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Viltrox AF 50mm F2 AIR Review | One of the Sharpest 50mm Lenses Ever!
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Mar 16, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a deep dive review of the Viltrox AIR 50mm F2 - one of the sharpest full frame 50mm lenses ever. Find out why this $175 lens is a total gem. | This episode is sponsored by Fantom Wallet. Visit store.fantomwallet.com and use code DUSTIN20 for 20% off. | Read the Text Review: | Visit the Image Gallery: | Purchase the Viltrox AF 50mm F2 AIR @ Viltrox (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 8% off) | B&H Photo | Adorama | Amazon | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany 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 ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
0:12
to give you my review of the vrox AF
0:14
50mm F2 this is from their air series
0:18
now I knew that this was going to be a
0:20
special lens when I saw the MTF chart
0:23
but what really made my jaw drop is when
0:26
I compared it to my beloved 50mm f1.4 G
0:30
Master lens which I'm filming on right
0:31
now and I do almost every time and I
0:33
compared it first in the center both
0:35
lenses at f2 and saw this result and
0:38
then when I looked in the corners and
0:40
saw this result as I said my jaw dropped
0:43
now that's not to say that this little
0:45
VR is the better lens far from but it is
0:49
shockingly the sharper lens of the two
0:51
so that means that we are about to see
0:54
the best sub $200 performance that we've
0:58
ever seen on a fullframe system the vroo
1:01
air 50mm F2 is a stunningly good lens
1:05
more on that in just a moment right
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out so the first thing I want to clear
1:57
up as we dive into the build and
1:59
handling SE ction is there is yes an
2:02
existing 50mm f1.8 lens it was released
2:06
about three plus years ago now that lens
2:09
uh it it is different in a few ways it
2:11
has a metal construction it did have an
2:14
aperture ring those are both both pluses
2:16
and it did have a very slightly brighter
2:19
maximum mture of f1.8 versus F2 however
2:22
it also cost
2:23
$359 almost double this it was 22 mm
2:27
longer and weighed 135 G
2:30
more and so outside of the aperture ring
2:32
I would say that this is actually the
2:34
superior lens in every way despite the
2:37
much lower price so yes it is made out
2:39
of plastics but it's been the case with
2:41
all these air series lenses it doesn't
2:43
feel cheap in any way the there's a
2:45
great rigidity to the body you can try
2:47
squeezing and everything feels very
2:49
tough feels like the lens that could
2:51
take some you know a little bit of a
2:53
beating and keep on going and in fact
2:55
I've been using the 20mm f2.8 the first
2:57
of this series for years now traveled
3:00
with it a number of times I've never had
3:02
any issues with it at all it is actually
3:04
held up really well so far and so I'm
3:06
not put off by the Plastics in the
3:08
construction because the trade-off for
3:10
that is obviously you get a a lighter
3:12
lens which I think we can all appreciate
3:14
in a series that's called the air series
3:17
so the lens is 65 mm in diameter or 2.55
3:21
in it's
3:22
56.5 Millers in length 2.15 in as you
3:26
can see it makes it a easily palm-sized
3:29
lens really quite small and compact
3:31
particularly for being a full-frame 50
3:34
millimeter lens it weighs just 205 grams
3:37
or 7.23 o and as you can see the form
3:42
factor is very very similar to the three
3:45
now fullframe air series lenses
3:47
including the 28mm f2.8 the 40mm f2.5
3:52
and then this 50mm F2 this is easily I
3:55
would say the sharpest and probably the
3:57
best of the series thus far up front we
4:00
have a 58 mm front filter thread that is
4:03
a little bit bigger than the other two
4:04
unfortunately it does come with both a
4:07
little pouch and then also with the lens
4:10
Hood lens Hood actually feels pretty
4:13
decent it's thicker Plastics and then so
4:16
it doesn't feel cheap in any way it
4:17
bayonets into place with good Precision
4:20
which wasn't true of The Early Air
4:22
series lenses so it locks in there and
4:24
it stays there they've obviously learned
4:26
their lesson with that and so overall I
4:28
mean build is actually quite nice Now
4:31
features are basically non-existent you
4:33
have the manual focus ring and that's it
4:37
uh so there are no features there's no
4:38
aperture ring there's no ammf switch you
4:42
know any function button nothing like
4:44
that this is a basic lens however it
4:47
does have a metal mount it does have
4:49
their USB C Port that will allow for
4:52
very quick and easy firmware updates uh
4:54
it has nine rounded apture blades inside
4:57
you can see from this shot even stopped
4:59
all the way down to f8 in a real world
5:01
