0:10
Viltrox's Pro series has been arguably
0:13
the most important prime series of
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lenses to hit APS-C mirrorless platforms
0:18
over the last couple of years. They have
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brought a very high degree of
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performance, build, and features into a
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space that unfortunately has had far too
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little of that. The Viltrox Pro AF 56mm
0:33
F1.2 has now arrived on Nikon Zmount.
0:36
And while I have previously reviewed it
0:37
first on Sony E, then on Fuji Xmount,
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I'm coming to you one third time with a
0:43
quick review of the Zmount version
0:44
because I think that this is a really
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important lens for Zmount shooters. For
0:49
one thing, this corresponds to roughly
0:51
an 85 millimeter focal length, making it
0:53
a prime prime lens for portrait work and
0:57
all of the other purposes one uses an
0:59
85mm lens for. Today's review is really
1:02
to determine whether or not a lens that
1:04
I already know to be excellent is also
1:06
going to be excellent on Nikon Zmount.
1:08
So, we'll take a look at its autofocus
1:11
performance in particular and to see if
1:13
there's any quirks that emerge um when
1:15
it comes to the optics or handling or
1:17
anything else along the way. Now, in
1:19
full disclosure, this lens was provided
1:21
to me by Viltrox for this review.
1:24
However, they have had no input in this
1:25
review. They will not see it before you.
1:28
This is completely independent and my
1:29
thoughts are my own. Let's dive in.
1:31
Let's take a closer look at the build
1:33
and features of this lens. So, let's
1:35
take a closer look at the Zmount version
1:37
of the Pro 56mm F1.2. Now, the Zmount is
1:41
going to be the most like the E-mount as
1:43
far as the Xmount, which I've also
1:45
reviewed. It had some missing features
1:47
relative to these two. Biggest
1:49
difference you're going to see as always
1:51
is a little bit of difference in design
1:53
between the Zmount version to
1:55
accommodate that wider diameter of the
1:57
Nikon Zmount and then the E-mount
1:59
version, which will flare in a bit
2:01
because of the narrower amount of
2:02
E-mount. Outside of that, these lenses
2:05
are mostly identical, though the uh the
2:07
Zmount version is always two millimeters
2:10
longer because of the distance in the
2:12
flange. 56 mm on a 1.5 times crop factor
2:17
is basically 84 millime. So, an 85
2:19
millimeter equivalent lens. Price is
2:23
though it's already available for
2:25
cheaper than that. And there is a
2:26
discount code in the description down
2:28
below that will help you to get it
2:29
cheaper. Two main competing lenses here
2:31
on Zmount would be the Sigma 56
2:33
millimeter f1.4. So a little bit
2:36
narrower maximum aperture and then the
2:38
Suré uh 56mm f1.2 from their sniper
2:42
series. So the give you a comparison on
2:44
prices that Sigma comes in at 559, the
2:49
On paper this is the most expensive
2:51
although with discounts you can get it
2:53
for cheaper than the Sigma quite often.
2:56
Now in terms of the feature set here,
2:58
this is a robustly featured lens. We
3:00
have a aperture ring here. You have the
3:03
option of even either having that
3:04
clicked or decllicked and so that you
3:07
can do smooth aperture racks that look
3:09
like this on Zmount. There is an AFMF
3:13
switch here and a custom or function
3:15
button that will allow you to uh do
3:18
whatever function you have assigned to
3:20
it in the camera. We have a very nicely
3:22
damped manual focus ring here that
3:25
focuses smoothly and with good
3:26
precision. We do have a USBC port for
3:29
firmware updates. We have a weather
3:31
sealing gasket here. We have seals
3:33
throughout the body. And then we have a
3:36
special HD nano coating on the front
3:38
element that will help with um the
3:40
moisture and fingerprints there at the
3:42
front. 66 67mm front filter thread. The
3:47
lens is made of heavy duty materials.
3:49
This is a um magnesium aluminum alloy
3:53
body here and so it is a robust in
3:55
metals. So it does make it a little bit
3:57
heavy. It's 595 g or 21 oz here in
4:02
Zmount form. So that's significantly
4:04
heavier than the Sigma which is only 295
4:06
gram. So the Sigma is literally half the
4:08
weight. The Suré is closer. It's 427 g.
4:12
But this is still significantly heavier.
4:15
Although it is easily the best made lens
4:18
of the bunch and it's not even close.
