
9:28
and so if you're looking for a recommendation from me, I would say buy the Viltrox if sharpness and contrast are your priority If you most interested in getting as high a detail as possible purchase the NICOR if you more about rendering and the overall look of images
9:44
than you are at the pixel peeping. If bouquet is more of a priority to you than just absolute
9:49
sharpness. There's two different flavors here and you really just need to choose the one that's more
9:53
tasty for you. Now if you want a deeper dive into some actual head-to-head comparisons optically
10:00
stay tuned with me right now and we'll jump into that deep. dive comparison together. All right
10:05
For our comparisons here, for consistency's sake, I'm going to keep the NICOR on the left
10:08
side of your screen and then the Viltrox on the right side. Now, looking at Vignette and Distortion here, on the distortion into things, you can see
10:16
that there is considerably more distortion for the Viltrox lens here. You can see that pincushion pinch there on the center of the frame, whereas the NICOR is
10:25
more neutral. On the flip side of things, though, you can see that the distortion is, excuse me, the Vignette
10:31
is much, much heavier when you compare the two lenses, this both being uncorrected out of the camera
10:36
raw images. Now, while both of these will correct okay, I did find that the NICOR lens, that VINET is so heavy
10:45
that it really isn't fully taken care of even by the correction profile
10:49
And whereas the distortion is nice and linear for the Viltrox, and so it cleans up fine
10:53
take a look at this. This is straight out of camera images for the NICOR, and this is with the correct
11:00
correction profile enabled. And you can see a pretty noticeable difference in the remaining
11:04
vignette, even after correction, for F2 versus F3.5 here. And so that's some pretty heavy
11:12
vignette there. Now when it comes to longitudinal chromatic aberrations, we can see that both
11:17
of them exhibit some fringing, neither of them are major. What we can see, however, is that there
11:23
is more obvious fringing from the NICOR lens than what there is for the Viltrox. Now, for a quick
11:29
look at sharpness. This is 45 megapixel Z8 results shown at 200%. So in the center of the frame
11:36
you can see F2. This is F2 versus 2.5, both of the maximum aperture. You can see just how much
11:42
crisper the textures are on the Viltrachs compared to a little bit mushyer results for the NICOR lens
11:49
The mid-frame results are staggeringly different. You can see the Viltrox is just pin sharp
11:54
whereas the NICOR is not. And down into the corners, you can see that the Viltrx
11:59
hold strong right into the corners, whereas the corners on the NICOR lens are fairly soft
12:05
Now, if you want an apples to apples, F2.5 versus F2.5, you can see that it really doesn't
12:10
change things a whole lot. It's still clearly sharper and better contrast for the Viltrox lens
12:17
mid-frame still destroys it, and corners are similar. If we pop around here, we can see that
12:23
the NICOR does a little bit better on the left side of the frame, almost equal to the Viltrox lens
12:29
Here, the Viltrox is still stronger in the mid-frame, but the NICOR is better than what it was
12:35
And up into the corners, again, it's still clearly an advantage for the Viltrox, but this side is a little better for the NICOR
12:41
Unfortunately, of the two lenses, the third-party lens is the one that is better centered
12:46
Now, if we stop on down both lenses to F2.8, we can see in the center of the frame
12:51
It's not as significant an advantage, but the Viltrox lens is still sharper there
12:57
midframe here is clearly favors the viltrox still we'll go to the left side where the nichore is better it's still a little bit better for the viltrox though the difference isn't as significant popping down here vill trach's clearly better and over into this corner it's close i would favor the viltrox very slightly now even when stopped down to f5.6 we're going to see that the gap isn't as significant but you can see viltrox text looks textures look a little bit sharper and the
13:27
this mid-frame result, you can see that that Viltrak has continued to sharpen up
13:31
and it is fantastic down here in this corner. Viltrox still looks a little bit brighter because of, you know, less vignette
13:38
and also sharpness looks good. If you look on the right side, it's closer now
13:43
The NICOR is better as it stopped down, but the Viltrox is still better. We'll look up at this right corner where we haven't looked
13:49
and you can see Viltrox looks better, though it is showing a little bit of lateral chromatic aberrations
13:53
that aren't present on the NICOR lens. and looking up in this corner, they're close, not highly different there
14:01
Now, I alluded to those lateral chromatic aberrations there at the edge of the frame
14:06
You can really see the difference here. If we focus on that, definitely a lot more of those aberrations here for the Viltrox
14:13
which are lacking there on the NICOR lens. So here you see the pros and cons for up close performance
14:20
