Viltrox’s series of small, lightweight, and yet surprisingly high performing lenses is called the “Air” Series. We’ve seen 20mm F2.8 and 40mm F2.5 full frame lenses, the excellent 35mm F1.7 and 56mm F1.7 APS-C lens, and now we have a wider compliment to the two other APS-C lenses in the form of the Viltrox AIR 25mm F1.7 that I’m reviewing today. Viltrox has done enough in this series already that I’m really excited for each new release, and while I have liked the two full frame lenses, it is the now three APS-C lenses that have really shined. Their optical performance is much, much stronger than what their price tags suggest. It’s not very typical that a brand’s cheaper lineup of lenses (these F1.7 AIR lenses) exceeds the performance of their more expensive F1.4 lenses (23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 lenses), but that is absolutely the case here. The F1.4 lenses I’ve mentioned were reasonably good lenses, but they came during the era before Viltrox really gained confidence as a lensmaker (and, I believe, switched suppliers for their optical glass). I expected the new AIR 25mm to be a decent lens, and it hasn’t disappointed. It’s another very strong lens that can be had for a budget price of just $179 USD (or less, if you use the coupon code!). Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review, reading the text review, or just enjoying the photos below.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
Much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. This won’t be the series for those looking for aperture rings, buttons, or rings, but if you want a light, tough, high performing lens at a great price, prepare to be delighted with the new AIR 25mm.
It’s a sweet little lens, and you can get more details by visiting my reviews linked above.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AIR 25mm F1.7, AIR, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 25mm F1.7, 25mm F1.7 AIR, 35mm, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, APS-C, Sony a6700, ZV-E10 II, a6400, a7RV, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA, #viltrox35air, #carrylesscapturemore, #viltrox25air, #viltroxAF1725
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Viltrox’s series of small, lightweight, and yet surprisingly high performing lenses is called the “Air” Series. We’ve seen 20mm F2.8 and 40mm F2.5 full frame lenses, the excellent 35mm F1.7 and 56mm F1.7 APS-C lens, and now we have a wider compliment to the two other APS-C lenses in the form of the Viltrox AIR 25mm F1.7 that I’m reviewing today. Viltrox has done enough in this series already that I’m really excited for each new release, and while I have liked the two full frame lenses, it is the now three APS-C lenses that have really shined. Their optical performance is much, much stronger than what their price tags suggest. It’s not very typical that a brand’s cheaper lineup of lenses (these F1.7 AIR lenses) exceeds the performance of their more expensive F1.4 lenses (23mm, 33mm, and 56mm F1.4 lenses), but that is absolutely the case here. The F1.4 lenses I’ve mentioned were reasonably good lenses, but they came during the era before Viltrox really gained confidence as a lensmaker (and, I believe, switched suppliers for their optical glass). I expected the new AIR 25mm to be a decent lens, and it hasn’t disappointed. It’s another very strong lens that can be had for a budget price of just $179 USD (or less, if you use the coupon code!). Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below or reading on in the text review.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the APS-C mode (26MP) of my Sony a7RVcamera.
Like the 35mm focal length, 25mm is a slightly oddball focal length on APS-C, landing at a 37.5mm full frame equivalent after you account for the 1.5x crop factor of Sony E (tested here), Fuji X, or Nikon Z APS-C cameras. It’s a little tighter than the standard 23mm focal length (34.5mm full frame), but not a tight as 27mm, which approximates the 40mm full frame focal length that is steadily growing in confidence. I’m wondering if Viltrox found the market somewhat confused by their having two 56mm lenses (the 56mm F1.7 was the first in this APS-C AIR series), and so they’ve chosen to release the 25mm and 35mm lenses with slightly different focal lengths from their previous 23mm and 33mm F1.4 lenses, which continue to be sold. The most obvious autofocusing 25mm alternative is the Zeiss Batis 25mm F2, a premium lens that has a slower maximum aperture but a huge price tag (MSRP is $1349). But that lens is a full frame (not APS-C lens, making it not really a direct competitor, either. Most other autofocusing 25mm lenses tend to be for Micro 4/3rds, which makes sense, as the 2x crop on that system makes those standard 50mm equivalent lenses.
To clear a bit of the confusion relative to the older F1.4 lenses: the AIR series of lenses have smaller maximum apertures (F1.7 rather than F1.4), have a slightly downgraded build (no aperture ring, plastic housing rather than metal), but are actually better lenses in terms of autofocus and optical performance. Viltrox has improved their optical glass, the smoothness and effectiveness of their autofocus motors, and has generally become much more competent in their optical designs. The AIR lenses are also smaller, lighter, and cheaper, which has led to them being quite popular.
Much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. This won’t be the series for those looking for aperture rings, buttons, or rings, but if you want a light, tough, high performing lens at a great price, prepare to be delighted with the new AIR 25mm.
Sound interesting? I suspect so, so let’s dive in a little deeper into the details.
Viltrox AIR 25mm F1.7 Build and Handling
The first thing to note is the slightly unusual maximum aperture value. Similar lenses are going to be F1.8, not F1.7, but I like this move as it sets the lens apart and gives it a small but real advantage over F1.8 lenses. F1.8 is 2/3rds of a stop slower than F1.4, while F1.7 is 1/2 half stop slower. That also means that this lens has a full half stop advantage over a lens like the Fuji 23mm F2. That’s a reasonably useful improvement, giving some additional light gathering and that slightly larger maximum aperture will also mean slightly larger and softer specular highlights, which helps close the gap a bit with F1.4 lenses. It’s worth noting that the Fuji lens also costs $450, which makes for a hard sell when you can get this one for $175.
As noted, the Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 eschews the heavier metal casing typically used for the earlier Viltrox lenses and embraces a more conventional, lightweight design in polycarbonates (engineered plastics). I wouldn’t call the build high grade here, but what I can say is that nothing about the plastics feel flimsy. It doesn’t have the feel of the early Samyang Tiny series lenses but instead feels tough and durable; its the kind of lens that feels like it could survive some falls (not that I intentionally dropped it!)
The new AF 25mm F1.7 is extremely compact, only 64mm in diameter (2.6″) and 54.4mm in length (2.15″), making it pretty much identical in size to the 35mm and 56mm F1.7 lenses. It weighs only 170g (6oz), which is 1g less than the 56mm and identical to the 35mm. The 25mm and 35mm F1.7 look more like twins because of having the same lens hood design, but if you take that away, all three of these APS-C lenses look extremely similar.
That makes for a very compact profile on your camera. I don’t actually own a Sony APS-C camera (I use the excellent 26MP mode of my a7RV), but the Air 25mm is definitely light enough to be a great match even for a compact ZV-E10 II model.
Up front we have a 52mm filter thread, which is a small but relatively common filter size. The front of the lens fascia has a variety of information imprinted on it and has a classic profile. I’m a fan of having some lens information on the front fascia, as I feel it adds character to the lens.
There is an included lens hood that is essentially identical to the one included with the 35mm F1.7. It’s a little larger than the one included with the 56mm F1.7. It has high quality, thick plastics and feels like higher quality than the one with the 56mm. It also bayonets into place more precisely and stays locked into place better.
A lens pouch is also included. The pouch doesn’t add a lot of protection value, but, like the hood, at least it is included. There are many more expensive lenses that include neither a pouch or a hood.
This inexpensive series is set apart from most of Viltrox’s lenses in that there is no aperture ring in the design. There are no switches, either. The only feature on the lens barrel is a wide manual focus ring. The manual focus ring has a nice amount of damping and moves smoothly. All manual focus aids (including automatic magnification of the focus area) will work with the Viltrox, and I appreciate the fact that manual focus speed is improved to where you can make larger focus changes with one twist of the wrist, particularly if you move faster (this is a non-linear focus ring). The manual focus experience on Sony is good, though I suspect it will be a little rougher on Fuji.
The Viltrox AF 25mm has 9 blades in its aperture iris. The blades do a very reasonable job of maintaining a circular shape as the aperture is stopped down. When stopped down far enough, an 18 bladed sunstar will emerge.
We have an important Viltrox standard in the form of a USB-C port on the metal lens mount that allows you to connect the lens to a computer and update the firmware directly. The firmware update process is very simple; just unzip the upgrade folder, drag the firmware update file to the folder that shows up when the lens is attached to the computer, and the update is done in seconds.
We’ve got a mild regression from the 35mm AIR when it comes to magnification. Whereas the AIR 25mm can focus a bit closer (30cm) than the 35mm (33cm), the much shorter focal length results in lower level of magnification at that focus distance. Maximum magnification is only 0.11x, which is definitely on the low side for a 35mm(ish) lens. Here’s what that looks like:
The previous Viltrox 23mm F1.4 could also focus as closely 30cm, but because of the shorter focal length it delivered a lower 0.10x magnification. You certainly won’t be able to do any “macro” work with the AIR 25mm, but you can certainly get close enough to blur out of a background.
Viltrox’ more expensive lens series have weathersealing, but the budget AIR series does not. The AIR 25mm does have a HD Nano multilayer coating with water-resistant and antifouling coating on the front element.
Though the AIR series is short on bells and whistles, the Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7, like other lenses in the series, feels sturdy and well made. It is lightweight, will balance easily on a wide variety of camera bodies and sizes, and doesn’t really feel “cheap” in any way.
Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 STM Autofocus for Stills
The Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 STM, like other AIR lenses, utilizes a lead-screw type stepping focus motor (STM) that makes for fast and quiet focus changes. Focus felt silent unless I put my ear up next to the barrel, and even then I could hear very little focus noise. Focus speed is well above average for a budget lens. In my focus tests I found that focus changes were fast and accurate, and even while doing the tests I felt a sense of surprise at how snappy focus felt.
