Viltrox AIR 50mm F2 Z-Mount Review | As Good on Nikon?
Jul 31, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott explores the Nikon Z-mount version of the Viltrox AIR 50mm F2 to see if it is as amazing on Nikon as it was on Sony | Read the Text Review: | Purchase the Viltrox AF 50mm F2 AIR @ Viltrox https://geni.us/Dustin50Air
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Table of Contents:
=============================
0:00 - Intro
2:04 - Disclosure
2:26 - Build and Features
7:53 - Autofocus for Stills
9:27 - Video AF
11:47 - Image Quality Summary
16:38 - Conclusion and Pricing
18:30 - Optical Deep Dive
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Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AIR 50mm F2, Viltrox AF 50mm F2 AIR, AIR, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 50mm, Viltrox 40mm F2.5, 20mm STM, AF, Z, Nikon Z8, Nikon Z5 II, Alpha 1, a7RV, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF250, #DA, #viltrox50air, #carrylesscapturemore, #viltrox50air, #viltroxAIR250Z
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0:00
[Music]
0:10
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. There are some
0:12
lenses that I consider to be important.
0:15
Maybe because they're just good or
0:17
because of how they sit relative to
0:19
other options in the market. Some of
0:21
those lenses I'm even willing to test
0:22
twice. And that's true in this case of
0:25
Viltrox's Aireries 50mm F2, which I
0:28
consider to be the best of the
0:30
full-frame options in the Air series to
0:32
this point. I previously reviewed the
0:34
lens on Sony E-mount, and I gave it a
0:37
pretty raving review there. But I'm back
0:39
today to take a look at how it performs
0:41
on Nikon Zmount. I've spent a few months
0:44
starting back in June of this year with
0:46
this particular lens. And at this stage,
0:48
having spent some time with it, I feel
0:50
like I have uh an idea of how it varies
0:54
from the Sony E-mount version,
0:55
particularly when it comes to areas like
0:57
autofocus and more slightly on the
1:00
optical level. It's also a different
1:02
very different landscape of lenses that
1:04
are available on Zmount versus Sony
1:06
E-mount. E-mount, of course, is flooded
1:08
with options in and around this focal
1:10
length and aperture combination. There
1:12
are fewer options available on Zmount
1:15
and I've primarily looked at it from the
1:17
perspective of the 50mm f1.8 S-line
1:20
lens. Yes, there is a 50mm f1.4 that's a
1:23
little bit cheaper and thus a little bit
1:25
closer in price, but those two lenses
1:27
have very very different personalities.
1:30
And when you compare the f1.4 lens to
1:34
this air series lens on a purely
1:36
contrast resolution level, the air
1:39
series pretty much destroys it. The f1.8
1:42
S-line lens, however, is a much closer
1:44
alignment. And so, for those that are
1:46
looking for a budget alternative to that
1:48
lens, I think that that is the niche
1:50
that the Air series falls into. I will
1:52
draw some comparisons back and forth
1:54
between these two lenses as we progress.
1:56
But today, we're going to dive in and
1:57
we're going to take a look at how this
1:59
performs on my Nikon Z8 body. Let's dive
2:03
in. Let's take a look.
2:05
So, all of my outdoor segments will be
2:07
filmed with the combination of the Z8
2:09
and the Air 50mm F2. Now, in full
2:13
disclosure, this lens was sent to me by
2:15
Viltrox for testing. As per usual, they
2:19
have not seen this content before it was
2:20
released to you, the public, and they
2:22
have had no input on my findings. This
2:24
is a completely independent review. So,
2:26
let's talk build and handling. Now,
2:29
because I'm demonstrating the Zmount
2:31
version here, I'm going to film these
2:33
segments on the E-mount version of the
2:36
lens. So, the whole episode will be shot
2:38
with the Viltrox AF50mm F2 Air series,
2:42
either on Sony or on Nikon. Now, when it
2:46
comes to the the changes here, there's
2:48
obviously minimal changes, though there
2:50
is one that's a little bit significant.