And so you can see that the NICOR has the clear advantage when it comes to magnification But we can also see is that the Viltrachs does a better job up close If we compare this text here again just a much much better performance for the Viltrachs
14:34
And while obviously they don't frame the same way, you can see as you kind of look, you know, down into this zone, for example
14:41
that the NICOR is not doing as good a job of maintaining a flat plan of focus, whereas the Viltrox does better in that regard
14:48
That will bear out in this comparison as well. see clearly NICOR has higher magnification, but if you pop in there and look at it at a
14:55
pixel level, the contrast and the detail clearly favors the Viltrox. Here's another example where I focused a little bit further away, and so you can see
15:04
in this example that still the same result remains. You can see the Viltrox just is, you know, it's pin sharp, whereas the NICOR lens is not
15:13
but of course the NICOR is also doing a nicer job of blurring out the background
15:17
Now, even if we compare at F2.5, we can see a... A couple of things when it comes to contrast
15:24
First of all, you can see the Viltrox is a little bit better in that regard, a little bit less of the fringing
15:29
You can see from the NICOR here. There's some on the Viltrox as well, but it's less pronounced
15:34
As we look towards the defocused area, however, you can see that there is some outlining for the Viltrox lens
15:40
kind of that bubble bouquet effect, whereas the results from the NICOR lens are just softer in general
15:47
a little bit more pleasing a background, even with identical aperture values
15:51
Here's another good example of those two things here. Now, if you look at the global contrast, you know, the Nikkor lens looks pretty decent here
15:58
Again, I'm doing both of these at F2.5. If you punch into the microcontrast level, though, you can see just how CRISPR the writing and the text are, or textures are, with the Viltrox lens versus the Nikor lens
16:13
Looking towards the background here, the Nikor is softer, though in this comparison it's a little less obvious, but I look at this area, which is just softer
16:21
more of an outline in that area. Looking at the fringing with the window light
16:26
we can see that they're roughly equal in that regard. Now, if we look at this image
16:30
which we briefly referenced before, you can see that if we look into our area of subject
16:35
which is focused right here on this daisy, you can see the Viltrox is just cleaner
16:41
There's some bleeding around the edges on the NICOR lens that are much better controlled on the Viltrox lens
16:47
If we move towards the defocus, initially it's not radically different, But as you start to look further into the background, you can just see more of that outlining for the Viltrax lens
16:56
It's just softer and more pleasing. You can see in this area right here
17:01
It looks busier for the Viltrox, softer for the NICOR lens. Again, here's another real-world shot
17:08
You can see, first of all, looking at the background, there's just more outlining. The bouquet highlights are smaller and harsher on the Viltrox, softer here on the NICOR, even though in this comparison, they're both at F2.5
17:20
But again, the advantage for the Viltrox is when it comes to contrast in the detail, which clearly favors the Viltrox versus the NICOR lens
17:30
We'll look at one more example, which I think tells the story quite well here
17:35
So here, shooting at F2.5, we can see that if we look in at the bottle here, which is our focus point, you can just see the contrast on all these little specks of dust that are on there, much, much cleaner on the Viltrox
17:48
So that's a clear advantage for the Viltrox. But if we pan this way, look at this zone at how much busier the bouquet is from the Viltrax versus how much softer it is from the NICOR lens
17:59
And if we move over into this area, which is a little bit busier still, again, the Viltrax lens is just not nearly pleasing in the background, whereas the NICOR lens is just much, much softer
18:11
This area here, I think, really tells the story. And so again, in the overall rendering, I would definitely take the NICOR lens, particularly when with the NICTL lens, particularly when with the VILTLens, I think
18:20
the NICOR lens I could also open up to F2 and now the background is even softer by comparison
18:26
and you can see that those specular highlights are really, really nice and soft and just so much
18:31
less busy than what you see on the Viltrux. Of course, you may be coming to the same conclusion
18:36
that I did. The lens I'm looking for is the one that merges the strengths of these two
18:41
lenses together. So you've made it to the end and I hope that the information that has been
18:46
presented here has given you a little bit more insight into which one of the
18:50
these lenses is going to work better for you. And as you've looked at these images side by side
18:55
maybe there's one that is consistently stood out to you as being more pleasing. And if that is the
18:59
case, that's the lens that you should buy. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day
19:04
and let the light in