chart you can see specular highlights
5:03
are nice and round the minimum Focus
5:06
distance here is 51 CM so there's good
5:09
and bad in that maximum magnification as
5:12
you can see here is 0.11 times not
5:15
particularly good however it is improved
5:18
from the 55 CM minimum Focus distance of
5:21
the previous 50mm f1.8 and the maximum
5:24
magnification level is a little bit
5:27
higher still not quite up to what I
5:29
would call call the standard the average
5:31
being about
5:32
0.15 times magnification so at 0.11
5:36
times not quite as good so I do wish
5:39
they would start to improve that that
5:41
remains kind of a fairly consistent vrox
5:44
weakness with a few exceptions on that
5:46
there is no weather sealing in this
5:48
inexpensive series however they do have
5:50
their HD Nano multi-layer coating on the
5:53
front element that does help at least
5:55
there to resist fingerprints and give
5:58
you a little bit of moisture resistance
5:59
there so I mean the manual focus ring it
6:03
moves well here on Sony um which I'm
6:06
reviewing here on e-mount it will come
6:08
for z-mount I suspect in the future and
6:11
we'll see if they bring it to Fuji even
6:13
though it's a full-frame lens but at the
6:15
least I think we'll see Z mount in the
6:17
future uh here on e-mount it focuses
6:20
nicely um the focus ring feels pretty
6:23
decent and uh there's enough damping
6:25
there that I feel some Precision when
6:27
doing manual focus and so uh the price
6:30
of course I haven't heard the final
6:32
price but this Series has been priced at
6:34
about
6:35
$179 in that range and typically you can
6:37
get it for a little bit less if you use
6:39
the discount code that is provided um in
6:42
the actual description down below so
6:45
again no bells and whistles but I
6:47
actually find these lenses to be nicely
6:49
made and what I love about them is they
6:51
are so easy to throw into your camera
6:53
bag you know they take up a very small
6:55
space uh they're lightweight and so I
6:58
mean I feel like I could throw it along
6:59
and bring it with me so means that this
7:01
lens is going to end up on some trips
7:03
that a higher end more expensive larger
7:06
aperture 50mm Prime is not going to make
7:09
it for those very reasons so overall I'm
7:12
happy how about autofocus we'll start by
7:15
talking about Stills as has been the
7:17
case with this series we have a lead
7:19
screw type STM Focus motor and really I
7:24
have zero complaints about autofocus as
7:26
you can see here it is uh quite quick to
7:29
focus back and forth even with major
7:31
Focus shifts like that the Focus motor
7:33
is very very quiet the only sound I hear
7:35
even if I put it up near my ear and
7:37
focus is if I'm going on and off you
7:40
know half to pressing the shutter button
7:42
I'll hear the a little bit of a click as
7:44
the aperture blades open and close but
7:46
outside of that I hear almost nothing
7:47
from the Focus motor itself very quiet
7:50
and so I found it to be I actually took
7:53
this lens with me on a trip to Tokyo
7:55
recently I was at cp+ and some other
7:57
events that I was there for and I got
8:00
great Street results with it I found
8:02
that it worked great just as that you
8:05
know a very discreet small lightweight
8:07
Street type lens just taking pictures
8:09
out and around I got great results there
8:11
I also found um actually at the Canon
8:13
Booth they had a group of guys playing
8:16
basketball and so I found there that I
8:18
was able to get you know very perfect
8:21
autofocus on them moving around and
8:23
playing basketball and then also in the
8:25
Sony section there was a some break
8:27
dancers street dancers that were and
8:29
once again I was able to lock on and
8:32
track them as they spun and gated and
8:34
jumped and so very very good for that
8:37
also in the Sony section they had a a
8:39
cool setup for portraiture and so I was
8:42
able to you know test somewhat in there
8:44
and I got good portrait type results I
8:47
mean focus is you know very quick to
8:49
lock on the eyes and as we're going to
8:51
see it's incredibly sharp and so it
8:53
delivered great results even at f2 and
8:55
so autofocus for Stills zero concerns
8:58
how about for video
9:00
actually it was better than expected for
9:02
video first of all autofocus pools have
9:05
been pretty good with this series and so
9:07
I wasn't too surprised that they were
9:10
relatively quick but what actually did
9:12
surprise me is two things about that
9:14
first of all as you can see it feels
9:16
fairly well damed it's not just like
9:18
abrupt back and forth and helping that a
9:20
lot is there's actually a really minimal
9:22
amount of focus breathing here with this
9:24
lens better than what I see with most
9:26
50mm lenses and so it's it feels more
9:29
set atic because it's not there's
9:30
nothing jarring about the transition
9:32