2:52
Now, the more minimal change is that as
2:54
is always the case here with lenses that
2:56
I test on both E-mount and then on
2:58
Zmount, there's always a little bit of a
3:00
different lens profile for Zmount.
3:02
Zmount is the lens mount is
3:04
significantly larger than Sony E-mount.
3:06
So, whereas the Sony lens, as you can
3:08
see here, it actually uh flares in a
3:11
little bit near the lens mount. On the
3:13
Zmount version, it flares out
3:14
significantly. So, that becomes the
3:17
widest portion of the lens. So the lens
3:19
diameter grows by 3 mm to 68 mm or 2.67
3:24
in. Interestingly the overall length
3:28
grows a little bit as well which
3:29
reflects that you know different in
3:31
flange distance there. And so it is 58.6
3:35
mm or 2.2 in. And because of those two
3:38
physical changes the weight also
3:40
increases by 15 g to 220 g or 7.76 o.
3:47
Now, while that is a little bit larger
3:49
than the Sony E-mount version, it's
3:51
worth bearing in mind that if you look
3:53
at the Nicor 50mm F1.8Z
3:57
or S-line lens, it weighs 195 grams more
4:01
than this. So, not quite double, but
4:04
close to it. And it is uh 28 mm longer
4:07
in length. So, you're talking about a
4:09
very different lens in terms of the
4:12
physical size. So, if your goal is to
4:14
travel small and light, obviously that
4:17
is one of the biggest selling factors
4:20
for the Viltrox lens. It is made out of
4:23
plastics, but as with the case with all
4:25
of these Air lenses, they are tough
4:27
plastics. Even the lens hood itself,
4:29
it's nice, thick, premium filling
4:31
plastics. Frankly, I think that this
4:33
lens hood is nicer than the one that
4:35
comes with the S-line lens in terms of
4:37
the quality of the plastics. So, it
4:39
doesn't feel cheap even though it is a
4:41
simple lens. It has a 58mm front filter
4:45
thread. It includes a hood and the
4:48
pouch. It does have a metal lens mount.
4:50
Also on that lens mount, there is a USB
4:53
C port to allow quick and easy firmware
4:55
updates. There has been one or two
4:57
firmware updates on this lens at this
4:59
point as of the day of this review. I
5:01
believe we're at version 1.02
5:04
that is available currently. Now, one
5:07
significant change as that I alluded to
5:10
in between the Zmount version and the
5:13
Sony E-mount version is that on the
5:14
E-mount version, the focus ring is just
5:16
a focus ring. However, here on Zmount,
5:19
it can function as a customizable
5:21
customizable control ring, which means
5:23
that yes, you can assign different
5:26
values, different purposes to this ring.
5:28
And so, I could make it an aperture
5:30
ring, for example. And that allowed me
5:32
to do something that I couldn't do on
5:33
E-mount, and that is to actually use
5:36
this to do aperture racking. So, as you
5:38
can see here, it actually works pretty
5:40
well. And that's a fairly smooth
5:41
aperture rack as I go throughout the
5:44
overall aperture range. So, that's
5:46
great. Now, you might have noticed from
5:48
that there is nine aperture blades
5:51
inside the aperture Iris itself. And so,
5:54
here, just a quick recap. Looking at
5:56
this video again, you can see it does
5:58
retain a pretty circular shape as you
6:00
stop on down. So kudos to them on that
6:03
front. So that is I think to me maybe
6:05
one of the biggest advantages of the
6:07
Nikon version versus the Sony version.
6:10
Now one thing unfortunately that is the
6:12
same not improved is that minimum focus
6:15
distance is just 51 cm here. And so that
6:18
gives you a below average 0.11 times
6:21
level of magnification. So not as useful
6:23
as the 50mm f1.8. 8s and even less so
6:27
than the 50mm f1.4
6:30
uh Zmount lenses when it comes to
6:31
maximum magnification. Up close
6:34
performance is decent. However, it's got
6:36
good detail and contrast and a nice flat
6:38
plane of focus which is helped by the
6:40
fact that you're not all that close to
6:41
the subject when you're shooting there.
