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Photographer Dustin Abbott compares the new Viltrox EVO 85mm F2 against the LK Samyang 85mm F1.8. Which is worth your money?
Viltrox EVO 85 Reviews: Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/EVO85review | Video: https://youtu.be/MWqPu1JUGhE
LK Samyang Prima 85 Reviews: Text Review: https://tinyurl.com/LKSam85Preview | Video https://youtu.be/TrgbUrNpdQU
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:11
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here for
0:12
another one of my head-to-head
0:14
comparison videos. We've got a couple of
0:16
really intriguing 85mm options on Sony
0:20
E-mount at the 85mm focal length. So,
0:23
the earlier of those released this
0:25
summer was the LK Samyang Prima 85mm
0:29
f1.8. 8 which I have got here. And then
0:32
more recently is the Viltrox Evo 85mm
0:36
F2. It is the first of a new series from
0:38
Viltrox and it is a lens that has gotten
0:40
a lot of buzz as we're going to see for
0:42
a lot of reasons. Both of these lenses
0:45
are great if you're looking for a sharp,
0:48
high-erforming 85mm lens with a little
0:51
bit smaller maximum aperture, but a
0:53
really compact profile, one that's easy
0:55
to take along and one that's easy to
0:57
use. And so I actually like both of
0:59
these lenses a lot and I've gotten
1:01
beautiful photos with both of them. So I
1:03
was intrigued in this particular
1:04
comparison to see how they would shake
1:06
out when I put them headto head. Now
1:08
before we dive in today, I I want you to
1:10
know what I'm going to do on the outdoor
1:12
segments is rather than move around to
1:13
different locations. Instead, I'm going
1:15
to swap I'm going to film right now. I'm
1:18
filming on the EVO lens. I'll swap to
1:20
for the next segment swap to filming on
1:22
the Prima lens. And so even as we go
1:24
through these segments, you have an
1:25
opportunity to uh check them out and you
1:28
know get a little sense of how they
1:30
perform, which one that you prefer a
1:31
little bit better. And so today we're
1:33
going to dive in. I'm going to do a
1:34
little bit different format with this
1:36
here today. Rather than just giving you,
1:38
you know, reasons to choose one, reasons
1:40
to choose the other. I'm actually going
1:41
to do a little bit more head-to-head in
1:43
every category.
1:47
So the first segment that we're actually
1:49
going to look at is price. MSRP for the
1:51
EVO lens is $275.
1:54
For this LK Samyang Primo lens, it is
1:57
$399.
1:59
And so that makes the Samyang about 45%
2:02
more expensive. So that obviously that's
2:03
going to be a consideration on that.
2:12
So starting off, let's look at the size.
2:14
The Evo is 69 mm in diameter and it's 76
2:17
mm in length. The Prima is 69.8
2:21
millimeters in diameter, just almost a
2:23
millimeter wider, but it's only 71.5
2:26
millimeters long. And so the Evo is 5%
2:30
uh larger in its overall volume
2:32
dimension. And so the Prima gets a win
2:34
there. A little bit more of a difference
2:36
when it comes to the weight. The Evo is
2:38
340 gram. The Prima is only 272 g, which
2:42
means that the Evo is 25% heavier. So
2:46
certainly a win, another win for the
2:48
Prima there. However, as we start to
2:50
look at the feature set, this is a
2:52
definite win for the EVO. The EVO has an
2:55
aperture ring with a switch that allows
2:58
you to have that aperture ring either
2:59
clicked or decllicked. It has an AFMF
3:01
switch and a custom or function button
3:04
on the side. The LK Saming, all it has
3:07
is just an AFMF switch. And so a very
3:10
clear win for the EVO there. Minimum
3:13
focus distance is 74 millimeters for the
3:15
Viltrox. The Prima is 80 cm. And the
3:19
resulting magnification favors the
3:21
Viltrox 0.13 times versus 0.12
3:25
times. And so a win for Viltrox there.
3:29
However, when it comes to the weather
3:31
sealing, the Prima lens has a both of
3:34
them have a gasket at the rear mount.
3:35
However, the Prima has a total of five
3:38
different seal points, whereas the
3:40
Viltrox has the gasket at the lens mount
3:42
and a coating on the front element, but
3:44
no mention of any other uh seals inside.
3:47
So, a win for the Prima there. And so,
3:50
in this case, that means that there are
3:52
a there's plus three here for the Prima
3:56
lens and there is also a plus three for
4:00
the EVO lens.
4:07
Okay, for the autofocus SE section, I am
4:09
now filming on the Samyang lens. So, you
4:12
can get a sense of the rendering here.