from A to B and back likewise for that
9:36
reason with my hand test it's very
9:39
smooth it's just kind of transitioning
9:40
from the hand to the eye and back
9:42
without any kind of that you know kind
9:44
of swaying back and forth that movement
9:46
that you see and so uh that was great as
9:49
you can see here in just the shot of
9:51
some people walking up an alley uh in
9:53
Tokyo you can see that Focus moves along
9:55
smoothly no concerns there um here's
9:58
another shot on a a set and you can see
10:01
in this brief click clip that uh you
10:03
know just AF is smooth and stable in
10:06
this situation where it should be stable
10:08
and for you know outdoor landscape uh
10:11
landscape type shots this is the
10:13
Yokohama uh Harbor I again I saw really
10:16
great results really stable results and
10:18
so in other words autofocus was
10:21
fantastic how about image quality well
10:23
I'll give you an overview here and then
10:25
we'll dive deep into the image quality
10:27
and a breakdown at the end of the video
10:29
Optical design in this is it's it's it's
10:32
far more than what you would expect for
10:34
a sub $200 50mm F2 Prime 13 elements in
10:38
nine groups but seven of those are
10:39
exotic elements three extra low
10:41
dispersion elements four high refractive
10:44
index elements and as you can see the
10:46
MTF is just stunningly good it's it's
10:49
very close to being a straight line all
10:51
across at a very high percentage with
10:54
just a little bit of drop off in the end
10:56
I believe in the sagittal plane but I
10:58
mean it is it's really impressively good
11:01
and so what I found is that even
11:02
shooting on either a 50 or 61 megapixel
11:05
body it's just extremely sharp in the
11:08
real world this has zero problems fully
11:10
resolving the sensor even at f2 of my
11:13
a7r mark 5 uh and so I mean just
11:16
incredibly sharp as we'll see a little
11:18
bit more in just a moment also uh
11:20
Distortion is low there's a tiny bit of
11:22
pinish distortion a minus two to correct
11:25
vignette is not bad very moderate a plus
11:28
50 to correct four and for being a
11:29
compact lens that's actually a nice
11:32
result I think it's probably a good
11:34
thing that they stuck at f2 rather than
11:36
trying to go to f1.8 with this lens
11:38
because it's basically pretty close to
11:40
perfect wide open this shot for example
11:42
has zero correction um of any a vignette
11:46
and you can see at f2 it looks fine
11:48
likewise this shot with a lot of
11:50
straight lines of of cityscape you can
11:53
see again there's no bulge or Distortion
11:55
there so all of that looks good
11:57
furthermore the lens is again almost
11:59
perfectly corrected for chromatic
12:01
aberration you can see here that there's
12:03
basically no longitudinal chromatic
12:04
aberration to see likewise in the corner
12:07
of the frame no lateral type chromatic
12:09
aberration and that was true on real
12:11
real world shots as well the wide open
12:14
sharpness is just really really
12:16
impressive and and so here you can see
12:18
from my chart again this is 61
12:20
megapixels and I'm showing these results
12:22
at 200% magnification you can see that
12:25
it's just excellent sharpness all across
12:27
the frame dead sharp in the center in
12:29
the mid-frame and even in the corners
12:31
the corners look very sharp and crisp
12:33
what's more I saw a very good
12:34
consistency in terms of the centering
12:36
around so for example here if I compare
12:39
the midf frame um on the right with the
12:42
upper left corner and I've got the same
12:43
build there you can see that there's
12:45
very little drop off a surprisingly
12:47
little amount of drop off from that
12:49
mid-frame result to the corner and so
12:51
excellent result there stop down and
12:54
you'll get a very slight contrast boost
12:57
as you can see here when stop down I saw
13:00
very consistent sharpness for landscape
13:02
images when you're down to F4 f5.6 f8
13:05
throughout all of those apertures I mean
13:07
the detail you can get is just amazing
13:10
there is some defraction you can start
13:12
to see at f11 on a high resolution body
13:14
and more obviously at
13:16
F16 which is you know it's not really
13:19
lens specific it's what I always see
13:21
with high resolution bodies I've been
13:24
noting for now for a few years that
13:26
vtr's Optical glass has vastly improved
13:29
they got a new supplier and their
13:30
Optical glass is just so much better and
13:32
so now I find colors to be very good be
13:35
it skin tones or be it uh you know
13:38
shooting out in landscape settings just
13:41
colors are are rich but without being
13:43
garish in any way the one area where I
13:45
think the lens is okay but not
13:48
exceptional is when it comes to the the
13:49
overall bouqu rendering and so in some
13:52
situations you can see here specular
13:54
highlights they look pretty decent the