6:43
So overall here there is, you know,
6:46
there's no bells and whistles. There's
6:48
no weather sealing here. Again, that's
6:50
an advantage you're going to get on the
6:51
Nicor lenses. However, this does have
6:54
their HD uh nano multi-layer coating on
6:57
the front element, but no gasket at the
6:59
lens mount itself. The price prices are
7:02
a little bit higher now than what they
7:04
were at the time that I tested the
7:06
E-mount version. That is due to, you
7:09
know, shifts in tariff policies here in
7:11
North America. But the price is
7:13
currently $199.
7:16
However, you can drop that a bit if you
7:19
use the discount code that's linked in
7:20
the description down below. get about 5%
7:23
off of that. However, again, if we
7:25
contrast the price of the Nicor lens, uh
7:28
the Nicor lens MSRP is over $600.
7:31
Currently, there's a discount. And so,
7:33
actually, both the 50mm f1.8s and the
7:36
50mm f1.4, they're both selling for
7:39
about $550 at the moment. So, I mean, MS
7:44
MSRP to MSRP, it's it's, you know, it's
7:46
a third of the price of the 50mm f1.8.
7:50
That obviously is going to be a pretty
7:52
big factor for at least some buyers. So,
7:54
let's talk autofocus. Like other Air
7:56
series lens, this is a lead screw style
7:59
STM focus motor. And what I did
8:02
certainly notice is that it's not quite
8:03
as snappy here on Zmount as it would
8:07
what it was on Sony. You can see when we
8:09
do my formal focus test that while
8:12
indoor transitions are fairly quick
8:14
because it's a shorter focus distance
8:17
and they come with good confidence. When
8:19
we go outdoors and it's a more
8:21
significant focus change, you can see
8:23
that there definitely is some penalty
8:25
when it comes to focus speed. Focus
8:28
itself happens very quietly and it is
8:31
extremely accurate. I had zero issues in
8:34
real world shots and real world
8:36
acquisition when it came to stills. I
8:38
was even even able to shoot some birds
8:40
in flight. I was out just doing some of
8:42
my nature shooting and there were birds
8:44
that were zipping around over my head.
8:46
Must have had a nest in the area and
8:47
they were a little concerned. So, I was
8:49
able to quickly pan up, take shots and
8:52
able to nail them accurately as you can
8:54
see from these shots. Likewise, shots of
8:56
the pets and then just general purpose
8:58
uh shooting of u of other people but
9:01
then also of myself at my birthday this
9:03
year. All of those results were focused
9:05
perfectly and so I have no issues when
9:08
it comes to focus accuracy, even if
9:10
focus speed isn't top tier. Now, if you
9:13
want to shoot action, probably as is
9:15
often the case, shooting with the first
9:17
party lens might be the better option
9:19
there. But I think for most everybody in
9:22
normal situations, you're not going to
9:24
have any problem with autofocus when it
9:26
comes to the stills side of things. It's
9:28
a little bit more of a mixed bag on the
9:30
video side of things. The way that
9:32
Nikon's controls are set up in camera is
9:34
that when you're doing the touch to
9:36
focus, which is what I use when I do my
9:38
standard focus pull test, you don't have
9:40
any control over that behavior. It just
9:42
tries to essentially it seems to be
9:43
maximizing maximizing speed. And so what
9:46
you can see here is that it does zip
9:47
back and forth with some speed. But the
9:50
problem is is that it's not always
9:52
confident. So there's some pulsing. It's
9:55
not always settling perfectly on the
9:56
subject. And so I'm less than thrilled
9:58
on that side of things. Focus breathing
10:01
isn't bad from this lens. That's not to
10:03
say that it's non-existent, but
10:05
certainly for a 50 millimeter lens, it's
10:07
definitely in the better side of things.
