Viltrox has become a company that has earned the right to leapfrog Samyang as I believe they are the new standard for budget alternative lenses from first party manufacturers, sans Sigma/Tamron. On Fuji, I have the 13mm f/1.4 and the 75mm f/1.2 and they’re two of my absolute favorite lenses that I own. When I see them developing any lenses in the future, I will be watching closely and cheering them on for creating some really incredible stuff. Glad to see they’ve created such a great lens for E-Mount. Eager to see the 27mm f/1.4 they’re rumored to be developing for Fuji.
Canon screwed me with the FD > EF transition all those years ago. Since then, I've collected a few used bodies and lenses at super cheap prices, but will never buy ANY new Canon hardware. The RF mount debacle does not surprise me! :(
I've got goosebumps looking at the test pictures. It's simply superb. Not to mention the physical features it has. Does Viltrox make any money from this at all?
Off course they are making money , the other producers simply robbing people, I can`t believe how ridiculous pricing on Canon RF lenses . simply outrageous
This lens seems to offer excellent quality for a great price which ironically makes the likes of Canon even less likely to allow it to be available for their RF mount. Folk are prepared to pay more for OEM lenses because they are generally the best. When you have a 3rd party lens manufacturer producing lenses like this for such a relatively low cost its hard to imagine even the OEM being able to match it optically and even less likely they could do so at anywhere near the same price! It's little wonder Canon would rather such options were not available really lol.
Yeah i have it too and it makes me doubt if i want to buy it. This one comes to same category lenses line which i like 16-35 f2.8 (which i have), 20mm f1.8 (which i also have)
Chinese Lens manufacturers during early 2010 took advantage of the manual focus capabilities (focus magnification, focus peaking etc) of mirrorless cameras which didnt exist with dSLR technology. A new market started of manual focus lenses with decent optical quality and very low prices. That gave them profits and experience and now their next move is the autofocus area. Of course contrary to other camera manufacturers Sony is very open with its autofocus technology and that is appreciated. canon has a different policy. The firmware updates of Canon mirroless cameras doesn't allow third party autofocus lenses.
I think m gonna buy this as soon its available. I somehow like colors of viltrox lenses, My 85mm F1.8 produce colors that i feel best as per my liking. My Tamron 28-200 produce slighly warm tones.
I just bought my canon and despite loving it, i am now regreting my choice, only because of the amount of available lenses for Sony. Everytime i plan to get a new lens i see how difficult it is to choose a lens without getting bankrupt :(
Viltrox is really doing a home run! Great to know this coming to Z mount soon. Nikon users definetely need this , considering the nearest alternate is 20mm 1.8 S, it's a stellar glass, but not wide enough.
Fortunately, the lens is also released for Nikon Z. I am already very excited. As always a great video, Chris :). And I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw where you took pictures. Was just three weeks in Wales and was lucky enough to visit and photograph the cathedral in St. David :). Was just totally blown away when I recognize for the first time in the years I watch your videos where some of the shots were taken, I was not aware before
Not very often I see an advert or a review where I go out and purchase the item without needing or wanting it, well when I watched this review and seen the image quality tests I knew I had to get this lens. I saved up some money and got lens, it arrived today so I done my own tests and it lives up to the hype and is as good as the sample in this review, very happy I didn't comprise and get the Sony 20mm F1.8.
Looks like excellent value for money. I sometimes find my Sony 20mm 1.8 G lens isn't quite wide enough, and wonder if 16mm would be a better fit for me. However, the Sony has excellent bokeh and a low minimum focus distance which can be a lot of fun.
I have the Viltrox and love it. I used to have the Sony 20mm and it was a very good lens. I think the advantage of the Sony was the faster and more accurate AF. Plus, being a native lens, you can shoot more frames per second. I just wasn't inspired by the 20mm or the character of the Sony, yet a wonderful lens.
The specs (it doesn't even weigh a ton), the performance, the price. It seems too good to be true, it feels like there should be a catch. Or is it actually more or less normal and I just got used to prices being unreasonably high?
Great job for viltrox on this one. Putting a rubber gasket on the new lens. Viltrox should put rubber gasket in all of their upcoming lenses. Even if the lens body is not weather sealed. This will be a good strategy.
¡Gran episodio! Gracias por todo el trabajo duro que pones en estos videos. El contenido informativo y entretenido es la razón principal por la que veo y disfruto de 📸
Very tasty and I can see it wining many friends. But what is service from Viltrox when things go wrong ? Please consider doing a video about that for Viltrox and other ‘new’ brands .😎
How does this compare with Samyang 18mm 2.8, was going to get that then this gem appeared. Though the Samyang is likely more lightweight and portable, the 1.8 and wider view is tempting.