13:56
geometry is not bad across the frame but
13:59
what I do find is that there are some
14:01
situations if it's a little bit busier
14:03
in the transition zone there's a little
14:04
bit more hard edges than what I like and
14:07
so the Boke mostly doesn't look bad but
14:09
I wouldn't call it super soft either and
14:12
I'll show you a few images here and let
14:13
you draw your own conclusions on
14:16
that what I also found is that the flare
14:19
resistance is actually really great from
14:21
the lens as well and so uh that was true
14:24
um you know just in regular shots like
14:26
this if I pan back and forth across you
14:29
can see whether and then whether I'm
14:31
shooting at f2 or shooting at f11 again
14:33
it's just really consistent no veiling
14:35
no ghosting flare resistance is pretty
14:37
close to perfect again that's that's
14:39
amazing in the lens that is so
14:41
inexpensive like this one so that brings
14:44
me to my conclusion this is obviously
14:47
going to be a maybe the niftiest of the
14:49
Nifty 50s that I've seen so far I mean
14:52
it really fits that kind of definition
14:54
of being a lens that it's inexpensive
14:56
small compact but what is different here
14:59
is that typically with the nifty50
15:01
you're getting a cheap lens but you're
15:02
also getting a cheap lens in terms of
15:04
build quality and most obviously when it
15:06
comes to Optical performance this is
15:08
that couldn't be further from the truth
15:09
here this lens is lightweight it's
15:12
inexpensive it's easy to pack but it is
15:14
crazy sharp and it has great autofocus
15:17
as well I think it's an awesome Street
15:19
lens I liked traveling with it not only
15:22
because it's small and compact but you
15:24
feel a little bit less vulnerable with a
15:26
sub $200 lens at the front of your
15:28
camera as OPP to uh you know a 122 to
15:31
$1,500 50mm Prime and so it's probably a
15:35
lens that's going to end up in my pack
15:36
fairly often if I'm wanting to throw a
15:38
prime in to augment some other L lenses
15:42
along with me I've been really impressed
15:44
with all the apsc air series lenses as
15:46
well but because this is fullframe I'm
15:49
even more impressed by it because
15:51
fullframe is that much harder to
15:52
engineer 4 and to do a small compact
15:55
lens like this and to do it so well for
15:58
so little money
15:59
it kind of boggles my mind and so as you
16:02
can tell I'm giving this a very very
16:04
favorable review now if you want more
16:06
information you can check out either my
16:08
text review that's Linked In the
16:09
description down below or stay tuned
16:12
right now and we are going to dive into
16:14
the optical performance a little bit
16:16
deeper together let's take a look okay
16:18
we'll start by taking a look at vignette
16:20
and Distortion you can see a tiny bit of
16:22
pin cushion Distortion there and these
16:24
outer lines here you can also see that
16:26
it corrects in a very linear fashion
16:28
just a minus two to correct for it no
16:29
big deal likewise there is some vignette
16:32
concentrated in the corners however
16:34
again it corrected quite easily with a
16:36
plus 50 and yes there will be correction
16:38
profiles by the time that this goes to
16:40
retail you can see a near perfect
16:43
control of chromatic aberations in terms
16:45
of longitudinal style tiniest amount of
16:48
green fringing but I mean nothing hardly
16:50
there at all real world shots I just
16:53
really didn't see it likewise lateral
16:54
style chromatic aberration pretty much
16:57
perfect in the transitions from black to
16:59
white no issues there at all excellent
17:01
performance in terms of sharpness as
17:04
I've already emphasized this lens is
17:05
incredible so here this is 200%
17:07
magnification from a 61 megapixel a7r
17:10
Mark 5 and a sub $200 lens I mean and
17:13
look at the contrast and detail there if
17:16
we go to the mid-frame I mean it's just
17:18
like it's it's Flawless and uh moving
17:21
down here in all of these zones like
17:23
detail and contrast is staying up just
17:26
fantastic and really from here to here
17:29
there is a little drop off right in that
17:31
like final degree but it's still
17:32
actually resolving a lot of the fine
17:34
details there really really impressive
17:37
and of course where it gets really
17:38
really impressive is when I compare it
17:40
to the 50mm f1.4 GM both lenses at f2 in
17:45
the center of the frame I don't know if
17:47
you can have any other takeaway than
17:48
that the vrox is every bit as sharp and
17:51
if we move out a little ways you can see
17:53
in this Zone that they're roughly
17:54
comparable as we get a little closer to
17:57
the edge however there's just no no
17:59
question that the vrox is much much
18:01
sharper and producing a better end
18:03
result and uh that's still true up here
18:07
I mean both lenses are great but the vro