10:09
When I did my hand test, there is an
10:12
unfortunate tendency with this
10:14
combination that showed up there. And
10:16
that is that there's a very low reaction
10:18
time, even if I turn sensitivity all the
10:21
way up in camera. So, what I found is
10:23
that often when I did my hand to my eye
10:26
transition, that it just hadn't started
10:29
making the change, even if I didn't move
10:31
quickly before it went on to other
10:33
things. I also found that if I
10:35
approached the camera, if I was moving
10:37
at a steady pace, not too bad. There
10:39
would be little moments where focus was
10:41
lost, but by and large, it was
10:43
acceptably good. If I duck out of frame,
10:47
however, what you'll really notice is
10:48
that focus hasn't really changed much
10:51
before I come back into frame. Did
10:53
pretty good about picking me back up and
10:55
reacquiring me there. But what I
10:57
certainly noticed is that focus didn't
10:59
go all the way to the background in that
11:01
transition, which is kind of typical of
11:03
this low reaction time. And this shot,
11:06
for example, which I'll conclude with,
11:08
you can see that I start with a subject
11:10
in focus. I transition to clearly a very
11:13
different subject here with the woods in
11:15
the background. And you'll note that
11:16
there is quite a long pause before the
11:18
actual focus takes place. And it's that
11:20
hesitation, I think, that really kind of
11:22
spoils things. If I'm doing just more
11:25
normal small transitions, it's not as
11:28
bad. But you can see it's not really
11:30
keeping up all the time. And so,
11:32
unfortunately, as it exists, I'm using
11:34
fir firmware 1.02, which is the most
11:38
current available for the lens.
11:39
Unfortunately, at this point, the
11:41
reaction time is really not all that
11:43
great, and I wasn't able to solve it by
11:45
just tweaking settings from within the
11:47
camera. So, how about the optics? We
11:50
have an optical design of 13 elements in
11:52
nine groups that includes seven exotic
11:54
elements, three extra low dispersion,
11:56
and four high refractive index elements.
11:59
This is the same optical design as what
12:01
you're going to see in the Sony E-mount
12:03
version, for example. But there is at
12:05
least one thing that varies always when
12:08
I test on Zmount versus Sony E-mount.
12:11
MDF chart looks the same as it did on
12:13
E-mount, which is fantastic. It's pretty
12:16
close to being a straight line across.
12:18
It's it's an amazing performance for a
12:20
budget lens like this. This is an
12:23
extremely sharp lens, and obviously it
12:24
remains extremely sharp uh here on
12:27
Nikon. In fact, I mean, it it it pretty
12:30
much matches the 50mm f1.8s, 8s, which I
12:34
think is an amazing lens. And so, as you
12:36
can see here in the center of the frame,
12:38
uh, you know, both look very, very
12:40
similar and often the corners both look
12:42
very, very similar. And so, that tells
12:44
me that this is really an exceptional
12:46
lens optically here on Nikon as well.
12:49
Now, the one thing that has changed,
12:52
distortion is the same. It has almost no
12:54
distortion. There's a tiny tiny amount
12:56
of pin cushion distortion that you would
12:57
never notice and you don't need to
12:59
correct. However, vignette as always is
13:01
significantly heavier on Nikon than what
13:04
it is on Sony. And I've I've in the the
13:07
threads on these videos, you've had lots
13:09
of different theories as to the reason
13:11
why that is. I don't know that there's a
13:12
definitive answer that any of us know.
13:14
Certainly not one that I know, but I do
13:16
know that in every lens that I've tested
13:19
to this point where I test them on both
13:21
platforms, there's at least a stop more
13:23
of additional vignette on a Nikon Zmount
13:26
version. And that's true here. Whereas I
13:28
could correct around the plus 50 range
13:31
in Lightroom if I was doing a manual
13:33
correction. Vignette is all the way up
13:35
to where I need to dial in a plus 89 to
13:37
correct for it here. So way heavier. And
13:40
so you can see also in this illustration
13:41
of a shot of Ferrari that with
13:44
correction profile on and correction
13:45
profile off, it's pretty significant
13:47
difference in how much brightness there
13:50
is in the corner. So just be aware of
13:52
that. As with the Sony version, fringing
13:55
is low. Whether we're talking about the
13:57
longitudinal style or lateral style
13:59
chromatic aberrations in real world
14:02
shooting, it just really isn't a factor.