The Samyang is a nice "throw-in-the-bag" travel lens, but quality-wise, the Viltrox is so much better. And even though the Viltrox is 2mm wider even has less distortion. I have both lenses. I use the Samyang in a super-light travel kit, but for a truly epic scene or events, I use the Viltrox. This doesn't mean the Samyang isn't sharp in the center, but the Viltrox is better and also sharper corner to corner.
There are a lot of great affordable lenses in the market but whats highly disappointing is the lack of rubber gaskets. I guess even if the lens body is not weather sealed, at least include some rubber gasket to add better protection to the camera. I could be missing something and maybe including a rubber gasket will add another cost but the additional cost is probably not that high and many people would buy more of these cheap lenses for their main cameras.
yep. I jumped onto Nikon a while back, waiting, waiting for the a74, no news of anything, went Nikon. kind of regret it, pretty bad AF. i shoot landscape and macro, but now I have a family, i shoot my girls, 50% always missing the eye w/ eyeAF. really pissing me off! i loved Nikon, untill I see what people are talking about.
It looks like the in-camera adjustments didn't do anything for the dark corners. Maybe there's a firmware or software update down the road that will fix the issue?
@@NavrajRajLostSouls Cool! I haven't seen any good comparison videos either. Some say that the samyang has a bad autofocus and has some problems with the contrast compared to the tamron. Is that true? Is the autofocus good for moving subjects? Is it good for a little sport? I have the samyang 14mm and 85mm and I'm happy with their quality. is the samyang 35mm-150 of similar quality?
It's strange that there is no L-mount version of it. At this rate, should we expect other camera brands to adopt E-mount? We are seeing some like those ultra-slomo cams. Also RED is using RF/EF mount and funnily blocking Canon from internal compressed RAW while at it.
Could you please include this in your review of camera lenses I noticed a couple of Cheaper Chinese lens and a couple of sony kit lenses do not focus to Infinity as in I cannot get any stars in focus when doing astrophotography I was out in Northern Manitoba Canada during the fall last year as I spend multiple hours trying to get Focus until I swap lenses to a Canon FD lens
This is why I left Canon who refuse to allow 3rd party companies to supply lenses for their cameras and want to lock canon users into their own lenses which are so overpriced. Well done Viltrox. Chris, please do a review on the new Viltrox 28mm 1.8 for Sony FE
Your detailed review is very helpful for me. However, in the lens geometry analysis, it seems to have too ideal distortion even in the non-correction mode. Is it possible for wide lens ? Please check distortion chart again.
Great video! Quick question, I got this lens and can't get a pc or mac to see it (I tried different wires). I am concerned that I won't be able to connect for firmware like I do my other Viltrox lenses. Have you had this issue? Thx. Keep up the great work
Between the viltrox 16mm and the sony 20mm which one would have a better deep focus and sharpness? As an example say a large event with groups of people with an aperture of f5.6 to f8. Paired with a sony A7RV for optimum resolution.
I only buy Zeiss and Leica Prime lenses due to the leaded glass however I also prefer Viltrox lenses over Sony or Canon lenses. No reason paying extra for Sony or Canon lenses when Viltrox uses the exact same compressed plastics methods for their lens elements.
Reasonable price, not too big nor heavy. Not FE 14GM alternative but it has its place. Maybe is just me, but mention RF 3rd party situation constantly is not going to change. And this becomes the usual bitxxing which is unnecessary. While Canon taking their time, why no one mentioned Nikon Z 3rd party lenses stagnates, and L mount is not getting anything outside of Panasonic-Sigma-Leica.
Nice review and lens..but too bad you didn't do apsc review. I considering to trade my sigma 16mm since it cant be use on full frame body but i have both system apsc and full frame Will you considering to review this lens on sony apsc next time sir? Please 🙏
how is the stabilization with cameras like the A7CII (active stabilization) and ZV-E1 (dynamic stabilization) vs. Sony lenses like the 16-35mm f2.8 GMII? And how does the autofocus compare for video in low light?
Guys, i consider buying viltrox 16 mm or sigma 16-28 2.8 for Real estate photos. Its written everywhere that for interiors the best option is zoom Lens, but cant i use prime 16 mm and crop it ? Looking forward for your opinions
Does the dynamic stabilisation work well on this lens, considering it isn't a native Sony lens? - Are you getting gimbal like smoothness when vlogging?