18:10
is just a little bit greater and that's
18:12
pretty mind-blowing a bit of real world
18:14
perspective here at f2 you can see the
18:16
detail there is just perfect uh likewise
18:20
in this portrait shot also at f2 I mean
18:23
just look at how much detail is there
18:25
all the texture information on her
18:27
jacket here on the motor cycle I mean
18:30
that's just Flawless and that's at f2
18:33
with such a sharp lens wide open there's
18:35
a little less room for you know
18:37
Improvement when you stop it down
18:39
however I would say that at f2.8 I see
18:42
just the dark levels are just a little
18:44
bit darker there if we take a look here
18:47
for example I think there's just a you
18:49
know the black levels are just a little
18:51
bit better and then if we go to this top
18:54
corner here and again this also allows
18:56
us to look at the centering you can see
18:58
that now that sharpness is just reaching
19:00
a little further up into the corner and
19:02
those contrast levels look really
19:04
fantastic all through here very very
19:07
impressive in result now I would say
19:09
from f2.8 to F4 again there's a tiny bit
19:12
of improvement it's a little harder to
19:14
spot at this point from F4 to f5.6 I
19:18
think it would be hard to argue that
19:19
there's much there to see we pretty much
19:22
reached the Peak Performance even by F4
19:26
that'll Carry On Through f8 by f11
19:28
defraction is starting to soften things
19:30
a little bit but more noticeable by F16
19:34
though I will point out that even after
19:36
defraction takes its its chunk out of
19:38
the performance it still is good or
19:40
better than you know most lenses that uh
19:43
are under $2200 at their finest so as
19:47
noted magnification level is not very
19:49
high as you can see however you know the
19:51
lens compensates by being very very
19:53
sharp and high contrast up close and
19:56
it's also delivering a pretty flat PL of
19:59
focus to where we've got pretty good
20:01
detail all across the frame everywhere
20:03
that we look now when it comes to the
20:05
bouqu here looking at the specular
20:07
highlights number one I what I like
20:09
about this image where I've purposely
20:10
defocused everything is the color
20:12
rendition does look good and so it it is
20:15
cre creating a pleasing background the
20:17
shape of the specular highlights is
20:19
really quite good I mean it's deforming
20:22
a little bit towards the edge but not
20:23
too
20:24
badly images like this and frankly this
20:27
is a you know this is a busy subject and
20:30
this is in a camera store with a lot of
20:31
just kind of hard edges but I'll also
20:33
point out there is more outlining in
20:35
this I certainly think that the GM for
20:37
example would make this look a whole lot
20:39
more pleasing to the ey situations like
20:43
this where it's a little bit less
20:45
complex background again it's not
20:47
incredibly soft the bouquet doesn't
20:49
that's to me probably the my least
20:51
favorite aspect of the design but in
20:54
less challenging situations like this
20:56
it's not great but it's not bad either
20:58
and you'll have to decide for yourself
21:00
whether or not the Boke pleases your eye
21:03
what I think is really does stand out to
21:05
me though is just how good viltrox has
21:07
gotten with their Optical glass in terms
21:08
of the colors and so I mean this is a
21:10
just a great con uh combination of color
21:13
and contrast its ability to handle these
21:16
fine details and again the the Blurred
21:18
out portion isn't amazing but it's not
21:20
hideous either and so um the the image
21:23
itself I think works and looks good
21:25
colors here you know there's a lot of
21:27
different tonal Vari ations in this and
21:29
I think that the colors look really
21:31
fantastic this is the yokohoma skyline
21:34
here at night uh this shot on one of the
21:37
temple uh compounds there in Tokyo you
21:41
can just see the colors are just really
21:42
rich you know Reds look nicely saturated
21:45
Blues look nicely saturated just a
21:47
really really pleasing look overall and
21:49
finally I found that the flare
21:51
resistance was just excellent here the
21:52
sun is very bright you might not be able
21:54
to tell it because it's not ghosting or
21:56
anything but it's doing a great job and
21:58
then when I just did all of my
21:59
intentional things shooting right into
22:01
the Sun at small and then at large
22:05
apertures I just I didn't see anything
22:08
in terms of flare artifacts so overall
22:10
this lens is extremely impressive
22:12
optically and so as you can see from our
22:14
Optical breakdown this lens is just
22:16
stunningly good for the price and I hope
22:18
the Deep dive has helped you to decide
22:21
whether or not it's a lens for you as
22:23
always thanks for watching have a great
22:24
day and let the light in
22:27
[Music]