14:04
These are this is a very well-corrected
14:07
lens. Uh when it comes to that wide
14:10
open, the lens is incredibly sharp. It's
14:13
very sharp in the center of the frame.
14:14
Mid-frame looks fantastic and corners
14:16
are just a little bit behind. Still at a
14:18
very, very high level. And uh if you
14:21
stop down a bit, you do get a contrast
14:23
boost at f2.8. it gets even better. Then
14:27
if you're shooting at landscape
14:28
apertures, you get very very consistent
14:31
sharpness. Great detail all across the
14:33
frame. Uh lots of, you know, fine
14:35
delineation of of details everywhere
14:37
that you shoot. It's great in terms of
14:39
sharpness. Defraction is on the lower
14:42
resolution 45 megapixel sensor here
14:45
relative to 61 megapixels on Sony. I
14:47
found that defraction was a little less
14:50
obvious. It's minimal at f11 and only
14:52
slightly more noticeable at f-16. I
14:55
would say that on Nikon at least, this
14:57
is a lens that is use usable all
14:58
throughout the zoom range from f2 to
15:01
f16. And then so it is a it's a very
15:05
very strong performer. Colors look
15:07
great. They look good on on Sony. They
15:10
look great on Nikon here as well. And so
15:12
it's it's just everything holds up well.
15:15
And and so it's there's nothing to
15:18
complain about when it comes to the
15:19
color. bokeh quality is the one area
15:22
where I I felt like the lens was
15:24
unexceptional on Sony. And again, that
15:26
remains true here that the the
15:29
backgrounds are in many situations, they
15:32
look fine. They're soft. I do think
15:33
there's a little bit more outlining and
15:35
so maybe a little bit of a bubble effect
15:36
sometimes on specular highlights, but
15:39
beyond that, not bad. The one thing I
15:42
will point out is that because minimum
15:44
focus distance isn't that great and the
15:46
maximum aperture of f2 isn't massive
15:48
means that in some shots if you're close
15:50
to your subject and the background's not
15:51
far away, the background's not going to
15:53
be strongly defocused. So that's just
15:55
something to bear in mind. I would say
15:57
that I think the Sline lens does have
15:59
nicer bokeh. For that matter, the 50mm
16:01
f1.4 also has nicer bokeh than what this
16:04
lens does, but it's not because this is
16:06
bad. One final area that I do think is
16:09
is very good is when it comes to flare
16:11
resistance. Flare resistance holds up
16:13
well in a variety of situations and
16:15
across Sony and now on Nikon. I've shot
16:17
in enough variety of conditions that I
16:20
feel very confident saying that that
16:22
this lens does nice things in an image
16:24
like this. The little bit of glow that
16:25
you get there I think is really
16:27
aesthetically pleasing. And so overall
16:29
optically this lens remains amazing on
16:31
Nikon with the one variation that you
16:34
are getting uh some significant
16:36
additional vignette that comes up on
16:39
this. There's no question that the
16:41
Viltrox Air 50mm F2 remains an
16:44
impressive lens here on Nikon. It isn't
16:47
quite as flawless a package on Zmount as
16:50
what it is on E-mount because of some of
16:52
the quirks that we have detailed when it
16:54
comes to autofocus in particular and of
16:56
course the fact that it does carry more
16:58
vignette here on the Nikon Zmount
17:00
platform. That being said, I think it
17:03
still is a pretty compelling option for
17:05
those that are interested in having, you
17:08
know, most of the performance of the
17:09
50mm f1.8s, 8s, but in a package that is
17:13
less than half the weight, 30 mm
17:16
essentially shorter and of course a
17:18
price tag that runs about 1/3 of what it
17:21
costs to buy the S-line lens. That makes
17:24
the Viltrox Air series lens a really
17:26
compelling alternative, particularly if
17:28
you want to travel light. Now, I wish
17:31
that Nikon had a really light portable
17:34
camera for travel because I think that
17:36
would be a perfect home for the Zmount
17:37
Air series lenses. that doesn't exist
17:39
yet. But even on a bigger camera like my
17:41
Z8, I still like the fact of having a
17:44
smaller, lighter lens because of how
17:46
little space it takes in the camera bag,
17:48
making it easier to bring it along. It's
17:50
not a flawless lens here, and I am
17:52
hoping that firmware will help to maybe
17:55
iron out a few of those quirks that we
17:57
observe when it comes to aspects of the
17:58
autofocus performance. That being said,
18:01
however, in most situations, I think
18:03
that it's fine. Obviously, for filming
18:05
outdoors, as we've done today, the lens
18:07
works great in this kind of
18:09
circumstance. And if that's essentially
18:11
the extent of what your demands might be
18:13
from a lens, even for the video side of
18:15
things, it'll probably do just fine for
18:17
you. Now, if you want more information
18:19
about the lens itself, you can either
18:21
check out my full text review that is
18:23
linked in the description down below, or
18:25
you can stay tuned with me right now,
18:27
and we're going to take a deeper dive
18:29
into the optical performance. Okay,
18:31
let's start by taking a look at vignette
18:33
and distortion here. And so, as you can
18:35
see, distortion is really negligible.
