p.3 #2 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
00demontver00 wrote:
mudlake, Please take photos at the minimum focusing distance, with an open aperture.
Here you go! All these were wide open at minimum focus distance except for the 2nd one where I pulled back a little. Processing was "auto" and then resizing.
p.3 #4 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Subject isolation at 14mm and 0.13m at f4, lots of creative opps here. MFD is 3.5cm from the lens hood. Yet it also looks pretty normal. 112 degrees AOV is an actual 14.6mm at infinity. I'm curious about breathing but the BH promo video says it has minimal breathing.
They are selling it as a take anywhere pocketable youth video item. 'Lightweight pocket power'! 'Sealed construction'. The dog shooters will enjoy this one. A very well thought out lens.
It will appeal to the long-suffering CV 15/4.5 user group too. A much better hood arrangement. And it's sweet they put the specs around the front face so your subjects can learn about it as you photograph them. Vignette 'less than two stops' (DA). As above, very decent bokeh. A fine real estate lens too.
p.3 #5 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
"It will appeal to the long-suffering CV 15/4.5 user group too"
Ouch. I resemble that. My copy was soft in the corners at any aperture. It.Went.Back.
My copy of the Viltrox will arrive in a couple of days. I have seriously bad luck with bad copies of lenses, so that'll be a stringent test of Viltrox's qualitry control...
p.3 #6 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Theres smearing in only the extreme and I mean extreme corners at closer than 3ft probably due to FC. Otherwise it seems perfect. Im quite happy with the quality of the plastic composite they chose for the finish it feels like the Sony GM lenses and the hood is tight and secure unlike some of the other Viltrox hoods I've used. MFD performance is great and you basically touch the hood with the subject.
p.3 #7 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
'Ouch'
I don't see too may people getting out the Dremel to attack this one! Another thing (pretty much) conspicuous by its absence are the eager reports of 'decentering' of Chinese lenses.
I've never liked Cosina's ploy of producing a mass of often short-lived 'prototypes' (as Alik Griffin calls them) instead of making settled ranges they then support and periodically update (to improve performance, not just cosmetics).
'With the Voigtlander lens, it almost seems like they are basically just prototypes designed for the marketing team (“Vintage Line”), released for a few years then discontinued. Don’t get me wrong, though; sometimes the Voigtlander lenses are amazing, but it’s strange when they discontinue some of their best designs around, like the 35mm f1.7 Ultron.'
You may get the strong impression Cosina makes lenses they themselves want to make - for themselves - when they want to make them, hence all the wishing and hoping around the place. Cosina wants to remain a small company, so there is not so much incentive there. They could have done an LLL, by now, if they want to stay boutique.
Whereas the Chinese conduct a serious examination of what would work well in the market, how best to design, position and price their products, all of it in such a way as to appeal to the consumer base. They appear to be fast learners too - Viltrox started marketing lenses in 2018. Soon it will be hard to recall a time when they (and Laowa, Sirui, Thypoch, etc.) were not here.
p.3 #8 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Here are a few initial test shots from the Classic Remise in Berlin, all taken with the Sony A7RV at open aperture.
It is the smallest and lightest 14mm UWW lens I have ever used on a 61MP full-frame camera, which produces extremely sharp images even at open aperture.
p.3 #10 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
The Viltrox AF 14/4.0 Air FE stands out thanks to its first-class sharpness, contrast, and color reproduction, just like the Viltrox AF 50/2.0 Air FE and the Viltrox AF 40/2.5 Air FE.
These three Viltrox Air lenses have no problem at all fully utilizing the 61MP sensor of the Sony A7RV, and of course, the excellent size and weight of these Viltrox Air lenses should not go unmentioned...🙂
The “Viltrox AF 14/4.0 Air FE” is so good in terms of optical performance that I will be selling my "Sony FE 14/1.8 GM" and my "Sigma 14-24/2.8 DG DN Art".
The “Viltrox AF 14/4.0 Air FE” together with the first-class "Sony FE 20/1.8 G” is the perfect and lightweight addition to my favorite travel combination consisting of the Sony “FE 24-70/2.8 GM II” + “Sony 70-200/2.8 GM OSS II”.
p.3 #11 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Just got my 14mm. If one is fine with f/4, which is I, all UWA zooms and primes can be sold. Crazy plastic fantastic. The lens is in price of some filters, so it can be replaced when needed.
p.3 #12 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
I'm hoping to try the the 14mm on either the A7RV or the A7CR for some informal group shots at a wedding I'm shooting this weekend. My thinking is that, if I have the subjects take up perhaps 2/3s of the horizontal, I'll still have plenty of pixels and less of the annoying distortion I'd get with a 24mm shot where I have to fill the frame.
p.3 #14 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Philip_pj wrote:
"I've never liked Cosina's ploy of producing a mass of often short-lived 'prototypes' (as Alik Griffin calls them) instead of making settled ranges"
Well, their modus operandi is lenses not otherwise available. So "settled ranges" ain't what they do.
Besides, when they first came out with E-mount lenses, Zeiss was already in place with the Loxia and Batis lines, so there really wasn't any point in a "line" of lenses. APO and fast lenses are niches where Cosina makes sense. The 21/1.4 and the plethora of 50mm lenses, while not touching the 24/25mm focal length (where the Loxia 25/2.4 is ridiculously amazing).
