You get what you pay for is a saying that many live by, but what about the Viltrox 23mm f/1.4? Many have enjoyed the affordable offerings out there from Chinese lens makers in recent years and most have not been disappointed by them. Sure there can be some disappointing aspects of these lenses like cheap plastic build quality, but companies like Laowa and more recently Viltrox have really stepped up their lineup. Below is a summary of the above video:
- Nothing makes you happier than getting a good photo while saving money
- You can get a great photo with a lens that costs thousands, but when you get great photos out of a few hundred dollar lenses there isn’t much to complain about
- 3rd parties are making some great glass now, but most were manual focus
- 3rd party AF lenses have been growing
- The resale value of 3rd party lenses do not tend to be great
- Fujifilm has a good cheap XC lineup, but they lack aperture rings and are very plasticy
- Viltrox is making their cheap lenses out of metal including the lens hood with an aperture ring
- Focuses really fast and is on par with Fujifilm’s 35mm f/1.4 and might actually focus faster
- Video AF was good enough
- It balances well
- The lens is pretty sharp at f/1.4 and gets sharper as you stop down
- Diffraction gets bad around f/16
- A little purple fringing sometimes
- Beautiful bokeh that gets a little footballish around the edges
- Personally would rather use the kit lens zoom for the versatility at 23mm
- No OIS
- Aperture ring of the Viltrox isn’t clickable so it is easy to bump it off f/1.4
- Viltrox minimum focus distance isn’t great
- Fujifilm XF23mm has slightly better color and contrast than Viltrox 23mm, but Viltrox Bokeh is a little more dreamy
- Viltrox isn’t beautiful shooting at the sun and flare gets bad
- Stepless aperture isn’t great even for video
- The Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 is a must-own
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VILTROX 23mm f/1.4: B&H Photo / Amazon
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