I’ve got the benefit of reviewing the AIR 25mm on Sony, while I reviewed the AIR 35mm on Fuji, and there’s no question that autofocus is more sophisticated on the Sony side of things. That makes the AIR 25mm feel like the better focusing lens, though I suspect that if I had both lenses side by side on the same platform, I would find focus very similar. During the sequence of focus going back and forth during my tests, I snapped this shot on the fly, and it is perfectly focused.
General purpose shooting produced a lot of well focused results.
I tracked Nala walking towards me, and while I don’t think autofocus is GM-level in that situation, focus did keep up sufficient that images look properly focused.
For just getting street style shots where you need to pull focus quickly of people in motion, I saw zero issues. I took this shot (at F1.7) as a snap split second photo, and got a well focused end result.
I would categorize autofocus for stills as being rather excellent (at least on Sony). I have no hesitation in endorsing the behavior of this lens.
Focus for Video
Video AF was mostly very good. My focus pulls were smooth and without visible steps. Focus moved in a nicely linear fashion (no negative evidence of a stepping motor). What I didn’t like was an occasional micropulse on my foreground subject where focus did a little rack beyond proper focus and then settled back. Focusing breathing wasn’t non-existent, but it is quite low.
My hand test went pretty well, with successful transitions from my hand to my eye and back. The low focus breathing helped to keep the shot looking relatively cinematic. It’s worth noting that the footage also looked very sharp and with good subject delineation.
Real world shots that should be fairly static were just that. They locked on a subject and didn’t bounce around and pulse. I did shoot a shot of Nala, however, where I moved in towards her, and for whatever reason you can see some focus micro pulses taking place. The screenshot above shows that focus was actually good, and focus definitely didn’t need to make microadjustments all the time.
Overall I would say that focus is solid for both stills and video.
Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 Image Quality
The Viltrox AF 25mm F1.7 has an optical design of 12 elements in ten groups, which is slightly more complex than the 35mm. Five of these are exotic elements, including one ED (extra-low dispersion) element, 2 HR (high refractive index) elements, and two aspherical element as a part of the design. The MTF looks excellent – sharper than the 35mm and slightly softer than the 56mm. There are very few lenses in this focus length range at any price that are giving this good of an optical performance (or better).
What’s interesting is that all of these APS-C AIR lenses are really producing image quality that is just about as good wide open as it is stopped down, with the F1.7 and the F8 MTF charts largely mirroring each other. This is actually a surprisingly sharp lens. It’s not hard to produce beautiful, highly detailed images with this lens, like this very cool (cold!) image of the Canadian Parliament library.
I shot at F2.8 to minimize any imperfections or smudges as I was shooting through glass and didn’t want the glass to be in focus. If I take a deep crop from that image, I can see good detail.
Before we jump into an evaluation of the optical performance, let’s take a quick look at the full frame coverage of the lens. I can’t do that when I’m testing the AIR lenses on Fuji, but since we are on Sony E-Mount for this one, it is an easy test. Here’s a full frame image:
So, it doesn’t cover the entire full frame image circle. You can see some “hard vignette” in the corners where light is completely blocked from the sensor. But what we can also see is that the AIR 25mm is covering the majority of the full frame image circle. In fact, if I do a bit of cropping, I come up with this:
You can see that the resulting full frame crop is still much wider than the APS-C image circle. The APS-C crop from the image is 26MP (6240 x 4160), but I can still get a usable 45MP (8288 x 5525) out of the full frame image. And frankly, there are some scenes where I can even get away with the hard vignette on the full frame image, like this:
A mild crop gives me this image:
That’s 48MP, which is great, and, what’s more, I think the AIR 25mm is actually doing a pretty good job of resolving that whole crop. Here’s a deep crop of the lower right corner of that image.
You could argue that the final 5% doesn’t look amazing, but I would say that it looks good enough. It does well enough in this situation that I could see taking this lens on a trip when I need to travel light and treating it basically like a 28mm full frame lens (after the crop) along with its more typical APS-C function.
Cool!
We’ll work through the chart results by first looking at distortion and vignette. The 25mm F1.7 does well in the distortion department but slips a bit with vignette.
I used a +4 to correct a small amount of barrel distortion. That’s not bad at all for a wide(ish) prime. Vignette required a +65 to correct (under 3 stops), though it is fairly linear and largely “works” for portraits, creating a natural vignette that draws the eye to the subject. I rarely found the need to correct the vignette in real world images, even though I was reviewing a prerelease copy before the time that any correction profile existed. This shot, for example, was shot at F1.7 and I saw no need for vignette correction.
Likewise this image from the National Art Gallery has received zero distortion correction, and yet the lines all look pretty good in a real world image.
Viltrox seems to have discovered the formula for largely eliminating fringing in their lenses. The 35mm F1.7 shows very low amounts of longitudinal chromatic aberrations. Fringing is well corrected, leaving very little fringing in my tests.
Real world results also look clean. You can see that contrast is good and there is only a minimum fringing in highly reflective surfaces and edges.
Lateral Chromatic Aberrations usually show up along the edges of the frame as fringing on either side of high contrast areas (like bare branches framed at the edge of images). There are minimal amounts of fringing on either side of the black/white transitions.
I also didn’t spot any issues in real world results, with branches in images looking clean of fringing.
So how about resolution and contrast? All chart tests done with the APS-C mode of my a7RV (26MP) using a tripod and a two second timer. Here’s a look at my test chart:
And here are the crops (at roughly 200% magnification) from the center, mid-frame, and extreme corner at F1.7:
We see here what the MTF chart suggested. There’s a very consistent performance across the frame, with the corners really not all that far behind the center performance. What’s more, while the recent TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8 showed a really inconsistent centering result (at least in my copy), I actually found the centering in the Viltrox excellent, with all four corners performing at a similar level.
That leads to some impressively sharp wide open results, with a lot of detail and contrast even at F1.7.
This lens has no problem with Sony’s 26MP resolution, and I would say that it is strong enough to handle Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor as well, as I’ve found both the 35mm and 56mm AIR lenses to be solid on that platform.
Stopping down F2 does give a bit of contrast boost. It’s not huge, but I could see it all across the frame. I wanted to share the corners, as this is probably where I’m most impressed. I rarely see corners this good on such an inexpensive lens.
Stopping down to F2.8 shows another incremental improvement, though as the MTF suggests, a lot of the lens performance is available right from F1.7.
Landscape apertures look great, with great contrast and delineation of fine details. It was extremely cold during my primary review period, so I was out in a lot of weather at -20 or colder. You can almost watch the ice form on the river in real time at that temperature. This image shows great detail in the middle of the frame but also in all of the fine details in the bare trees in the upper left corner.
Diffraction isn’t quite as militant on a 26MP sensor as it is on the Fuji 40MP sensor, but you will still definitely see a softening effect at F11, and particularly at F16, though image quality never gets terrible.
This is a lens that repeatedly made me smile when I looked at images at 100% magnification. It’s actually pretty hard to believe that these sub-$200 lenses are so good.
I’ve been noting the improvement to Viltrox colors over the past two years since they switched suppliers for their optical glass. Once again I’m very happy with the color rendition from the lens, which feels neutral in color balance, nicely saturated, and with good contrast levels in the colors.
Even the deep Arctic cold days where it is cold, very bright, and colors can be a bit garish with lesser optical glass didn’t prove to be an issue here. I thought the colors in this shot looked exactly as they should considering the scene.
The challenge for lenses with good natural contrast (particularly those that aren’t huge to give the engineers space to try to do everything well) is that the bokeh quality suffers. A 25mm F1.7 APS-C lens isn’t going to crush backgrounds, but I actually found the bokeh pretty decent here. Specular highlights looked pretty good, with some lemon shape towards the edges but overall looking pretty decent.
If you want consistently round specular highlights, just stop down a bit. F2.5 makes for pretty good circular shapes across the frame.
This image shows a reasonably soft background without any jitteryness.
This shot looks good, too, with a typical room background looking fairly soft (and Nala looking very cute!)
I shot this chess set particularly for bokeh, and I would conclude that there is bit more outlining than I like, but frankly for a budget lens that also happens to be very sharp, that’s actually pretty great.
Changing the focus point gives you a bit of a look at foreground bokeh.
That looks okay, but what is actually very impressive is the microcontrast. I’m very impressed with how detailed the crop looks here.
Very crisp edges, low fringing, and a subject that really stands out even under high magnification. Impressive!
Flare resistance seemed better to me than what I saw with the 35mm. One of the earliest images I shared in the review showed a bit of a soft glow due to window lighting coming into the shot of Nala sleeping on a chair, but with direct sun coming through a window in the first shot of this series I saw no issues. I also saw very little ghosting or veiling in other very bright, direct sun images.
That’s 100% better than what I saw from the recent TTArtisan AF 23mm F1.8.
I also found that coma was fairly well controlled. The low fringing helps star points to look clean (no purple fringing), and there isn’t much comatic distortion near the edges of the frame.
Bottom line is that there really isn’t any particular areas of weakness for the Viltrox AIR 25mm, which is pretty insane in a $175 lens. If you want to see more images, visit the image gallery here.
Conclusion
I’m loving the Viltrox AIR series. These are lenses that are so easy to just grab and bring along because they are so compact and light, and yet the kind of image quality I’m getting doesn’t feel like I’m skimping on quality. The Viltrox AIR 23mm F1.7 gave me lots of images that I really enjoyed.
