Jman13
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 p.2 #15 · Viltrox 85mm f1.4 PRO and f2.0 EVO | |
phinix wrote:
Viltrox make those series: Pro, Evo, Lab, Air.
So Pro is max what they can do, Air is cheap crap.
What are LAB and EVO? What is the difference in those series?
First, Air is not cheap crap. The Air series lenses are inexpensive, yes, but the point is to be compact and lightweight, and they share the same housing to save manufacturing costs. The build is actually a little nicer than Nikon’s cheaper lenses like the 40/2 and 28/2.8. They use stepping motors for AF, which are decent in speed and rather quiet. There’s no weather sealing on Air lenses
Optically, they are rather excellent. I own three of their APS-C Air lenses and have tried one of the full frame ones too, and they are quite well built for what they are, and optically they are actually great.
My 25/1.7 and 56/1.7 are tack sharp from wide open, have little to no distortion, outstanding contrast and very nice bokeh. My 9mm f/2.8 isn’t quite as sharp as the other two, but it’s a 13.5mm equivalent lens with also very low distortion, and very good cross frame sharpness, for $200.
The EVO series is next in the line and it’s only one lens, but it appears to be good build quality with a good feature set with moderate aperture and generally compact form factor with excellent optics. These also use STM AF motors. These have some weather sealing.
The Pro series is the next in the line, with high end build, fast apertures and so on. Some earlier pro series lenses use fast STM motors, but the more recent ones use voice coil motors, sometimes multiple. Very good weather sealing.
The LAB series is their top of the line, little to no compromise on everything. Very fast aperture, top of the line optics and build. All use multiple VCM motors for AF. Very good weather sealing.
Thing is, since they started making lenses in these four lines, optically they’ve all been good. Some of their earlier lenses are just OK, but every entry in these four lines punches well above their price optically, and as I mentioned earlier, that includes the Air lenses. (There are also some outstanding lenses from before they made these lines, like the 16mm f/1.8, which would either be Pro or LAB if released now and is an absolutely stellar lens…one of the best UWA lenses I’ve ever owned.)
Viltrox is very much in the same position Sigma was when they first started releasing their Art series lenses…up and coming, making glass that is better than it has any right to be for the price, and branching into the higher end while keeping prices low.
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Thanks.