4:20
Overall size here is 78.4 millime in
4:24
diameter or 3.08 in which is the same as
4:28
the other two versions that we've looked
4:29
at already. It is a little bit longer as
4:31
mentioned at 94.1 mm or 3.7 in. Inside
4:36
we have 11 rounded aperture blades and
4:39
when they are open you can see there's
4:40
lots of glass inside there but it does
4:43
maintain a nice circular shape when it
4:44
is stopped down. Our minimum focus
4:47
distance is 50 cm which will allow you
4:49
to get a maximum magnification of 0.13
4:52
times which isn't class leading but
4:54
certainly very useful. It does come with
4:56
a nice lens hood along with a pouch.
5:00
There is no lock on the hood but it does
5:02
bayonet into place with good tightness
5:04
as you can see. So you have to be really
5:05
intentional about uh loosening it. It's
5:08
not going to come loose just otherwise.
5:10
So a little bit on the big side
5:12
depending on what your camera body is
5:13
like, but very very nicely built,
5:16
beautiful looking, and very featurerich.
5:19
Let's talk about autofocus for a moment.
5:21
Like the other versions of this lens,
5:23
Viltrox has equipped the 56mm f1.2 and
5:27
Zmount with dual hyper VCM focus motors.
5:30
That gives it not only a higherend focus
5:33
system, VCM, which Nikon itself is just
5:36
now starting to adapt, but having dual
5:38
focus motor means that we have got far
5:40
more thrust here than what you're
5:41
typically going to see in a lens like
5:44
this, particularly one one with a a
5:46
maximum aperture of f1.2.
5:48
And so on the plus side, I found
5:50
autofocus to be very, very snappy. You
5:52
can see here that going back and forth
5:55
is pretty near instantaneous. However,
5:57
what I did find, at least in my outdoor
5:59
sequence, is that for whatever reason,
6:01
under those particular set of
6:03
circumstances, maybe all the bright
6:04
snow, that while focus would really
6:06
quickly come back to my little statue
6:09
model that I use, that it would then
6:12
kind of like rack focus a little bit on
6:14
those. And if I actually wanted to get
6:16
that focus stabilized again, it would
6:18
take a little bit for that to happen.
6:20
Now, that's something that I observed
6:21
only in that particular set of
6:23
circumstances. In my real world shots, I
6:25
had no problems with it. And I found
6:28
autofocus to be accurate, locked on
6:30
quickly, no problems with that.
6:32
Furthermore, I found when testing other
6:35
versions of it that it was fantastic for
6:37
portrait work. Didn't have a chance
6:38
really to do portrait work here because
6:40
of the timing. And as you might have
6:41
noticed, it's miserable outside once
6:43
again. However, I did find in other
6:46
settings that portrait work was was
6:48
fantastic. And I see no reason for it to
6:50
be otherwise here with the Zmount
6:52
version because always it locked on very
6:54
quickly. Now on the video side of
6:56
things, really nothing but good to
6:58
report there. Uh it is a very smooth
7:01
focus motor and so in terms of focus
7:03
transitions. It went back and forth with
7:05
good confidence and elacrity. No, um no
7:08
issues with it kind of pulsing or
7:11
visible steps, any of those type things.
7:13
There is some focus breathing, but it's
7:15
not bad here either. I found with my
7:18
hand test that I had no problems with
7:20
transitions from the hand to the eye. It
7:22
always moved back and forth in the way
7:24
that it was supposed to and no issues
7:25
there. Likewise, when I approached the
7:27
camera, it stayed locked on to me when I
7:29
came close and if I ducked in and out of
7:32
frame, it locked back on to me quickly.
7:34
So, on the video front, very, very good.