The AIR 25mm F1.7 has been a blast to use, with a great (though unique) focal length, great autofocus, and really great looking images.
The fact that all of these AIR lenses can be had for well under $200 each is an even bigger bonus, and so far I’ve been very impressed with the 25mm, 35mm, and 56mm lenses alike. This is a great walkaround lens, perfect for capturing the varied moments that life brings. It would be discrete enough for street, sharp enough for landscapes, and is just generally a lot of fun to use. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this lens for my Sony, Fuji, or Nikon APS-C camera…particularly if you are using one of the small, light bodies and want lenses to match.
Pros:
Lightweight, compact design
Lens feels tough and well made
Well executed, smooth manual focus ring
Lens hood is improved
USB-C port for firmware updates
Good focus accuracy
Pretty good video focus
Outstanding sharpness from F1.7 on
Nice bokeh
Fairly low distortion
Good color rendering
Good flare resistance
Good coma performance
Fantastic price to performance ratio
Cons:
No weather sealing or features
Is 25mm a focal length APS-C shooters are looking for?
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AIR 25mm F1.7, AIR, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 25mm F1.7, 35mm, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, APS-C, Sony a6700, ZV-E10 II, a6400, a7RV, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA, #viltrox35air, #carrylesscapturemore, #viltrox25air, #viltroxAF1725
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We now have a name for Viltrox’s series of small, lightweight, and yet surprisingly high performing lenses – the “Air” Series. We’ve seen 20mm F2.8 and 40mm F2.4 full frame lenses, a really excellent 56mm F1.7 APS-C lens, and now a companion to that lens in the form of the new Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7. I’m delighted to see this lens, as I really liked the 56mm, and this is arguably an even more useful focal length. Fuji has two 35mm options already: the 35mm F2 (which I reviewed here), and the 35mm F1.4 (which I haven’t reviewed). Their most recent lens in this general vicinity is the excellent 33mm F1.4 LM WR lens which I reviewed here. I’m a big fan of the 33mm F1.4, which has beautiful rendering, but it also retails for a a whopping $799 USD, which is, of course, out of the range of many buyers. The Viltrox provides a much cheaper alternative at just $179 USD while still delivering a lens with a lot of great qualities. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below, reading the text review, or by enjoying the photos in the gallery below.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Fujifilm X-H2 camera.
35mm is a slightly oddball focal length on APS-C, landing at a 52.5mm full frame equivalent. It stands to reason why the 33mm (49.5mm) is more conventional, as it is delivering that typical 50mm “normal” angle of view. That extra 3mm is hardly likely to make much of a difference. This is a great focal length that gives a very normal, relatable point of view.
In Viltrox’s earlier days they released an F1.4 series with a 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm option. This new series is going to naturally provide a bit of confusion, as the newer lenses have smaller maximum apertures (F1.7 rather than F1.4), have a slightly downgraded build (no aperture ring, plastic housing rather than metal), but are actually better lenses in terms of autofocus and optical performance. Viltrox has improved their optical glass, the smoothness and effectiveness of their autofocus motors, and has generally become much more competent in their optical designs. There’s also the fact that the new 35mm F1.7 is 17mm shorter and weighs a full 100g less, which is a core part of why the “Air” series has proven so popular.
Much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. Add in the fact that, like the 56mm F1.7, this new lens is one of the least expensive lenses that can fully resolve the extremely demanding 40MP sensor. It’s sharp even at F1.7, has nice bokeh, and can produce extremely nice images.
Sound interesting? Perhaps the photos below will help you decide.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 35mm F1.7, 35mm, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, Fujifilm, Fuji X-T5, X-S20, Full Frame, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We now have a name for Viltrox’s series of small, lightweight, and yet surprisingly high performing lenses – the “Air” Series. We’ve seen 20mm F2.8 and 40mm F2.4 full frame lenses, a really excellent 56mm F1.7 APS-C lens, and now a companion to that lens in the form of the new Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7. I’m delighted to see this lens, as I really liked the 56mm, and this is arguably an even more useful focal length. Fuji has two 35mm options already: the 35mm F2 (which I reviewed here), and the 35mm F1.4 (which I haven’t reviewed). Their most recent lens in this general vicinity is the excellent 33mm F1.4 LM WR lens which I reviewed here. I’m a big fan of the 33mm F1.4, which has beautiful rendering, but it also retails for a a whopping $799 USD, which is, of course, out of the range of many buyers. The Viltrox provides a much cheaper alternative at just $179 USD while still delivering a lens with a lot of great qualities. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below…or just keep reading.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Fujifilm X-H2 camera.
35mm is a slightly oddball focal length on APS-C, landing at a 52.5mm full frame equivalent. It stands to reason why the 33mm (49.5mm) is more conventional, as it is delivering that typical 50mm “normal” angle of view. That extra 3mm is hardly likely to make much of a difference. This is a great focal length that gives a very normal, relatable point of view.
In Viltrox’s earlier days they released an F1.4 series with a 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm option. This new series is going to naturally provide a bit of confusion, as the newer lenses have smaller maximum apertures (F1.7 rather than F1.4), have a slightly downgraded build (no aperture ring, plastic housing rather than metal), but are actually better lenses in terms of autofocus and optical performance. Viltrox has improved their optical glass, the smoothness and effectiveness of their autofocus motors, and has generally become much more competent in their optical designs. There’s also the fact that the new 35mm F1.7 is 17mm shorter and weighs a full 100g less, which is a core part of why the “Air” series has proven so popular.
Much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. Add in the fact that, like the 56mm F1.7, this new lens is one of the least expensive lenses that can fully resolve the extremely demanding 40MP sensor. It’s sharp even at F1.7, has nice bokeh, and can produce extremely nice images.
Sound interesting? I suspect so, so let’s dive in a little deeper into the details.
Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 Build and Handling
The first thing to note is the slightly unusual maximum aperture value. Similar lenses are going to be F1.8, not F1.7, but I like this move as it sets the lens apart and gives it a small but real advantage over F1.8 lenses. F1.8 is 2/3rds of a stop slower than F1.4, while F1.7 is 1/2 half stop slower. That also means that this lens has a full half stop advantage over a lens like the Fuji 35mm F2. That’s a reasonably useful improvement, giving some additional light gathering and that slightly larger maximum aperture will also mean slightly larger and softer specular highlights, which helps close the gap a bit with F1.4 lenses.
As noted, the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 eschews the heavier metal casing typically used for the earlier Viltrox lenses and embraces a more conventional, lightweight design in polycarbonates (engineered plastics). I wouldn’t call the build high grade here, but what I can say is that nothing about the plastics feel flimsy. It doesn’t have the feel of the early Samyang Tiny series lenses but instead feels tough and durable; its the kind of lens that feels like it could survive some falls (not that I intentionally dropped it!)
The new AF 35mm F1.7 is extremely compact, only 64mm in diameter (2.6″) and 54.7mm in length (2.15″), making it pretty much identical in size to the 56mm F1.7. It weighs only 170g (6oz), which is 1g less than the 56mm.
That makes for a very compact profile on your camera. I happen to be using the larger X-H2 body, but the small size will be even more compelling on Fuji’s more compact cameras.
Up front we have a 52mm filter thread, which is a small but relatively common filter size. The front of the lens fascia has a variety of information imprinted on it and has a classic profile. I’m a fan of having some lens information on the front fascia, as I feel it adds character to the lens.
There is a lens hood included that bayonets into place with more confidence and precision than the 56mm lens. It locks completely into place when mounted, and won’t be knocked off kilter by little bumps. It’s also considerably larger than the very compact hood included with the 56mm, and just feels more robust and better made in general.
A lens pouch is also included. The pouch doesn’t add a lot of protection value, but, like the hood, at least it is included. There are many more expensive lenses that include neither a pouch or a hood.
This inexpensive series is set apart from most of Viltrox’s lenses in that there is no aperture ring in the design. There are no switches, either. The only feature on the lens barrel is a wide manual focus ring. The manual focus ring has a nice amount of damping and moves smoothly. All manual focus aids (including automatic magnification of the focus area) will work with the Viltrox, and I appreciate the fact that manual focus speed is improved to where you can make larger focus changes with one twist of the wrist, particularly if you move faster (this is a non-linear focus ring).
The Viltrox AF 35mm has 9 blades in its aperture iris. The blades do a very reasonable job of maintaining a circular shape as the aperture is stopped down. When stopped down far enough, an 18 bladed sunstar will emerge.
We have an important Viltrox standard in the form of a USB-C port on the metal lens mount that allows you to connect the lens to a computer and update the firmware directly. The firmware update process is very simple; just unzip the upgrade folder, drag the firmware update file to the folder that shows up when the lens is attached to the computer, and the update is done in seconds.
One area of improvement over the 56mm is that the minimum focus distance is 33cm (0.33m) and provides a higher magnification level of 0.13x. This is only very slightly bested by the 0.14x of the Fuji 35mm F2. Here’s what that looks like:
The previous Viltrox 33mm could only focus as closely as 40cm and delivered just a 0.10x magnification, so this is certainly improved. You certainly won’t be able to do any “macro” work with it, but you can certainly get close enough to strongly blur out a background.
While some Viltrox lenses have started to come with weather sealing, this inexpensive 35mm lens does not have it. It does have a HD Nano multilayer coating with water-resistant and antifouling coating on the front element.