(FWIW, when I bought the Loxia 25 at MAP Camera, they said "You've got 2 weeks to return this. Check it carefully. But you won't have any problems, it's actually made by Cosina." (Yes, the presupposition that Cosina is problem free is known to be problematic.))
" but it’s strange when they discontinue some of their best designs around, like the 35mm f1.7 Ultron.'"
Yes. But their main maket is Japan. So if a lens isn't selling in Japan, it's history. Our definition of "best design" doesn't necessarily translate into "will sell well in Japan".
"Cosina wants to remain a small company, so there is not so much incentive there. They could have done an LLL, by now, if they want to stay boutique."
Presumably "LLL" is "LLC" in American English, but Cosina is a "large" company by legal definition (over 300 employees) in Japan. Also, Japan no longer has a "Limited Liability" class for small companies. Everything is a "stock" company. (Dunno the exact details. My "company" (with my SO as CEO and me as the only employee) was "Limited Liability", but that's ancient history (995 to 2015).)
"Whereas the Chinese conduct a serious examination of what would work well in the market, how best to design, position and price their products,"
China is doing to the Japanese what the Japanese did to the rest of the world up through the "bubble" period.
But seriously, the Chinese are going after Sigma, not Cosina. Cheap AF lenses in all the standard focal lengths. The MF lens market is seriously niche randomness, and one really sweet lens (the 28/1.4) doesn't make a trend. Yet.
Whatever. My copy of the Viltrox 14/4.0 arrived here and the corners are fine. Haven't had a chance to take it out yet, though.
This lens and the perfectly acceptable (although womped by the more recent Sony 16mm lens) Sigma 17/4.0 has me thinking about a 20mm lens that I'd take out more often. Sure, the 21/1.4's rendition is wonderful, but my shoulder hurts. The Sigma 20/2.0 looks to also be "perfectly acceptable", but if Viltrox comes out with a 20/2.8 Air, I'd be an unhappy camper...
p.3 #15 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Cosina probably saw many people adapting their UWA lenses and figured they wanted the action direct. Zeiss said they would help Sony (a little anyway, four Loxia lenses and their name/support for Tamron's Batises).
'there really wasn't any point in a "line" of lenses'
Disagree with the premise. As you point out, Loxia and Batis were produced as lens ranges. Like everybody else does too, from Supreme Primes to G lenses. It's the way most consumer business is done. But it's consistent with short-run prototype manufacture, certainly.
"So if a lens isn't selling in Japan, it's history." This 'Japan-centric lens producer', that should be common knowledge, I will use it as such and watch the responses.
LLL is Light Lens Lab, a pioneer at Chinese new age chic for the M market.
Cosina's "large" is everyone else's "small". They wish to remain a small optical firm, and that is a near-direct paraphrased quote from them. Google Translate fails me at present (the company page stays in Japanese), so you can choose to not believe me - plenty of company will be yours!
The Chinese makers are simply moving out into the world markets at large. From an enthusiast's POV, Thypoch actually exchange emails with you and listen to your opinions - again, personal experience, novel and surprising. In fact, they got in touch with me about one of their new lenses (I got the first 75mm in my country).
When it comes to competition, Viltrox, DZO, Thypoch, Sirui and Laowa etc. - they don't discriminate, they'll take on all comers. In light cine, they now face Cooke Optics SP3, Zeiss Nano and Leica Hektor.
Have you seen the many stills comparisons against heavyweight opposition lenses? They are not only generic makers Sigma (the king of flat lenses) and Tamron. Think Leica, Fuji and Voigtlander, the AF mainstreamers too.
The big thing to understand about them is they have very different aesthetic sensibilities, they are cine-oriented for starters, they use very different glasses, and they are fast learners. Beautiful imagery is their goal, not merely optical design excellence for its own sake (Griffin's 'prototypes').
The 'niche randomness' is perplexing; what might it mean? (rhetorical question). Good luck, though. Shoulder injuries take time, can take a lot of time.
p.3 #18 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Craig Gillette wrote:
Just ordered the 14/4 on Amazon, $159. Showed 2 available when I ordered, then went to 1 and now out of stock. Should arrive in a couple of days.
I had to pull the trigger on the TTA 14/2.8 while it was down to $156 (plenty of copies left on that one) and it should be here tomorrow. I'll keep my fingers crossed for well-centered copies of our respective lenses.
p.3 #19 · Viltrox 14mm f/4 and 9mm f/2.8 - unbelievable performance for the price?
Craig Gillette wrote:
Just ordered the 14/4 on Amazon, $159. Showed 2 available when I ordered, then went to 1 and now out of stock. Should arrive in a couple of days.
seems like it keeps coming back to 1 in stock just ordered mine.
There's even a Phillipreeve review. Hmm. The corners are mush below f/11, so it's a non-starter here. Sigh.
I've been busy this week, there's a typhoon coming through, and 3 rolls of 120 to be scanned, but I do have good intentions of attacking the downtown skyscrapers here with the 14/4.0. Intentions.
(Went to an event near Tokyo station in the evening last week: night in the city was pretty.)
just ordered mine.