7:37
In fact, I really feel like Viltrox is
7:39
growing in confidence on Zmount when it
7:42
comes to autofocus generally and
7:43
particularly when it comes to video work
7:45
where it just feels like I'm seeing more
7:47
and more sophistication and the quality
7:49
of focus. And that is despite the fact
7:51
that there's been no recent firmware
7:53
updates to my Nikon camera. And so this
7:56
really is about what Viltrox is doing,
7:58
not what an improvement that Nikon has
8:00
made kind of across the board. So kudos
8:02
to Viltrox for continuing to improve
8:04
their products and to get better
8:06
particularly here on Zmount. Here's a
8:08
look at the optics. This is the same
8:09
optical design that we're going to see
8:10
in the Sony E-mount and also Fuji
8:12
Xmount. So this is 13 elements in eight
8:15
groups. There are three high refractive
8:17
index elements, one extra low dispersion
8:20
element and then one extra large
8:22
aspherical element in the design. You
8:24
can see in the center of the frame, it
8:26
is extremely sharp and high contrast. By
8:29
the mid-frame, still performing at very
8:31
high levels and really not a huge drop
8:34
off into the very corners. And so this
8:36
is very strong. If we look at the f8
8:39
part of the MTF, you can see it's
8:41
basically a straight line all across the
8:43
frame. So essentially perfect
8:44
performance when stopped down. Let's see
8:46
how that bears out in actual real world
8:48
performance. All right, we'll start by
8:50
taking a look at vignette and
8:51
distortion. Here you can see there is a
8:53
tiny amount amount of pin cushion
8:55
distortion on the right here. I use just
8:57
a minus one to correct for that. So no
8:59
problem there. There is some noticeable
9:01
vignette though fortunately here. Uh
9:04
what I find is that there isn't
9:06
particularly more than what I saw on
9:07
other platforms. I needed a plus 57 to
9:10
make the correction you see here on the
9:11
right. So that's a couple of stops. It's
9:14
not terrible for an F1.2 lens wide open
9:17
and obviously it will naturally start to
9:19
correct as you stop the lens down. What
9:21
we find when we start to look at
9:22
fringing is that while all fringing is
9:25
not completely corrected, it is not
9:27
strong either. You can see a little bit
9:29
of magenta before, a little bit of green
9:31
fringing after the plane of focus. Uh,
9:33
taking a look at, you know, some other
9:35
shiny bits here. You can see in some of
9:37
these out of focus areas, there's a bit
9:39
of green fringing that's going to be
9:40
there on some of these specular
9:42
highlights, but it's not pronounced
9:44
enough that it, you know, it really kind
9:45
of stands out to as being objectionable.
9:48
Likewise on my dad's old SLR, you can
9:51
see right on some of these shiny bits,
9:53
there's a bit of fringing there. Again,
9:56
not strongly pronounced. And you can see
9:57
again around some of these specular
9:59
highlights, just a little bit of
10:02
fringing there. Now, when it comes to
10:04
the geometry, we can definitely see some
10:06
cat eye type shape here at f1.2. As we
10:09
start to l stop the lens down, you'll
10:11
see an improvement on that. And uh you
10:14
know it's keeps a nicely circular shape
10:16
even at smaller apertures here. And so
10:19
uh that's pretty well handled. This is
10:22
you know nothing other than typical and
10:24
the fact that it does correct pretty
10:26
quickly if you're someone who wants just
10:27
those round specular highlights all
10:29
across the frame. You can get that by f2
10:31
maximum. Now lateral style chromatic
10:33
aberrations that show up near the edge
10:35
of the frame are really well controlled.
10:37
You'll see the tiniest amount here at a
10:39
very high level of magnification. You
10:41
won't see them at all in real world
10:42
shooting. Now, before we jump into the
10:44
resolution section, realize that I'm
10:46
shooting on the APS-C mode of my Nikon
10:49
Z8. So, that gives us a resolution of
10:52
roughly 19 megapixels. So, obviously,
10:54
I've reviewed this at higher standards
10:56
on both Sony and particular on Fuji. And
10:58
so, I already know it's a very sharp
10:59
lens, and this is not going to be our
11:01
ultimate test of that. You're going to
11:03
have no problems with real world
11:04
sharpness, as we'll see in just a
11:05
moment. Now looking at 200%
11:07
magnification, you can see good
11:09
resolution in the center of the frame,
11:10
good resolution in the midframe, and
11:13
very consistent resolution out to the
11:15
corners. As I said, resolution is no
11:18
problem here. And we see also a good
11:20
consistency of centering. So in real
11:23
world shooting, even at f1.2 and 100%
11:26
magnification, you can see that
11:28
resolution is super crispy. Lots of
11:31
detail, lots of contrast, just really no
11:34
problems at all. Likewise, if I pop over
11:37
to an indoor scene like this inside a
11:40
restaurant, you can see uh likewise,
11:42
just lots of detail there on the sign,
11:44
which is the, you know, plan of focus,
11:46
the brick there, tons of detail, and
11:48
then the nice fall off towards defocus.
11:51
So, again, resolution, no problem.
11:54
Things don't look radically different at
11:55
f2 or at f2.8. Again, this isn't a high
11:59
enough resolution to really test this
12:02
lens very much. And so what we're seeing
12:04
is just really strong consistency.