4:13
Both of these lenses are equipped with
4:15
STM or stepping focus motors. And in
4:18
terms of the overall focus speed and
4:20
what I would consider the thrust and the
4:22
smoothness of the motors, I don't really
4:24
see much of a difference. When I did
4:26
tests side by side, I felt that maybe
4:29
the Evo was ever so slightly faster.
4:32
However, it is held back by one thing
4:34
that the Samyang is not. I've noticed
4:36
with a few Viltrox lenses that sometimes
4:39
there is a little bit of a lag between
4:41
clicking the shutter and the photo
4:43
actually taking place. And I'm hoping
4:45
that it's something that can be ironed
4:46
out with firmware. It feels like that
4:48
has been the case with some previous
4:49
lenses, but at the moment, I feel like
4:51
when it comes to actually taking the
4:52
photo that even if the EVO gets there
4:55
ever so slightly faster, it's actually
4:57
the Samyang that takes the photo faster.
4:59
And there's one other area that I would
5:00
consider the Samyang to be preferable.
5:02
And that is that uh if you're planning
5:05
on using it on Nikon Zmount as well. I
5:08
find that the Samyang lenses that have
5:11
been released in the last couple of
5:12
years, when I use them on a Mega Dap
5:14
adapter or something similar on Nikon
5:16
Zmount, they work pretty much like
5:19
native lenses. And I'm really impressed
5:20
with their performance. I don't find
5:22
that the Viltrox adapts quite as well.
5:30
All right, we're back to filming on the
5:31
Viltrox lens, and that's appropriate
5:34
because in this category, it's going to
5:36
take a few wins. There's one principal
5:38
advantage it has in the video department
5:40
that the Samyang does not, and that is
5:42
that it not only has an aperture ring,
5:44
but it has a declickable aperture ring,
5:46
which means that I can do nice aperture
5:48
racks on the Evo lens that I can't do on
5:51
the Prima. In fact, on the Prima, the
5:52
only way I can aperture rack is actually
5:54
just turning the command dial, which as
5:57
you can see, produces a really
5:58
frustrating looking experience. And so,
6:01
a definite clear win for the EVO there.
6:04
What's more, when it came to focus
6:05
pulls, touchto focus pulls back and
6:07
forth, both of the lenses did fairly
6:09
good in this category. However, I did
6:11
feel like the Viltrox did so with a
6:14
little bit more confidence and a little
6:15
bit more thrust. Uh, just a little bit
6:17
more thrust available in the focus motor
6:20
head-to-head. I found focus breathing to
6:22
be about equal. You may have noticed
6:24
that in that test that both of them do
6:26
breathe slightly. Neither of them are
6:27
extreme. Neither one of them is
6:29
particularly better than the other one.
6:31
The EVO is slightly faster to pick me up
6:35
when I approach. Both of them did fine
6:37
in terms of tracking me as I move
6:39
towards the camera and then when I
6:41
stepped out of frame or off to the side,
6:43
both of them picked me back up fine and
6:45
got back to a good accurate focus.
6:48
However, the Viltrox did so ever so
6:50
slightly faster and so it picked me up
6:52
faster and I felt like it was accurate
6:54
focus lock quicker. And so for someone
6:56
who does a lot of what I'm doing right
6:58
now, standing in front of camera and
7:00
relying on the autofocus to properly
7:02
track my face, that's something that I
7:04
really, really appreciate. So after the
7:06
video AF section, that's actually a plus
7:08
three for the EVO lens.
7:16
So, starting to look at different
7:17
head-to-head categories when it comes to
7:19
distortion, the Evo has a slight win
7:22
there. It has needs just a minus2 to
7:25
correct a little bit of pin cushion
7:26
distortion, whereas the Prima needs a
7:29
minus4 to correct just a little bit more
7:31
pin cushion distortion. Things switch,
7:34
however, on the vignette side of things.
7:35
whereas needs a plus 71 to correct for
7:38
nearly three stops of vignette in the
7:40
corners. The Prima needs only a plus 48
7:43
to correct right under two stops of
7:46
vignette in the corners. So, a win for
7:48
Prima there. Both of them have nine
7:50
aperture blades. However, the Evo has a
7:53
little bit better geometry near the
7:55
corners and also as you stop the lenses
7:57
down, it retains a circular shape better
8:00
than what the Prima does. is the Prima,
8:02
you start to see those blades a little
8:04
bit more for so a win for the EVO there.
8:08
Now, a pretty clear win here across the
8:11
board is that the EVO is the sharper
8:13
lens. And so, comparing both of them
8:15
wide open or stopping really at pretty
8:18
much any aperture, the EVO is the
8:20
sharper lens. They're both nice, but the
8:22
EVO is nicer. It's sharper in the
8:23
center. It's sharper in the mid-frame.
