Sometimes I feel haunted by 50mm lenses! My first prime lens was a Pentax 50mm f/1.7, and later my first Nikon lens was the 50mm f/1.8G. Although I think 50mm is a little on the wide side for my style, my first Nikon Z lens was also a 50mm. So, when Viltrox offered to send me their new Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air lens for a review, I thought, why not? In this review, I’ll be putting this little 50mm to the test on the Nikon Z6.
Features
The Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air provides an interesting and inexpensive alternative to first-party 50mm lenses. Yes, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 S and Nikon 50mm f/1.4 are pretty awesome lenses, but they both weigh a touch over 400 grams. Not the heaviest lenses around, but I missed the days of my older 50mm f/1.8g at 185 grams. Although this F-mount classic was a bit softer than the Nikon Z glass, it was a small lens that was sharp stopped down.
Could the Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air fill that same niche? I was interested to find out. Here are its basic specifications:
- Focal length: 50mm
- Aperture Range: f/2-f/16
- Minimum Focus Distance: 51cm (20.1″)
- Maximum Magnification: 0.11x
- Design: 13 elements, 9 groups
- Aperture Blades: 9
- Autofocus: Yes
- Stabilization: No
- Filter Thread: 58mm
- Length: 56.5mm (2.2″)
- Weight: 205g (7.2oz)
The new Viltrox 50mm f/2 reminds me a lot of my old Nikon. It’s just 205g and 56.5mm in length. It’s got a sort of minimalist design with only a focus ring, and it comes with a twist-to-snap little hood.
On a Nikon Z6 body, it’s a very light and likable lens. It’s also quite decently priced at $199, and for that it even has a metal mount – although it is not weather sealed. At this price point, that may not be a surprise. However, it’s worth mentioning that the Nikon Z 40mm f/2 does have weather sealing and is, for a short while longer, on sale also for $200.
Unlike some other third-party lenses at this price point, the Viltrox lens does have autofocus. It’s actually pretty decent. It’s not silent because you can hear a soft clicking here and there, but not terribly loud either. It’s definitely quieter than the Nikon 50mm f/1.8G, and about the same volume as the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Z but with more distinct clicks. It also focuses fast enough, but it’s slightly slower than the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Z (which also focuses in lower light thanks to its faster aperture). For its intended purpose, the 50mm f/2 Air’s focus system certainly works well enough.
Optics
I was eager to see how good this Viltrox was optically, given that many lenses at this price will compromise on the optics. But after shooting with the Viltrox, I got some pleasant surprises.
The first surprise? The bokeh is actually pretty nice. It’s not perfect, but not bothersome either. There’s not too much color fringing in the bokeh, and its circles of confusion are still quite circular across the frame.
And a double surprise: the bokeh still remainds relatively circular stopped down, due to the lens’s nine-blade aperture.
Here is a tight crop of the above photo so you can see how the bokeh looks at f/4.5:
I also compared the bokeh of this lens with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Z at f/2 and at f/4. And, I used a background that makes pretty much all lenses look bad: out of focus grass. Here are some crops to illustrate the differences:
One must of course be careful comparing these shots, as although I used the same tripod position, the size of the lenses somewhat affects the subject-lens distance. That said, my impression is that the first photo favors the Nikon’s bokeh, but the second makes it clear that the Nikon has more longitudinal chromatic aberration than the Viltrox. The third photo, stopped down to f/4, actually seems to favor the Viltrox a little in bokeh.
Overall, I think the Viltrox has pretty nice bokeh, somewhat surprisingly for the price. Given the f/1.4 maximum aperture of the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.4, that would still be my choice if you want maximum background blur. But in pure quality of the bokeh at a given aperture, I actually favor the Viltrox slightly.
Another surprise is the sharpness. I was not expecting this lens to be sharp wide open, but I was wrong. It’s pretty sharp wide open, on about the same level of the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Z when both are shot at the same aperture of f/2.