12:06
Obviously the corners are brightening up
12:07
as vignette is naturally lifting, but
12:10
it's already just, you know, super sharp
12:12
everywhere across the frame. So no
12:14
problems with resolution now because we
12:16
are dealing with a lower resolution
12:18
point here than I have looked at at
12:20
other platforms. Defraction is there,
12:22
but it's not as much of a factor. At
12:25
f11, we're really not seeing much
12:27
difference from what we saw at at
12:29
brighter apertures. By f-16, which is
12:32
the minimum aperture, it's starting to
12:34
soften due to the effects of
12:35
diffraction, but not strongly. Like a
12:38
lot of these new Viltrox lenses, you'll
12:40
hear a little bit of a clunk if you rock
12:42
the lens up and down without it attached
12:43
to the camera. That is because there are
12:45
floating elements inside. That goes away
12:47
once you turn the lens on. And the
12:50
benefit of that is it allows you to have
12:52
really good uplose performance. You can
12:54
see there's a very good level of detail
12:56
and contrast here. Even at f1.2
12:59
and that's part of the benefit of those
13:01
floating elements is just consistency
13:03
and performance all across the focus
13:05
range. We can see that at those closer
13:08
focus distances and again even at
13:10
shooting at f1.2 contrast is fantastic.
13:13
Lots of detail, lots of micro contrast.
13:16
All the textures really really pop. And
13:18
then we have a very nice transition
13:20
towards defocus. And so that allows you
13:22
to get images that just have a lot of
13:24
bite to them, even at f1.2. Tons of
13:27
texture information, but then a nice
13:29
transition to defocus. And so a nicely
13:32
softly defocused background. Here's
13:34
another example here where we can see a
13:37
really nice transition both to the plane
13:39
of focus and then away from it. And look
13:41
at how good the detail again at f1.2. Uh
13:44
how good and strong that actually is.
13:47
I've seen from testing previous
13:48
versions, there's a little bit of flare
13:50
when you have bright lights coming into
13:52
the frame, but no more so than other
13:55
lenses in this class. So, in conclusion,
13:58
I would say that Viltrox has another
14:00
winner on its hands. And this obviously
14:02
is a very welcome lens here on Nikon
14:05
because it gives you, if you're shooting
14:06
APS-C, that classic 85 millimeter angle
14:09
of view with a really fast maximum
14:11
aperture, very fast autofocus, and very,
14:14
very strong optical performance. I would
14:17
say the only thing I would critique at
14:18
this point outside of the size and
14:21
weight, which is going to be a little
14:22
heavy for some, is the fact that while
14:24
autofocus is very, very fast, it feels
14:27
like it needs maybe a firmware update to
14:30
improve its confidence just a little to
14:33
utilize that speed a little bit better
14:34
with a little bit faster lock at focus
14:37
itself. Right now, it's it's perfectly
14:39
usable, but I think it's capable of even
14:41
more. But Viltrox is proving that they
14:44
really know how to develop a high-end
14:46
product. And what's more, that they
14:48
really are learning how to develop well
14:50
for Nikon's Zmount platform. And for
14:53
that reason, I think this is going to be
14:54
a very popular lens for those that are
14:56
looking for a more sophisticated lens to
14:59
use for uh portrait work here on APS-C.
15:03
As far as the competition goes, uh the
15:06
Viltrox is definitely the optically best
15:08
of the lenses. I have tested both the
15:10
Suré and the Sigma lens before. The
15:13
Sigma is very sharp, maybe not quite as
15:16
sharp as what this Viltrox lens, but
15:18
it's very close in that metric. But what
15:20
I found is that I found the bokeh and
15:22
the overall rendering from that lens
15:24
rather uninspiring. At the same time, if
15:26
that's less of a big deal to you, it is
15:28
a much more compact, lightweight lens.
15:30
And so, it's still worth worthy of
15:32
consideration. Even though the Suré is
15:35
the cheapest of the bunch, I personally
15:37
would pass it by. Uh it is the least
15:40
sophisticated in terms of the autofocus
15:42
performance and it is very soft by
15:44
comparison with either the Sigma or the
15:47
Viltrox lenses. I think that the Viltrox
15:49
offers the best complete package of any
15:52
of these lenses. Certainly when it comes
15:53
to the feature set, the build quality
15:55
and then the autofocus/optical
15:58
performance. But again, it does come at
16:00
the cost of being bigger and heavier
16:02
than alternatives. You're going to have
16:04
to determine which suits your needs and
16:06
your budget. But at the end of the day,
16:08
I think that this new Viltrox Pro AF
16:10
56mm F1.2 is a great option if you're
16:14
looking for a very high-erforming
16:16
portrait lens for your uh Nikon Zmount
16:19
APS-C camera. As always, thanks for
16:22
watching. Have a great day and let the