Though the AIR series is short on bells and whistles, the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 does excel in one key area: it is very compact and lightweight. And while there aren’t any special features, the lens feels sturdy and well made. As I noted in the intro, this is a lens designed for a specific market, and I feel like Viltrox has made the right choices in order to give us a functional lens that at the same time is extremely inexpensive.
Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 STM Autofocus
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 STM utilizes a lead-screw type stepping focus motor (STM) that makes for reasonably fast and definitely quiet focus changes. Focus felt silent unless I put my ear up next to the barrel, where I could hear some very light whirring during major focus changes. Focus speed is about average for an X-mount lens. There are some obvious steps (howbeit rapid ones) from this particular stepping motor during significant focus changes. I noticed focus speed far less in normal work where it’s rare to go from close to distant all the time. More minor focus changes happen fast enough that it didn’t stand out.
I’ve reviewed about four Viltrox lenses on both Fuji and then Sony, and in every case I’ve found AF more snappy and appealing in general on Sony. But even here on Fuji, I’ve had good focus accuracy overall. I had good success locking onto a variety of subjects, up to and including portrait work. I didn’t do formal portraits during this review cycle, but I did shoot a number of casual portraits during autumn hikes, and always got accurate focus on the eye.
General purpose shooting produced a lot of well focused results.
Ferrari the cat followed my wife and I on an evening walk, so I turned to take an extended burst of photos as he came towards us. As per usual with most non-sports lenses on Fuji, autofocus was initially fine, but as Ferrari continued to move closer and closer, focus remained a bit behind him, and its not until he stopped and looked to the side that autofocus caught up.
This is part Viltrox, yes, but also a big part on Fuji, as even some of the best of their current cameras (like my X-H2) just aren’t matching what I see from other brands in terms of autofocus. This lens should be fine if you’re doing event, general purpose, or portrait work, but if you are looking for a lens fast enough to keep up with young children or animals moving around, look elsewhere.
Video AF is also a mixed bag. Focus pulls are rather unimpressive. They aren’t fast, and there is some obvious stepping in the process. This is quite different from what I saw on Sony with the AF 56mm F1.7 lens, so at least part of this is the nature of Fuji’s video AF, which is a fair bit behind what I see on Sony and Canon. As per usual on Fuji, I also had issues with responsiveness on the touchscreen to try to change focus subjects.
My hand test was also a mixed bag, as while transitions from my hand to my eye and back were sometimes smoother, I also had moments where focus racked too far (past my head), and had to pull back to my face after the obvious rack.
Real world focus transitions could be smoother, but was very much shot dependent. I fully anticipate better autofocus results on Sony and Nikon based on past experience. Overall, autofocus performance is roughly average from what I’ve come to expect from lenses from Fuji. I went back and looked at my results from the premium Fujinon XF 33mm F1.4 WR with a linear focus motor, and the results in the video tests were no better.
Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 Image Quality
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 has an optical design of 11 elements in nine groups. What’s surprising in such an inexpensive lens is how many of these are exotic elements. There is one ED (extra-low dispersion) element, 2 HR (high refractive index) elements, and one aspherical element as a part of the design. The MTF looks excellent, though just a hair softer than than the 56mm F1.7.
All of this adds up to yet another Viltrox lens that is punching well above its weight class optically, which is important, as the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 is the most demanding sensor for lens performance of any platform that I test. It’s not hard to produce beautiful, highly detailed images with this lens.
We’ll work through the chart results by first looking at distortion and vignette. The 35mm F1.7 does well in the distortion department but slips a bit with vignette.
I used a -3 to correct a tiny bit of pincushion distortion, though for portrait work you probably don’t want to correct that (a bit of pincushion distortion is flattering). Vignette required a +75 to correct (3 stops), though it is fairly linear and largely “works” for portraits, creating a natural vignette that draws the eye to the subject. These results were very consistent with what I found from the 56mm F1.7. A correction profile does exist in Lightroom for RAW images already. The linear nature of the vignette means that even uncorrected images don’t look bad.
Viltrox seems to have discovered the formula for largely eliminating fringing in their lenses. The 35mm F1.7 shows very low amounts of longitudinal chromatic aberrations. Fringing is well corrected, leaving very little fringing in my tests.
Real world results also look clean.
Lateral Chromatic Aberrations usually show up along the edges of the frame as fringing on either side of high contrast areas (like bare branches framed at the edge of images). There are minimal amounts of fringing on either side of the black/white transitions.
I also didn’t spot any issues in real world results, with branches in images looking clean of fringing.
So how about resolution and contrast? All chart tests done with a Fujifilm X-H2 (40MP) using a tripod and a two second timer. Here’s a look at my test chart:
And here are the crops (at roughly 200% magnification) from the center, mid-frame, and extreme corner at F1.7:
We see here what the MTF chart suggested. There’s a very consistent performance across the frame, with the corners really not all that far behind the center performance. To put this performance in context, here’s a look at the premium Fuji XF 33mm F1.4 WR stopped down to F1.8:
I see some contrast and detail advantage for the Fuji in the center, with results about equal in the corners (and in the midframe, which is not shown here). Certainly the inexpensive Viltrox lens delivers quite a competitive result for costing many times less.
In real world images wide open contrast isn’t flawless in the way a lens like the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 is, at least on Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor, but I suspect it would be on 26MP sensors from Fuji or Sony. Even on 40MP, however, results look really solid.
Stopping down F2 does give a bit of contrast boost, but without a radical improvement. I see a bit more at F2.8, then at F4. Peak performance comes at F5.6-F8:
Real world results in this aperture range are nice and crisp, with good detail and contrast.
On a high resolution body like my X-H2, diffraction comes early, so while F8 still looks as good as F5.6, by F11 you will see some softening of the fine details due to diffraction, and by F16 (minimum aperture) the image is considerably softer.
I suspect that no one is going to be disappointed by the amount of sharpness you can get from the AF 35mm F1.7, particularly for the price tag.
My chief objection to early Viltrox lenses was that I didn’t really love the quality of the optical glass. Colors felt a little “cheap”, but their optical glass has improved by leaps and bounds, and these days I would consider color rendition from the optical glass a strength for the company, even when we’re talking about these inexpensive little lenses.
It’s autumn in Ontario, Canada, where I live, and that means that colors are naturally rich and beautiful. Fuji cameras also have great color science, and that all makes for a winning combination.
Here’s another that shows rich, vivid colors.
One area where I do prefer the more expensive Fuji lens is in the rendering and quality of the background blur. The Viltrox is fairly good, but the Fuji has a really pleasing rendering that I found very appealing. Here’s a look at the specular highlights from the Viltrox.
I found the overall bokeh rendering pretty good at a variety of distances, though not quite as creamy as the Fuji lens.
Stop down a bit and you can get fairly round specular highlights across the frame even near the edge of the image.
Flare resistance is a bit of a mixed bag despite the robust lens hood. Flare resistance head on is fairly good, with only minimal ghosting and veiling, but there are points with the sun right out of frame where you’ll see some flashing and loss of contrast.
It’s largely fairly artistic, however, so I have no major objections.
I also found that coma was fairly well controlled. The low fringing helps star points to look clean (not purple fringing), and there isn’t much comatic distortion near the edges of the frame.
All told, this makes for a pretty compelling “nifty-fifty” style lens for Fuji, and at a great price. If you want to see more images, visit the image gallery here!
Conclusion
Viltrox didn’t have a “name” for these new lightweight, compact lenses when they started selling them, but now they do. The “Air” series has proven to be a hit with a winning formula of light weight, low price, and surprisingly strong optical performance. I was a fan of the Samyang “Tiny” series for similar reasons, but the “Air” lenses typically only cost about 50% of what the Samyang lenses did.
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 has generally been a lot of fun to use. It’s a great focal length, doesn’t have any meaningful flaws, and can easily produce images that I really like.
The fact that this lens can be had for well under $200 is an even bigger bonus, and the 50mm(ish) focal length is beloved for a reason. This is a great walkaround lens, perfect for capturing the varied moments that life brings. Lenses like this are great for APS-C owners who want that perfect mix of small, light, cheap…and high performing. Kudos to Viltrox for making yet another lens that I’ve immensely enjoyed using.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 35mm F1.7, 35mm, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, Fujifilm, Fuji X-T5, X-S20, Full Frame, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA, #viltrox35air, #carrylesscapturemore
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 is not an unknown commidity to me. I reviewed in on Fuji X-mount earlier this year, which is, frankly, the most challenging platform that I review lenses on for two reasons: 1) Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor is extremely demanding due to having the highest resolution currently available on APS-C and 2) Fuji’s autofocus is well behind other companies, meaning that AF performance (particularly for video) of lenses often doesn’t look fantastic. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 (which we’ll call the 56mm F1.7E for both brevity and to distinguish it from the X-mount version of the lens) will have an easier time all around on Sony. The 26MP resolution level currently available on Sony is much easier to resolve, and Sony’s autofocus system on their cameras is much, much better. I had the good fortunate to get this lens at the same time as having the Sony ZV-E10 II compact camera, and it was a great match for that compact body.
This new lightweight series began with the very useful AF 20mm F2.8 full frame lens (which I reviewed here), an extremely light, extremely inexpensive, but surprisingly strong optical instrument. That was followed (for full frame) with the 40mm F2.5 STM full frame lens, a lens that I’ve reviewed on Nikon Z and that will soon be released on Sony as well. That first APS-C lens in this particular series, however, is this Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM. This Viltrox lens will retail for under $180 USD (buy from Viltrox and use the code DUSTINABBOTT to get 8% more off!). That makes it an attractive option for those who want this focal length but have a tight budget. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review, reading the text review, or just by enjoying the photos in the galleries below.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review copy of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV in its 26MP APS-C modealong with the the Sony ZV-E10 II which I reviewed here.