Even more surprising, the sharpness is relatively consistent across the frame. The corners of the Viltrox look great wide open, and in fact, they are better than the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 Z:
Chromatic aberrations are well-controlled too. In fact, the design of this lens is not exactly simple, with 13 elements in 9 groups, including ED, high-refractive, and an aspherical element.
You’re probably wondering, where’s the compromise? Doesn’t this lens sound too good to be true?
Well, there are two potential compromises, but I think they are relatively small. The first is flaring. The lens has a high amount of flare in certain situations when the sun is just out of the edge of the frame. It rarely appeared, but it can show up in certain kinds of backlit landscapes. Even so, I took quite a few backlit shots where flaring didn’t appear, so it’s not an inevitability. You can also get a greenish flare with point light sources directly in the frame, as with most lenses.
The other compromise is that it is possible to attain a higher maximum sharpness with other lenses. Remember how I said that the Viltrox f/2 Air and the Nikon 50mm f/1.4Z were similar at f/2, and that the Viltrox was a bit better in the corners? Well, that’s true, but once the lenses are stopped down to f/4, the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.4 starts to show some teeth:
So if you’re shooting landscapes stopped down to f/4 or f/5.6, other glass might be a bit more appropriate, though in practice I felt that the difference was not large. Speaking practically, the sharpness of the Viltrox looks great, even when pixel peeping at 100%. At f/4 or f/5.6, some lenses will get a bit sharper, but I doubt it will make a difference in real-world photography.
Finally, this lens has some vignetting. The vignette never really goes away even when stopped down, but it does clear up a little by f/4. It is mostly correctable, and may not need to be fully corrected for portraits. Here is how it performs on a relatively uniform light source at headshot distances:
To put the sharpness and vignetting in perspective, here is a completely uncorrected image:
And here’s an ultra close-up, cropped to about 300mm field of view to show how sharp it is:
Overall, Viltrox made a great little compact 50mm that works very well for its intended purpose: at or near wide-open shooting, with optical performance at f/2 competing with lenses that cost three times as much. In practice, I see the Viltrox as a competitor to the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.4 with a similar level of performance, a narrower maximum aperture, but lighter and less expensive.
Conclusion
When I saw this lens at $199, I was hesitant. But the hesitation is gone – this lens punches above its price point with surprising bokeh and sharpness wide open. If someone were to ask me for a recommendation for a cheap 50mm “nifty fifty” for the Z-mount, the Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air would certainly be at the top of the list.
If you’re interested in getting this lens, consider buying it on B&H through the following links to support independent reviews such as this one:
- Buy the Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air for Nikon Z at B&H for $199
- Buy the Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air for Sony E at B&H for $199
- Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air at Amazon (Nikon Z)
- Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air at Amazon (Sony E)
Viltrox 50mm f/2 Air
- Build Quality and Handling
- Size and Weight
- Sharpness Performance
- Other Image Quality
- Value
Photography Life Overall Rating
Would you say the Viltrox is better than the 50mm f/1.8g? Thanks.
Very similar, and sharper wide open based on my experience with both. Stopped down, I’m not sure which one would win. I’d have to check side by side or Spencer would have to test them. My feeling is that the Nikon could win at around f/4 or f/5.6, and the Nikon might be better in some other characteristics like vignetting. The Viltrox AF works a bit better on Nikon Z than the adapted 50mm f/1.8G, at least for video. Both are great lenses, and one is not clearly superior to the other except I prefer the Viltrox at f/2 over the Nikon at f/1.8G…though wide open the Viltrox seems to flare more.
I have buy the 50 mm f2 Viltrox for my Nikon Z9 and in DXO Photolab8 it appear that the signature is a Apo Lantar voigtlander 50mm f 2 !!
Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise. Hah!
I bought this lens for a trip to Japan, and paired with my Plena, it served really well in the 50-75 focal range when used in DX. The images I’ve taken on this trip with these lenses have knocked my socks off. The bokeh whilst not plena level is pretty amazing which was one of my reasons for buying after seeing it and the the sharpness in another review. Can’t rate the Viltrox enough. Don’t regret leaving the Nikon 1.8 z in my basket.