18:37
There's a tiny amount of pin cushion
18:39
distortion, but frankly, I don't think
18:41
that it's would ever be anything that
18:43
you would even want to mess with trying
18:44
to correct. Obviously, the correction
18:46
profiles in camera or software, it's
18:48
going to take care of it anyway. So,
18:49
don't worry about that. When it comes to
18:51
correcting for the vignette, however,
18:53
that's a whole different story. His
18:54
vignette, as you can see, is really,
18:56
really heavy. And as unfortunately
18:58
always the case with Zmount, it is a
19:01
full stop plus heavier than what it is
19:03
on Sony E-mount. You can see it is
19:05
correctable and it corrects cleanly, but
19:07
I did have to dial in a plus 89. So just
19:10
give you a look at the difference that
19:11
the profile makes. I'll toggle back and
19:13
forth here and you can see that there's
19:16
definitely an extreme brightening that
19:18
comes after the correction profile is
19:21
applied. Longitudinal style chromatic
19:23
aberrations are really well controlled.
19:25
very very little fringing before after
19:26
the plane of focus. Likewise here with a
19:29
three-dimensional object. You can see
19:31
there's just the tiniest amount of
19:32
fringing even at 200% magnification. So
19:35
uh definitely not an issue at all there.
19:38
Likewise in the bokeh uh specular
19:41
highlights, you can see that there's no
19:43
real fringing on the outside of those
19:44
either. Lateral style chromatic
19:47
aberrations near the edge of the frame.
19:48
There is actually a tiny amount. I
19:50
didn't see that on Sony and I see a
19:51
little bit here on the Nikon sensor, but
19:54
and I looked for it in real world shots
19:56
and I just really couldn't find it. So,
19:58
no big deal there either. Now, when it
20:00
comes to resolution and contrast, this
20:03
is 45 megapixels and at 200%
20:05
magnification, center of the frame looks
20:07
awesome. I mean, just fantastic.
20:10
Likewise, the mid-frame looks basically
20:13
as good. Just really, really
20:15
exceptional. Great consistency from here
20:18
to here. And as we move towards the
20:20
corners, even the corners until maybe
20:21
that last little degree, it looks
20:24
really, really good. Likewise, you're
20:26
going to see good centering as we move
20:28
around the frame. Um, overall, just
20:31
really good performance. Putting that in
20:33
context, here is the S-line lens. Uh,
20:36
both of them at f2. So, apples to
20:38
apples. We can see that both are good. I
20:41
think the S-line is a little bit better.
20:43
Contrast is a little bit higher in the
20:45
center of the frame. In the mid-frame,
20:47
they are very, very close. Um, maybe a
20:51
bit more contrast on the S-line lens.
20:54
Down into the corners, again, very, very
20:56
similar. I mean, without looking at them
20:58
at 200% side by side, I don't know that
21:01
you would see the difference. And the
21:03
strength of the Zmount 50mm f1.4 isn't
21:06
pure resolution and contrast. It does
21:08
have other admirable qualities that I
21:10
like, but just on a pure basic level,
21:13
again, f2 apples to apples, the uh air
21:17
lens is going to pretty much destroy it.