Viltrox already has an existing autofocusing 56mm F1.4 APS-C lens (my review here) that they released in 2020, but that lens is heavier (290g) and more expensive ($299 USD) relative to this new lens. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7E has a slightly slower aperture (one half stop), lacks an aperture ring, but compensates in part by being extremely sharp. In fact, if you look at this chart I’ve made comparing the MTF from the two lenses, you can see that I’ve put a line through the 80% level. None of the performance of the older lens (at least at 30LPmm) reaches that threshold, while there is only the tiniest part of the image of the 56mm F1.7 E-mount that fall below that.
There is 15% more image sharpness in the center of the frame and and more than 20% more in the midframe. The corners are more like 40% sharper! This is going to be a very sweet bargain portrait lens. 56mm on Sony’s 1.5x crop APS-C sensor translates to 84mm, a prime portrait focal length.
This tells us all we need to know about who this new lens is for: much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. And this lens is incredibly compact – look how compact it is when compared to the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR and the TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8 (another impressive little lens!)
I’ll foness that I end up reaching for these little Viltrox lenses more often than expected. Very often the idea of a throwing a small, light, tough, and high performing little prime into my bag is very, very attractive. Enjoy the photos below!
Image of the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 E-mount
Images taken with the Viltrox AF 57mm F1.7 E-mount
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF 56mm, Viltrox 56mm, AF, 56mm, F1.7, f/1.7, STM, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, Sony ZV-E10 II, Sony a7RV, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 is not an unknown commidity to me. I reviewed in on Fuji X-mount earlier this year, which is, frankly, the most challenging platform that I review lenses on for two reasons: 1) Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor is extremely demanding due to having the highest resolution currently available on APS-C and 2) Fuji’s autofocus is well behind other companies, meaning that AF performance (particularly for video) of lenses often doesn’t look fantastic. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 (which we’ll call the 56mm F1.7E for both brevity and to distinguish it from the X-mount version of the lens) will have an easier time all around on Sony. The 26MP resolution level currently available on Sony is much easier to resolve, and Sony’s autofocus system on their cameras is much, much better. I had the good fortunate to get this lens at the same time as having the Sony ZV-E10 II compact camera, and it was a great match for that compact body.
This new lightweight series began with the very useful AF 20mm F2.8 full frame lens (which I reviewed here), an extremely light, extremely inexpensive, but surprisingly strong optical instrument. That was followed (for full frame) with the 40mm F2.5 STM full frame lens, a lens that I’ve reviewed on Nikon Z and that will soon be released on Sony as well. That first APS-C lens in this particular series, however, is this Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM. This Viltrox lens will retail for under $180 USD (buy from Viltrox and use the code DUSTINABBOTT to get 5% more off!). That makes it an attractive option for those who want this focal length but have a tight budget. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below…or just keep reading.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review copy of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV in its 26MP APS-C modealong with the the Sony ZV-E10 II which I reviewed here.
Viltrox already has an existing autofocusing 56mm F1.4 APS-C lens (my review here) that they released in 2020, but that lens is heavier (290g) and more expensive ($299 USD) relative to this new lens. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7E has a slightly slower aperture (one half stop), lacks an aperture ring, but compensates in part by being extremely sharp. In fact, if you look at this chart I’ve made comparing the MTF from the two lenses, you can see that I’ve put a line through the 80% level. None of the performance of the older lens (at least at 30LPmm) reaches that threshold, while there is only the tiniest part of the image of the new lens that fall below that.
There is 15% more image sharpness in the center of the frame and and more than 20% more in the midframe. The corners are more like 40% sharper! This is going to be a very sweet bargain portrait lens. 56mm on Sony’s 1.5x crop APS-C sensor translates to 84mm, a prime portrait focal length.
This tells us all we need to know about who this new lens is for: much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. And this lens is incredibly compact – look how compact it is when compared to the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR and the TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8 (another impressive little lens!)
I’ll foness that I end up reaching for these little Viltrox lenses more often than expected. Very often the idea of a throwing a small, light, tough, and high performing little prime into my bag is very, very attractive. So let’s dive into the details together.
This review is a mix of elements from my previous review (on Fuji) though updated with all of the specific Sony details and many new photos taken on Sony.
Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7E Build and Handling
The first thing to note is the slightly unusual maximum aperture value. Similar lenses are going to be F1.8, not F1.7, but I like this move as it sets the lens apart and gives it a small but real advantage over F1.8 lenses. F1.8 is 2/3rds of a stop slower than F1.4, while F1.7 is 1/2 half stop slower. When swapping between this F1.7 lens and another lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8, I found that the Viltrox produced a 1/35th second shutter speed vs 1/30th second for the F1.8 lens. That’s not a lot of extra light gathering but it is something.
As noted, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 eschews the heavier metal casing typically used for Viltrox lenses and embraces a more conventional, lightweight design in polycarbonates (engineered plastics). I wouldn’t call the build high grade here, but what I can say is that nothing about the plastics feel flimsy. It doesn’t have the feel of the early Samyang Tiny series lenses but instead feels tough and durable; its the kind of lens that feels like it could survive some falls (not that I intentionally dropped it!)
The new AF 56mm F1.7 is extremely compact, only 65mm in diameter (2.6″) and 54.7mm in length (2.15″). It weighs only 171g (6oz). You can see that this is an easy match even for a very compact camera like the ZV-E10 II.
Up front we have a 52mm filter thread, which is a small but relatively common filter size. The front of the lens fascia has a variety of information imprinted on it and has a classic profile. I’m a fan of having some lens information on the front fascia, as I feel it adds character to the lens. This lens presents a very nice face for an inexpensive lens.
There is a very slim lens hood included that bayonets into place but without as much precision and confidence as I would like. It doesn’t feel like it really “clicks” into place and locks particularly well. A lens pouch is also included. The pouch doesn’t add a lot of protection value, but, like the hood, at least it is included. There are many more expensive lenses that include neither a pouch or a hood.
This inexpensive series is set apart from most of Viltrox’s lenses in that there is no aperture ring in the design. There are no switches, either. The only feature on the lens barrel is a wide manual focus ring. The manual focus ring has a nice amount of damping and moves fairly smoothly. All manual focus aids (including automatic magnification of the focus area) will work with the Viltrox, though major focus changes will take a lot of rotations, so manual focus is better reserved for fine tuning.
The Viltrox AF 56mm has 9 blades in its aperture iris. The blades do a very reasonable job of maintaining a circular shape as the aperture is stopped down. When stopped down far enough, an 18 bladed sunstar will emerge, though it isn’t particularly well defined.
We have an important Viltrox standard in the form of a USB-C port on the metal lens mount that allows you to connect the lens to a computer and update the firmware directly. The firmware update process is very simple; just unzip the upgrade folder, drag the firmware update file to the folder that shows up when the lens is attached to the computer, and the update is done in seconds.
The Viltrox AF 56mm has a minimum focus distance of 55cm, which unfortunately isn’t particularly close and only produces a 0.11x magnification, which is a little lower than average for the class…on paper. In practice, however, the Sony version seems to manually focus down to 50cm and produce a higher magnification level than I saw on Fuji.
In fact, when I compared it in the real world to another 85mm (full frame) lens that I was testing at the time (I can’t yet reveal which), the Viltrox clearly has a much higher magnification even though that lens claims to have a 0.12x magnification.
While some Viltrox lenses have started to come with weather sealing, this inexpensive 56mm lens does not have it. It does have a HD Nano multilayer coating with water-resistant and antifouling coating on the front element.
Though short on bells and whistles, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7E does excel in one key area: it is very compact and lightweight. And while there aren’t any special features, the lens feels sturdy and well made. As I noted in the intro, this is a lens designed for a specific market, and I feel like Viltrox has made the right choices in order to give us a functional lens that at the same time is extremely inexpensive.
Viltrox AF 57mm F1.7 STM Autofocus
In a thoroughly unsurprising turn of events, autofocus is much improved on Sony as compared to the Fuji X-mount version of the lens. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM utilizes a lead-screw type stepping focus motor (STM) that makes fast and definitely quiet focus changes. Focus felt silent unless I put my ear up next to the barrel, where I could hear some very light whirring during major focus changes. Focus speed is much faster than on Fuji, with both indoor and outdoor focus changes coming near instantly. I was much more confident shooting action on the E-mount version than I ever was on X-mount.
I was able to track Nala successfully though an extended burst sequence. This isn’t fast movement, but the persistent movement of coming towards the camera seems to be quite challenging for certain lenses. In this sequence of 40 images I had consistently good focus right through to the final frame.
I was able to successfully nail focus on bees even when in flight.
I also had easier success tracking birds in flight, particularly gulls soaring around Wasaga Beach, Canada.
Bottom line is that the E-mount version is much more flexible in terms of the types of subjects that you can take on with lens. Where I didn’t feel like the X-mount was well suited for action, the E-mount version (and Sony’s superior AF system) makes action much more of a possibility.
Clearly autofocus for less challenging subjects is pretty effortless. Point and shoot.
I tested low light focus on the ZV-E10 II at its maximum of ISO 32,000, and while I wasn’t overly impressed by the amount noise in the JPEG image, I can attest that the autofocus was no problem.
Video focus pulls were 100% better on Sony, with smooth and positive focus transitions from one subject to another even in a challenging situation. Focus breathing is fairly low as well.