I already have a very nice Nikkor 50mm F1.8S. It is however pleasing to see so many decent third party lenses. I cannot say I have ever bought one. That said, the Viltrox lenses do look like very good value for money, especially if you are looking for cheaper options. I don’t need a 50 but I would love to see you do a similar test of a Viltrox 35mm F1.2 if they release one.
I like the way you explored the bokeh and image quality.
+1 for the viltrox and then Nikon 35mm f1.2 review
Thanks, Martin! Yeah, lots of good options. The 1.8 S is an awesome option. If I used 50mm frequently I would have got that one no question, but for me who just needs a decent small lens for the occasional wider landscape or portrait, the Viltrox is not a bad fit. But yeah I think you made a good choice with the 50mm f/1.8 S.
what about recommending it for Sony E?
I did mention it was for Sony E as well and there’s also a link to buy the Sony E version at the end :)
Indeed,
I just picked mine up!
I have been shooting Nikon for decades. Starting with 35mm film camera. My first 50mm was f/1.4 D Nikkor. I spent my little savings to buy that.
I have bought many third party lenses over time to save money and in the end sold all of them. Nikon lenses always came out sharper. I just waited to have enough money. Heck, in the end, I just didn’t sell my S type primes for my Z8. Even sold Z 24-70 and Z 24-120 both and instead bought Z 24-200 Nikkor for travel 😯. Kept S primes 35, 50, 105.
It is just a hobby for me but the quality matters w.r.t the Nikon glasses.
I definitely understand the advantage of first-party glass. But there have been some pretty nice third-party options too. It depends on the lens. For the long glass, my plan is generally to stick with Nikon but for other lenses like 2X macro lenses, sometimes you have to go third party!
Well. If I’m walking around, mainly expecting to use my 100-400, popping a pair of Viltroces (!) in my pockets – 20mm/f2.8 and 50mm/f2.0 – might be an inexpensive but decent quality way to go … ? And if I have my Z8, they almost double as 30mm and 75mm with crop.
I haven’t tested the 20 but I’d at least recommend the 50 for decent quality. Personally I will take the 50 now on trips when the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 seems too big, especially since like yourself, my main lens is a longer hunk of glass!
I have this lens, it is almost as sharp as Nikon z 50 1.8s on my z8, but Nikon z 50 1.8s has better bokeh, color and focus speed. Although this lens is not at the level of z 50 1.8s, it is a big step up from z 40 f2.
Yeah, the 50mm f/1.8 S will outperform it in every way, but of course at a much higher price and weight. But very sharp for the price indeed!
Huh?
The z40mm is 40mm and the Viltrox 50mm is 50mm.
Comparing both makes no sense.
Well, technically it kinda makes sense to compare the sharpness of the two, even though the two are at different focal lengths. For example, if you took a shot at 40mm, versus 50mm at a distance to equal the 40mm FOV, you might still get more detail with one versus the other, or better bokeh, or whatever.
The 40mm f/2 Z lens has its charm, not the sharpest,
But hardly any colour problems and more dificult to measure: a very nice 3d rendering. At /5.6 -8 perfect
The autofocus was absolue garbage on my copy, when I first got it (as a Viltrox reseller I had it for a couple of weeks before the release), and although everything else looked great (other than the minimum focus distance, which is on the longer side), that was bumming me out. Now, with the firmware update they released last week, the AF is fast and accurate, so it’s an even more impressive budget 50mm lens. The real nifty-fifty for the Nikon user, the good nifty-fifty for the Sony user.
That is interesting. It does have a USB port to update the firmware, though mine worked fine when I got it.
Yeah I believe it wasn’t a problem in all units. Mine had an AF speed that was akin to the focus pull you’d see on Cinema. It was smooth, but it couldn’t keep up with any sort of movement.
Still, I’m pretty happy with it, I’ll be probably keeping this unit for myself! ahah And the fact that it can keep up with the Z8 resolution, for this price, just amazes me.