8:26
It is sharper in the corners. It is
8:28
sharper if you're shooting out in real
8:30
world situations. Um, sharper in the
8:33
center and more obviously it is sharper
8:35
when you get out towards the edges. It
8:37
is sharper when shooting portraits. You
8:39
can just see more sharpness, more
8:41
contrast in those kinds of situations.
8:44
And so I'm going to give it two points
8:46
here because it is sharper when it comes
8:48
to chart testing wide open. It is
8:50
sharper with chart testing when it's
8:52
stopped down and then also in real world
8:54
sharpness in all the different kind of
8:56
scenarios where I put them headto head.
8:58
The EVO was definitely the stronger
9:00
lens. Um, and it also gets a point for
9:03
having better contrast. That's true
9:04
whether close up, that's true at medium
9:06
distance, that's true at infinity.
9:09
Contrast definitely favors the EVO lens.
9:11
It has the ability to render fine
9:13
details in a really fantastic way and
9:15
it's amazingly sharp even wide open at
9:18
f2. So definitely some wins in the
9:21
sharpness category. However, I'm going
9:23
to give the Prima a win for having
9:25
slightly better bokeh. Number one with
9:28
an maximum aperture of f1.8 versus f2.
9:30
That's a third stop brighter. But it
9:32
also means that specular highlights are
9:34
bigger and softer from the prima lens.
9:38
And I would say that while it's not
9:40
radically different, when I looked at
9:42
lots of images and I compared
9:43
head-to-head, I understand the bokeh is
9:45
subjective. However, I felt like the
9:48
Prima was just very slightly softer in
9:51
some of the the outfocus regions and so
9:54
I'm going to give it a winner there. I
9:56
also found that when it comes to flare
9:59
resistance, both of them definitely do
10:02
some flaring and uh and you know, really
10:04
depending on a certain position and you
10:07
can see just some veiling that comes
10:08
into the frame with either one of those
10:10
lenses. When it comes to the to the
10:13
Samyang, it has a little bit more of of
10:16
a halo effect. I there's a tin tiny bit
10:18
more of ghosting on the Vtrox. Neither
10:21
one of them is bad. Neither one of them
10:22
is amazing when it comes to an 85mm
10:25
lens. And so I'm going to call that
10:27
about equal between the two. One area,
10:30
however, that I have to go back to
10:31
favoring the EVO lens is when it comes
10:34
to color. I found head-to-head that I
10:36
just generally preferred the uh the
10:40
images coming from the EVO versus the LK
10:43
Samyang lens. And the LK Samyang has a
10:46
very it's it's a little bit cooler and a
10:48
little bit kind of maybe slightly tilted
10:50
towards magenta. The Viltrox image is
10:53
maybe a little bit warmer, but I just
10:55
felt generally that colors were a little
10:58
bit more accurate to what I saw being in
11:00
the scene. And and so when I compared
11:02
them side by side, I felt like I
11:04
preferred the images off of the Viltrox.
11:06
So I'm going to give it a win for the
11:08
color there. And so if we are adding
11:11
things up, that means in this category,
11:13
we have one, two, three, four, five, six
11:18
categories uh for image quality where
11:20
the Viltrox uh EVO wins whereas we have
11:24
one, two, three categories where the
11:27
Prima wins in those. And so that means
11:30
that we are ending up with a total of
11:33
13-7.
11:38
So with a final score of 13, that makes
11:41
the Evo lens the winner with only seven
11:44
points for the Prima lens. At the end of
11:47
the day, however, both of these are
11:48
really awesome lenses that I've really
11:50
enjoyed. I've gotten great photos with
11:52
both of them and I would be happy to own
11:55
either one of them. At the end of the
11:56
day, however, I do think that Viltrox's
11:59
combination of features, overall optical
12:02
performance, and of course, price puts
12:04
it out a little bit ahead of the LK
12:06
Sammy. With one caveat, if you happen to
12:09
be someone who owns both a Sony and
12:12
Nikon camera or cameras, you might want
12:14
to consider the LK Samyang instead. It
12:17
is smaller and lighter, and it's still a
12:18
high performing lens, producing really
12:20
beautiful images. But more importantly,
12:22
it adapts beautifully to uh the Zmount
12:25
in a way that the Viltrox does not, at
12:28
least in my experience. And so there's
12:30
one reason to consider the LK Samyang
12:32
instead. As I said though, at the end of
12:34
the day, both of these lenses are pretty
12:35
fantastic. If you want more information
12:37
on either one of them, look in the
12:39
description down below and I've got link
12:41
to my full video and text reviews on
12:44
both of these lenses and so you can
12:45
determine which one of them works best
12:47
for you. There are buying links there as
12:49
well. As always, thanks for watching.
12:51
Have a great day and let the light in.
12:55
[Music]