My hand test went great, as transitions from my hand to my eye and back were smooth and confident, and the speed of focus pulls was much better on Sony.
Real world focus transitions in video were solid. Focus was fairly solid and stable, and transitions from one subject to another weren’t jumpy or abrupt, though they weren’t particularly cinematic, either. Here’s a still from one of those transitions.
Bottom line is that autofocus performance was pretty fantastic for a lens that costs well under $200.
Viltrox AF 57mm F1.7 Image Quality
The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 has an optical design of 11 elements in nine groups. What’s surprising in such an inexpensive lens is how many of these are exotic elements. There are four ED (extra-low dispersion) elements along with an additional 3 HR (high refractive index) elements, leaving just four of those elements being ordinary ones. We’ve previously noted how good the MTF chart for this bargain lens looks:
All of this adds up to a lens that is punching above its weight class optically, and thus has no issues handling the 26MP resolution limit currently available on Sony E-mount APS-C cameras. The 56mm F1.7E has no problem filling the frame with detail.
This shot was taken on the 26MP APS-C mode of the full frame a7RV, and you can see that even if we sample the lower corner that the image is full of detail.
The fact that E-mount lenses can also be used on full frame cameras allows to take a look at how much of the full frame sensor this lens covers. This is not a “stealth” full frame lens; you will see a lot of hard, mechanical vignette where the full frame sensor is not covered.
That being said, when I cropped out the hard, mechanical vignette, I did have about 36MP of resolution left over, so you can get a little extra flexibility there if you don’t mind doing a few additional steps.
We’ll work through the chart results by first looking at distortion and vignette. The lens clears this hurdle largely unscathed, as there is minimal distortion, and (as is typically the case), there is less distortion on Sony than on Fuji (for some reason!)
I used a-2 to correct a tiny bit of pincushion distortion, though for portrait work you probably don’t want to correct that (a bit of pincushion distortion is flattering). Vignette required a +41 to correct (2 stops, or about one less than on Fuji), though it is fairly linear and largely “works” for portraits, creating a natural vignette that draws the eye to the subject. You can see in this comparison that the left side is profile corrected and the right is uncorrected. I personally favor the uncorrected result.
The 56mm F1.7 shows very low amounts of longitudinal chromatic aberrations. Fringing is well corrected, leaving very little fringing on either my test results:
…but more importantly on real world results. On this bright white blossom there is minimal fringing on the edge transitions or in the defocused areas.
Lateral Chromatic Aberrations usually show up along the edges of the frame as fringing on either side of high contrast areas (like bare branches framed at the edge of images), but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here. You can see a nice, neutral transition from black to white on the corners of my test chart.
I also didn’t spot any issues in real world results.
So how about resolution and contrast? All chart tests done on the APS-C mode on my a7RV (26MP) using a tripod and a two second timer. Here’s a look at my test chart:
And here are the crops (at 200% magnification) from the center, mid-frame, and extreme corner at F1.7:
We see here what the MTF chart suggested. Peak sharpness is actually slightly off center (more in our mid-frame image – the blue bill), while corner results are unusually good for this type of lens. This is a remarkably even performance in a way that I rarely see in lenses and almost never in budget lenses. To put that edge performance in perspective, here’s a look at the Sirui Sniper 56mm F1.2 stopped down to F1.8 on Fuji:
And the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7E has no problems in the real world, either. Here’s an F1.7 shot with a 100% crop that shows great detail.
I suspected that this lens would look great on 26MP after I tested it at the 40MP level on Fuji, and that proves very true. Real world images have a lot of punch and detail and feel like they have come off a much more expensive lens.
Stopping down to F2 showed slightly more contrast, with a bit more coming at F2.8.
I also found that centering was excellent, with equal results in all four corners…and those results are excellent.
Stopping on down to landscape apertures doesn’t increase detail much further, but that’s only because it is already excellent by F2.8. Landscape images look great, however.
As per usual, diffraction will start to show up by F11 and will become more pronounced even on this lower resolution point by the minimum aperture of F16:
Skin tones are warm but natural, creating nice looking portrait results. While the difference isn’t obvious, I did prefer shooting at F2 to F1.7 for portrait work as I felt there was more variation in the highlights and shadows on my subject’s faces due to that slight improvement in contrast.
If you’re looking for a budget portrait lens for APS-C E-mount, this is clearly a nice contender.
I also found that colors in general looked good.
Landscape colors looked great, too. That’s huge, as my chief objection to early Viltrox lenses is that I didn’t love the colors from their optical glass. They have grown so much as a lensmaker, and it is apparent even in these budget lenses.
Obviously the amount of sharpness this inexpensive lens is capable of is nothing short of impressive.
I was also fairly pleased with the quality of bokeh. On the negative front, you can see that there is some of the typical deformation of the circular shape of specular highlights near the edges of the frame (lemon shape):
I did find that there was more outlining than on high end lenses, but overall the quality of the bokeh was pretty decent.
I found that bokeh at portrait distances was generally favorable – soft and without any hard edges to grab the attention.
The subject isolation isn’t going to match an F1.2 or F1.4 lens, obviously, but the quality of the blur is nice.
At close focus distances, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 produces lovely, blurred backgrounds, like in this shot of its attractive competitor – the TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8:
Flare resistance was also fairly good for a short telephoto lens. I saw so mild ghosting artifacts when point right at the sun, but nothing significant. I also tried moving around to get some veiling at large apertures, and the final result is the worst result I could get…and it’s not bad!
This inexpensive lens houses some very impressive optics. There aren’t too many flaws here.
If you’re on a tight budget and want a portrait lens, look no further. The bang for the buck here is fantastic. This lens feels as compelling as many lenses that I’ve reviewed costing 2-3 times as much. You can see more beautiful images by visiting the image gallery here.
Conclusion
I’ve been surprised by how engaging I have found these budget Viltrox lenses. I love their new higher end lenses with the amazing optics and premium feature set, but there’s also a lot to be said for lightweight, inexpensive lenses that exceed your expectations for their performance. These lenses have tapped into the same fondness I feel for lenses like Samyang’s Tiny series in that there is always a bit more than meets the eye there.
The Viltrox 56mm F1.7E was a very nice match for a compact camera like the ZV-E10II, adding very little weight or bulk, but I also liked it as a lightweight telephoto to throw in the bag with a full frame camera to get that 85mm angle of view with a very small lens.
Because the lens is sharp from corner to corner wide open, it was also a great little lens to carry when the sun went down. You can shoot with impunity at F1.7, and still get sharp, high detailed images. And because I had a clear idea of what to expect in the build, I have no disappointments there. While there’s nothing fancy here, the lens feels tough and well made. The optics exceeded my expectations in just about every way, and on Sony the autofocus is now excellent. But this is a LOT of lens for the price of under $180 USD, and I think this is a great budget portrait option for Sony shooters who don’t want to spend a lot. It’s also one of the sharpest budget lenses I’ve ever tested. That’s impressive, and is just one more reason why Viltrox as a brand may be the biggest disrupter that the lens market has seen in a long time.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF 56mm, Viltrox 56mm, AF, 56mm, F1.7, f/1.7, STM, APS-C, Review, Sony a6700, Sony ZV-E10 II, Sony a7RV, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Photography, let the light in, weathersealing, #letthelightin, DA
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I am extremely excited about Viltrox’s move towards premium lenses, like their upcoming LAB series and existing PRO lineup, but Viltrox is too clever a company to get locked into just one end of the market. Perhaps equally important to their development of higher end lenses is their development plans on the other end of the spectrum, where they are leveraging their growing optical expertise into high performing budget lenses. Ironically Viltrox has, from the beginning, built fairly premium feeling lenses. They have always been made primarily from metal, which feel nice but adds a bit of weight. So for Viltrox the transition to using plastic as the material for these new series of lenses was an intentional one.
The series began with the very useful AF 20mm F2.8 full frame lens (which I reviewed here), an extremely light, extremely inexpensive, but surprisingly strong optical instrument. They have announced a similar 40mm F2.5 STM full frame lens that is yet to come, but in the meantime their next lens in this series is the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM lens being released for Fujifilm X-mount. Fuji’s new XF 56mm F1.2 WR is a gorgeous lens, but it retails for a $1000 USD. This Viltrox lens will retail for under $150 USD (buy from Viltrox and use the code DUSTINABBOTT to get 8% more off!), meaning that you could buy nearly 7 of these lenses for the price of the Fuji. That makes it an attractive option for those who want this focal length but have a tight budget. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below…or just keep reading.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV along with the Sony Alpha 1 that serve as my benchmark cameras for Sony lenses along with the Sony a7C2 that I happened to be reviewing at the same time.
Viltrox already has an existing autofocusing 56mm F1.4 APS-C lens (my review here) that they released in 2020, but that lens is heavier (290g) and more expensive ($299 USD) relative to this new lens. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 has a slightly slower aperture (one half stop), lacks an aperture ring, but compensates in part by being extremely sharp. In fact, if you look at this chart I’ve made comparing the MTF from the two lenses, you can see that I’ve put a line through the 80% level. None of the performance of the older lens (at least at 30LPmm) reaches that threshold, while there is only the tiniest part of the image of the new lens that fall below that.
There is 15% more image sharpness in the center of the frame and and more than 20% more in the midframe. The corners are more like 40% sharper! This is going to be a very sweet bargain portrait lens. 56mm on Fuji’s 1.5x crop APS-C sensor translates to 84mm, a prime portrait focal length.
