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Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE: one-minute evaluate
It’s not typically {that a} lens grabs you by the scruff of the neck and calls for consideration, however that’s precisely what the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE does. This unassuming lens, which doesn’t profit from Viltrox’s Professional or LAB sequence labels, is without doubt one of the most spectacular lenses I’ve utilized in a very long time. It’s not the very best, it’s not the most costly, however it’s unbelievably spectacular for a number of causes.
That’s a daring assertion if ever I’ve made one; however this lens, which is ideal for landscapes and astrophotography, is extremely well-priced, produces wonderful picture high quality, and presents professional-level construct high quality and options. How Viltrox has managed to tug off making a lens of this high quality at this worth level is past me.
The Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE prices simply $464 / £533 / AU$899, which is an unimaginable worth for such a well-built, weather-sealed lens providing skilled efficiency and wonderful picture high quality. Sony‘s personal Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G is a direct competitor, and it prices a whopping $848 / £849 / AU$1,799, so the Viltrox undoubtedly presents wonderful worth for cash – and the Viltrox is a far superior lens in nearly each approach, regardless of being bigger and heavier than the Sony.
What’s extra, the Sony model depends closely on lens corrections, whereas the Viltrox is optically wonderful with out the necessity for corrections. I admire that many fashionable lenses depend on lens corrections to realize their wonderful picture high quality (and compact dimension), however you merely can’t beat near-perfect photos when it comes to sharpness, distortion, and aberrations straight out of digital camera.
The Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 is without doubt one of the best Sony lenses designed for full-frame cameras, plus it is usually out there for Nikon Z mount. There is not any phrase on future variations but, similar to for L-mount.
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Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE specs
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Kind: |
Vast-angle prime |
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Mount: |
Sony E / Nikon Z |
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Sensor: |
Full-frame |
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Focal size: |
16mm |
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Max aperture: |
f/1.8 |
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Minimal focus: |
10.6 inches / 27cm |
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Filter dimension: |
77mm |
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Dimensions: |
3.35 x4.06 inches / 85.2 x 103mm |
|
Weight: |
19.4oz / 550g |
Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE: Design
- Compact but heavy design
- Climate sealed
- Glorious dealing with
We’ve already coated the worth of this lens, and also you’d usually count on construct high quality to take a success at such a aggressive worth level, however that is actually not the case right here. The 16mm f/1.8 options an all-metal physique and weather-sealing, giving it an undeniably premium feel and look. That is emphasised additional by the colour digital display that shows lens info – extra about that later.
The 16mm f/1.8 is sort of a hefty beast when it comes to weight as a consequence of its building at 19.4oz / 550g, however it’s pretty compact at 3.35 x 4.06 inches / 85.2 x 103mm, and balances nicely with Sony full-frame and APS-C mirrorless cameras.
That is in distinction to the Sony FE 16mm f/1.8 G, which is way smaller and lighter at 2.91 x 2.95 inches / 73.8 x 75mm with a weight of 10.7oz / 304g, however it’s an optically inferior lens alongside being far more costly.
That building includes 15 components in 12 teams, together with 4 ED glass and three aspherical lenses. The optical design goals to ship sharpness, element and excessive distinction whereas minimizing distortion, and it achieves this as we’ll focus on within the efficiency part.
The entrance aspect is customary in its design reasonably than bulbous, which is nice, and it options an HD Nano multilayer coating together with water resistant antifouling coatings.
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The filter thread is 77mm, which is common for wide-angle lenses, which generally vary from 67mm to 82mm. This implies you need to use each round and sq. filters for astrophotography and panorama images.
The minimal focusing distance of the lens is 10.6 inches / 27cm, which is nice for panorama photographers who wish to use focus stacking to realize pin-sharp photos from entrance to again.
When it comes to controls, you get a pleasant large manual-focusing ring, a guide aperture ring that may be set to stepped or stepless operation through the swap on one facet of the lens, two customizable Fn buttons and an AF/MF swap.
There’s additionally a USB-C port on the lens mount to be able to join it to the Viltrox Lens app through Bluetooth to replace firmware, customise the Fn buttons, and customise the digital display’s welcome display.
Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE: Efficiency
- Implausible picture high quality
- Spectacular sharpness at f/1.8
- Glorious nook sharpness
This can be a quick and large prime, which implies it has wonderful light-gathering capabilities for astrophotography. The mix of such a large subject of view and a quick f/1.8 aperture attract big quantities of sunshine.
After all, f/1.4 can be higher, however that will require the lens to be a lot bigger and heavier. The focal size can also be nice for landscapes, which might profit drastically from the picture high quality the 16mm f/1.8 is able to producing.
The picture high quality produced by this lens is unbelievable, with wonderful sharpness throughout the body, even within the corners, large open at f/1.8. This aperture produces probably the most vignetting as you’d count on; this nearly disappears as you cease right down to f/2.8 and is totally gone at f/4.
There’s an Adobe Lightroom Lens Profile that may take care of this and the tiny, just about negligible quantity of barrel distortion that’s current. There’s additionally solely minimal chromatic aberration, so that is an optically spectacular lens.
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Sharpness is nice large open and will increase incrementally as much as the candy spot of the lens, which is f/8. Sharpness drops barely at f/11, and at f/16 you start to see diffraction coming into play, and whereas f/16 is completely usable for panorama images, diffraction is simply too excessive at f/22, so this setting is greatest prevented.
The colour digital display is a function we’re seeing extra on Viltrox lenses, and it’s a singular and fairly neat function. It merely exhibits the main target distance, aperture setting and the lively Fn management, and I discover it most helpful once I’ve manually targeted on some extent and wish to duplicate that focus distance shortly.
Autofocus isn’t the quickest. It takes the lens round 0.5 seconds to lock onto topics when stopped down, and about 0.25 seconds large open. This isn’t nice, however since it is a lens that you just wouldn’t usually use for motion topics, it’s not an enormous problem.
Autofocus is pushed by an SMT stepping motor, which is quiet however nearly audible. AF is completely high-quality for panorama images, whereas astrophotographers will solely use guide focus for exact specializing in stars.
Do you have to purchase the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE?
Purchase it if…
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How I examined the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE
- I examined the lens over a few months
- I used it to seize landscapes and astrophotography
- I examined it with a Sony A7R V
I examined the Viltrox AF 16mm f/1.8 FE over a number of weeks connected to an unforgiving Sony A7R V, taking pictures landscapes and astrophotography. I took photographs at a spread of aperture settings to check sharpness, distortion and aberrations.
I shot most photos merely to see how the lens carried out in numerous conditions, whereas others have been shot particularly to have the ability to examine the outcomes to these from different lenses.
With 30 years of photographic expertise and 17 years working as a images journalist, I’ve used most of the cameras and lenses which were launched in that point. As a working photographer, I goal to check cameras and lenses from a photographer’s viewpoint.