21:19
It's just much sharper, much higher
21:21
contrast, and so it it wins basically
21:24
everywhere we look in the frame. To put
21:26
that in real world context here, here is
21:29
comparing f2 on the left to f5.6 on the
21:32
right. And we can see that here in the
21:34
center of the frame. Frankly, I don't
21:36
think that one necessarily looks better
21:38
than the other, which means you're
21:39
getting pretty much maximum performance
21:41
right from f2 on. And what's really
21:44
unique here is that there is a
21:47
difference right towards the edge as you
21:49
can see here, but it is not an
21:51
exceptional difference. And so certainly
21:53
you're getting a better edge performance
21:55
at f5.6, but not by a big margin. And
21:58
that is really impressively unique. Now,
22:01
there is some improvement to contrast at
22:03
f2.8. And so, if we check back in with
22:05
the S-line lens, the S-line still has an
22:08
edge, but they are so so close. Like,
22:11
it's really impressive how good the
22:13
Viltrox is because I think that this
22:16
S-line lens is really an exceptional
22:18
lens. It's a little bit I think the
22:20
Sline's a little bit stronger in
22:21
contrast in the mid-frame. And moving
22:23
off into the corners, I would definitely
22:25
give the Sline a win there. When it
22:28
comes to again that raw performance, the
22:30
f1.4 4 lens. As you can see, it just
22:32
can't hang with the Viltrox. Viltrox the
22:35
if anything, the margin has grown at
22:38
f2.8. So, you're going to see amazing
22:40
performance all the way through f8. Even
22:43
f11, frankly, it really doesn't look
22:45
much worse at uh at f11. You can see
22:48
it's a little bit softer when it comes
22:51
to f-16, which is the minimum aperture,
22:53
but frankly, this is a lens that I would
22:55
suggest is usable basically all
22:57
throughout its zoom range. It's just
23:00
really, really good. Um, strong
23:02
performance everywhere. Now, here's a
23:04
look at the minimum focus distance and
23:06
our maximum magnification, which is just
23:08
0.11 times. So, not a high level of
23:11
magnification, but a very strong level
23:13
of uplose performance. Nice flat plane
23:15
of focus, good sharpness, detail, and
23:18
contrast. So, that does help to offset a
23:20
bit. Now, we can see that the colors
23:24
look really, really nice from the lens.
23:26
Viltrox's optical glass has improved so
23:28
much and so colors to me they look
23:30
natural really good looking. Uh you can
23:33
see here as we kind of transition to
23:35
looking at bokeh as well there's a
23:37
little bit of that bubble bokeh look a
23:39
little bit more outlined than what I
23:40
would like but you know in a situation
23:42
like this with a favorable ratio of
23:44
subject to the background everything
23:47
looks soft and creamy. It's really in
23:49
this kind of scenario where because
23:51
there isn't a a close minimum focus
23:54
distance and not a huge maximum
23:55
aperture, you know, where the background
23:57
is not so far away, you're going to see
23:59
that it stays more in focus and maybe a
24:01
little bit more outlining than what I
24:03
would prefer. Still, all things
24:05
considered, not bad. Now, here you can
24:08
see various situations where I've got
24:10
sun coming right into the frame. And you
24:12
can see that contrast is holding up
24:14
really, really nicely. Um, I think it
24:16
looks great. There's a little bit of
24:17
glow to this image, but I I think it
24:19
looks awesome. In many ways, the uh the
24:21
performance in this metric does kind of
24:23
remind me of the S-line lens, which I
24:25
think to be a great compliment. Overall,
24:28
this really is a awesome lens optically,
24:31
even if we do see more vignette here
24:34
than we did on Sony. So, hopefully the
24:36
deep dive into the optical performance
24:38
of the lens has helped you to determine
24:40
whether or not it is the lens for you.
24:42
As always, thanks for watching. Have a
24:44
great day and let the light in.
24:48
[Music]
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