This tells us all we need to know about who this new lens is for: much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. And this lens is incredibly compact – look how compact it is when compared to the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR and the yet-to-be-released TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8 (another impressive little lens!)
The Viltrox is going to need all of that sharpness for this test, as they are first releasing this lens on Fuji X-mount, which means that I’ll be reviewing it on the most demanding platform I currently test, Fuji’s 40MP X-Trans APS-C sensor in the Fujifilm X-H2. Is this the rare budget lens that can handle this sensor? We’ll find out together.
Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 Build and Handling
The first thing to note is the slightly unusual maximum aperture value. Similar lenses are going to be F1.8, not F1.7, but I like this move as it sets the lens apart and gives it a small but real advantage over F1.8 lenses. F1.8 is 2/3rds of a stop slower than F1.4, while F1.7 is 1/2 half stop slower. When swapping between this F1.7 lens and another lens with a maximum aperture of F1.8, I found that the Viltrox produced a 1/35th second shutter speed vs 1/30th second for the F1.8 lens. That’s not a lot of extra light gathering but it is something.
As noted, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 eschews the heavier metal casing typically used for Viltrox lenses and embraces a more conventional, lightweight design in polycarbonates (engineered plastics). I wouldn’t call the build high grade here, but what I can say is that nothing about the plastics feel flimsy. It doesn’t have the feel of the early Samyang Tiny series lenses but instead feels tough and durable; its the kind of lens that feels like it could survive some falls (not that I intentionally dropped it!)
The new AF 56mm F1.7 is extremely compact, only 65mm in diameter (2.6″) and 54.7mm in length (2.15″). It weighs only 171g (6oz). You can see that while far from being a pancake lens, this lens only extends out a little way mounted on the camera.
This is a lens that is small enough to match even the smallest of Fuji’s cameras.
Up front we have a 52mm filter thread, which is a small but relatively common filter size. The front of the lens fascia has a variety of information imprinted on it and has a classic profile. I’m a fan of having some lens information on the front fascia, as I feel it adds character to the lens.
There is a very slim lens hood included that bayonets into place but without as much precision and confidence as I would like. It doesn’t feel like it really “clicks” into place and locks particularly well. A lens pouch is also included. The pouch doesn’t add a lot of protection value, but, like the hood, at least it is included. There are many more expensive lenses that include neither a pouch or a hood.
This inexpensive series is set apart from most of Viltrox’s lenses in that there is no aperture ring in the design. There are no switches, either. The only feature on the lens barrel is a wide manual focus ring. The manual focus ring has a nice amount of damping and moves smoothly. All manual focus aids (including automatic magnification of the focus area) will work with the Viltrox, though, as per usual on Fuji, major focus changes will take a lot of rotations, so manual focus is better reserved for fine tuning.
The Viltrox AF 56mm has 9 blades in its aperture iris. The blades do a very reasonable job of maintaining a circular shape as the aperture is stopped down. When stopped down far enough, an 18 bladed sunstar will emerge, though it isn’t particularly well defined.
We have an important Viltrox standard in the form of a USB-C port on the metal lens mount that allows you to connect the lens to a computer and update the firmware directly. The firmware update process is very simple; just unzip the upgrade folder, drag the firmware update file to the folder that shows up when the lens is attached to the computer, and the update is done in seconds.
The Viltrox AF 56mm has a minimum focus distance of 55cm, which unfortunately isn’t particularly close and only produces a 0.11x magnification, which is a little lower than average for the class. Here’s what that looks like:
Fuji’s newest 56mm F1.2 WR and the Sigma 56mm F1.4 DN can focus as closely as 50cm and give a better 0.14x magnification, though the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.4 focuses only as closely as 60cm and produces a lower 0.10x, while the older Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 focuses only as closely as 70cm and produces an even lower 0.09x magnification. So if the new Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7’s magnification is low, it is not exceptionally so. You certainly won’t be able to do any “macro” work with it, but you can certainly get close enough to strongly blur out a background.
While some Viltrox lenses have started to come with weather sealing, this inexpensive 56mm lens does not have it. It does have a HD Nano multilayer coating with water-resistant and antifouling coating on the front element.
Though short on bells and whistles, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 does excel in one key area: it is very compact and lightweight. And while there aren’t any special features, the lens feels sturdy and well made. As I noted in the intro, this is a lens designed for a specific market, and I feel like Viltrox has made the right choices in order to give us a functional lens that at the same time is extremely inexpensive.
Viltrox AF 57mm F1.7 STM Autofocus
The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM utilizes a lead-screw type stepping focus motor (STM) that makes for reasonably fast and definitely quiet focus changes. Focus felt silent unless I put my ear up next to the barrel, where I could hear some very light whirring during major focus changes. Focus speed is slightly below average, particularly indoors, though the lens sped up a bit outside. There are some obvious steps (howbeit rapid ones) from this particular stepping motor during significant focus changes. I noticed focus speed far less in normal work where it’s rare to go from close to distant all the time. More minor focus changes happen fast enough that it didn’t stand out.
If focus speed is a bit disappointing (at least on Fuji), fortunately accuracy is not. I had good success locking onto a variety of subjects, up to and including portrait work. I shot two portrait sessions with the AF 56mm F1.7, and was very happy with my results from both. In the first session (primarily shot in a forest setting), I prioritized shooting through layers of boughs and branches to create natural frames for my subject, and autofocus had no problem locking accurately on what I wanted (the model’s eyes) rather than any of the distractions.
In the second setting, the setting was less complicated, but I did shoot at a number of focus distances and as my subject moved through a variety of different poses. Focus was excellent throughout the series.
I wouldn’t recommend the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 if your goal is shooting fast action, but for portrait work this lens is a HUGE bargain, delivering accurately focused results…and the lens optically is very, very nice:
This lens should be fine if you’re doing event, general purpose, or portrait work, but if you are looking for a lens fast enough to keep up with young children or animals moving around, look elsewhere.
Video AF is also a mixed bag. Focus pulls are rather unimpressive. They aren’t fast, and there is some obvious stepping in the process. This is very different from what I saw on Sony with the AF 20mm F2.8 lens, so at least part of this is the nature of Fuji’s video AF, which is a fair bit behind what I see on Sony and Canon. I was also testing the new Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR, and focus pulls, if anything, were worse.
My hand test was also a mixed bag, as while transitions from my hand to my eye and back were smoother and more confident, the slow reaction time meant that at least one of those transitions was missed altogether because the transition had already passed.
But ironically this was a positive for some real world shots where I moved slowly from one subject to another. Rather than an abrupt transitions, the focus transitions were actually fairly cinematic, moving smoothly and gradually from one subject to another. This is helped by focus breathing being fairly low for this long of a focal length, so this also helps keep you “in the shot”. Here’s a still from one of those transitions.
So, as with stills, choose this lens for accuracy over speed. There are faster options for focus speed at this focal length, but for slower work it will get the job done, and I suspect that future versions for other mounts will probably sport a little more speed.
Viltrox AF 57mm F1.7 Image Quality
The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 has an optical design of 11 elements in nine groups. What’s surprising in such an inexpensive lens is how many of these are exotic elements. There are four ED (extra-low dispersion) elements along with an additional 3 HR (high refractive index) elements, leaving just four of those elements being ordinary ones. We’ve previously noted how good the MTF chart for this bargain lens looks:
All of this adds up to a lens that is punching above its weight class optically, which is important, as the 40MP Fujifilm X-H2 is the most demanding sensor for lens performance of any platform that I test.
We’ll work through the chart results by first looking at distortion and vignette. The lens clears this hurdle largely unscathed, as there is minimal distortion, and, while vignette is a bit heavier, it isn’t extreme.
I used a-3 to correct a tiny bit of pincushion distortion, though for portrait work you probably don’t want to correct that (a bit of pincushion distortion is flattering). Vignette required a +75 to correct (3 stops), though it is fairly linear and largely “works” for portraits, creating a natural vignette that draws the eye to the subject. You can see in this comparison that the left side is profile corrected and the right is uncorrected. I personally favor the uncorrected result.
I sort images to my two card slots in my camera, with RAW files going to a CFExpress Type B card and JPEGs going to the SD card. This allows me to have both a backup and a frame of reference in situations like this, as I was curious as to whether or not this Viltrox lens is getting in-camera corrections on Fuji. The answer seems to be “yes”, with the JPEG showing far less vignette than the uncorrected RAW file.
There is a RAW correction profile available, and while I think it leaves a bit more vignette than what I would like, it largely matches the look of the JPEG image above.
The 56mm F1.7 shows very low amounts of longitudinal chromatic aberrations. Fringing is well corrected, leaving very little fringing on either my test results:
…but more importantly on real world results. Look at how neutral the inside and edge of this very shiny light reflector is – next to no fringing.
Lateral Chromatic Aberrations usually show up along the edges of the frame as fringing on either side of high contrast areas (like bare branches framed at the edge of images), but that doesn’t seem to be an issue here. You can see a nice, neutral transition from black to white on the corners of my test chart.
I also didn’t spot any issues in real world results, and my high resolution X-H2 would certainly show them off if they were there!
So how about resolution and contrast? All chart tests done with a Fujifilm X-H2 (40MP) using a tripod and a two second timer. Here’s a look at my test chart:
And here are the crops (at roughly 170% magnification) from the center, mid-frame, and extreme corner at F1.7:
We see here what the MTF chart suggested. Peak sharpness is actually slightly off center (more in our mid-frame image – the blue bill), while corner results are unusually good for this type of lens. This is a remarkably even performance in a way that I rarely see in lenses and almost never in budget lenses. To put that edge performance in perspective, here’s a look at the Sirui Sniper 56mm F1.2 stopped down to F1.8:
A more similarly priced lens is the soon-to-be-released TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8, and while the TTArtisan lens is competitive in the center of frame, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 is much sharper in the mid-frame and corners. Here’s a look at the mid-frame comparison:
In real world images wide open contrast isn’t flawless in the way a lens like the Viltrox Pro AF 75mm F1.2 is, at least on Fuji’s 40MP APS-C sensor, but I suspect it would be on 26MP sensors from Fuji or Sony. Even on 40MP, however, results look great:
This becomes the new champ for the least expensive way to take full advantage of resolving this taxing sensor and will leave most of Fuji’s older lens catalog in the dust (including the older XF 56mm F1.2). The new Fujifilm XF 56mm F1.2 WR is sharper and higher contrast in the center of the frame (at F1.8), but the Viltrox actually has the slight edge in the mid-frame and corners. It’s a very impressive lens.
The Viltrox clearly can’t compare to the Fuji in build, features, and autofocus speed (not to mention it doesn’t have F1.2), but when both lenses are stopped down a bit to F2, it is shocking how comparable they are for portrait work in both overall rendering and color…
…and also for contrast, detail, and skin tones.
This is probably the most impressive budget portrait lens on Fuji X-mount.
In my chart tests, I saw little advantage in stopping down a bit, but in real world results I did feel that contrast improved, allowing the details to pop a bit more:
While the difference isn’t obvious, I did prefer shooting at F2 to F1.7 for portrait work as I felt there was more variation in the highlights and shadows on my subject’s faces due to that slight improvement in contrast.
Centering wasn’t perfect on my copy, with the results on the left side of the frame being slightly softer than the right side. Sharpness on the left side picked up as I stopped the lens down, with peak consistency across the frame coming at F5.6. By this point I found landscape images were sharp across the frame (my second crop is from the left side):
On a high resolution body like my X-H2, diffraction comes early, so while F8 still looks as good as F5.6, by F11 you will see some softening of the fine details due to diffraction, and by F16 (minimum aperture) the image is considerably softer.
Obviously the amount of sharpness this inexpensive lens is capable of is nothing short of impressive.
I was also fairly pleased with the quality of bokeh. On the negative front, you can see that there is some of the typical deformation of the circular shape of specular highlights near the edges of the frame (lemon shape):
But that does produce a bit of a “swirl” effect at F1.7 than some people are partial to:
I found that bokeh at portrait distances was generally favorable – soft and without any hard edges to grab the attention.
The subject isolation isn’t going to match an F1.2 or F1.4 lens, obviously, but the quality of the blur is nice.
To give you some perspective, here’s another comparison to the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR with both lenses wide open. At a casual glance, the difference is not astranomical.
But if you look closer, the quality and softness of the blur out of the out-of-focus areas is significantly different.
The result on the right is what you pay the big bucks for, and that difference is going to be even more pronounced in less favorable situations where the background is closer.
At close focus distances, the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 produces lovely, blurred backgrounds, like in this shot of its attractive competitor – the TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8:
What really surprised me in the comparisons with the very expensive Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR is how similar the colors looked. I’ve been working on my review of that lens, and I love the color and look of images from it. I traveled to Myrtle Beach with it along with three standard zoom options (Sigma 18-50mm F2.8, Fuji 18-55mm F2.8-4, and the Fuji 16-55mm F2.8). There’s no question that the images from the 56mm F1.2 had an extra “sparkle” to them that I instinctively preferred. The Viltrox is almost certainly not as good as the Fuji, but in my side by side portrait sessions I was surprised by how well the Viltrox held up.
That’s huge, as my chief objection to early Viltrox lenses is that I didn’t love the colors from their optical glass. They have grown so much as a lensmaker, and it is apparent even in these budget lenses.
Flare resistance was also fairly good for a short telephoto lens. I saw so mild ghosting artifacts when point right at the sun, but nothing significant. I also tried moving around to get some veiling at large apertures, and the final result is the worst result I could get…and it’s not bad!
This inexpensive lens houses some very impressive optics. There aren’t too many flaws here.
If you’re on a tight budget and want a portrait lens, look no further. The bang for the buck here is fantastic. This lens feels as compelling as many lenses that I’ve reviewed costing 2-3 times as much. You can see more beautiful images by visiting the image gallery here.
Conclusion
I’ve been surprised by how engaging I have found these budget Viltrox lenses. I love their new higher end lenses with the amazing optics and premium feature set, but there’s also a lot to be said for lightweight, inexpensive lenses that exceed your expectations for their performance. These lenses have tapped into the same fondness I feel for lenses like Samyang’s Tiny series in that there is always a bit more than meets the eye there.
While I’ve reviewed the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM on one of Fuji’s largest bodies, this is a lens that will be a great match for Fuji’s smaller bodies, particularly those equipped with IBIS (like X-S10 or X-S20). It will have no problem resolving that smaller 26MP sensor and delivering stunning results.
Because I had a clear idea of what to expect in the build, I have no disappointments there. While there’s nothing fancy here, the lens feels tough and well made. The optics exceeded my expectations in just about every way, leaving only the autofocus as being a bit less than expected. Some of that clearly has to do with this being a Fuji X-mount lens, as Fuji’s autofocus just isn’t as sophisticated as some competitors. I hope to revisit a Sony E-mount version of the lens when released, as I suspect that will be more impressive. But this is a LOT of lens for the price of under $150 USD, and I think this is a great budget portrait option for Fuji shooters who don’t want to spend a lot. It’s also the lowest priced lens I’ve yet tested that really thrived on Fuji’s demanding 40MP sensor. That’s impressive, and is just one more reason why Viltrox as a brand may be the biggest disrupter that the lens market has seen in a long time.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 56mm F1.7, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, Fujifilm, Fuji X-T5, X-S20, Full Frame, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I am extremely excited about Viltrox’s move towards premium lenses, like their upcoming LAB series and existing PRO lineup, but Viltrox is too clever a company to get locked into just one end of the market. Perhaps equally important to their development of higher end lenses is their development plans on the other end of the spectrum, where they are leveraging their growing optical expertise into high performing budget lenses. Ironically Viltrox has, from the beginning, built fairly premium feeling lenses. They have always been made primarily from metal, which feel nice but adds a bit of weight. So for Viltrox the transition to using plastic as the material for these new series of lenses was an intentional one.
The series began with the very useful AF 20mm F2.8 full frame lens (which I reviewed here), an extremely light, extremely inexpensive, but surprisingly strong optical instrument. They have announced a similar 40mm F2.5 STM full frame lens that is yet to come, but in the meantime their next lens in this series is the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 STM lens being released for Fujifilm X-mount. Fuji’s new XF 56mm F1.2 WR is a gorgeous lens, but it retails for a $1000 USD. This Viltrox lens will retail for under $140 USD (buy from Viltrox and use the code DUSTINABBOTT to get 8% more off!), meaning that you could buy nearly 7 of these lenses for the price of the Fuji. That makes it an attractive option for those who want this focal length but have a tight budget. Is it worth checking out? Find out my thoughts by watching the video review below or by reading my text review here.
Thanks to Viltrox for sending me a review loaner of this lens. As always, this is a completely independent review. *The tests and most of the photos that I share as a part of my review cycle have been done with the Sony a7RV along with the Sony Alpha 1 that serve as my benchmark cameras for Sony lenses along with the Sony a7C2 that I happened to be reviewing at the same time.
Viltrox already has an existing autofocusing 56mm F1.4 APS-C lens (my review here) that they released in 2020, but that lens is heavier (290g) and more expensive ($299 USD) relative to this new lens. The Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7 has a slightly slower aperture (one half stop), lacks an aperture ring, but compensates in part by being extremely sharp. In fact, if you look at this chart I’ve made comparing the MTF from the two lenses, you can see that I’ve put a line through the 80% level. None of the performance of the older lens (at least at 30LPmm) reaches that threshold, while there is only the tiniest part of the image of the new lens that fall below that.
There is 15% more image sharpness in the center of the frame and and more than 20% more in the midframe. The corners are more like 40% sharper! This is going to be a very sweet bargain portrait lens. 56mm on Fuji’s 1.5x crop APS-C sensor translates to 84mm, a prime portrait focal length.
This tells us all we need to know about who this new lens is for: much like Samyang’s “Tiny series”, this lens is for those who don’t care about bells and whistles and just want a lightweight, high performing lens. And this lens is incredibly compact – look how compact it is when compared to the Fuji XF 56mm F1.2 WR and the yet-to-be-released TTArtisan AF 56mm F1.8 (another impressive little lens!)
The Viltrox is going to need all of that sharpness for this test, as they are first releasing this lens on Fuji X-mount, which means that I’ll be reviewing it on the most demanding platform I currently test, Fuji’s 40MP X-Trans APS-C sensor in the Fujifilm X-H2. Is this the rare budget lens that can handle this sensor? We’ll find out together.
Keywords: Viltrox, Viltrox AF, Viltrox 56mm, Viltrox 56mm F1.7, 56mm, F1.7, STM, AF, Fuji X-H2, Fujifilm, Fuji X-T5, X-S20, Full Frame, Review, Review, Hands On, Dustin Abbott, Real World, Comparison, Sharpness, Bokeh, Flare Resistance, Autofocus, Image Quality, Sample Images, Video, Portrait, #viltrox, #letthelightin, #viltroxAF1756, #DA
DISCLAIMER: This article and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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