I have a Sigma 50mm f2 DG DN on the way that I wanted for casual family snaps. Let's see, I'm certainly not expecting it to be as sharp.
I wouldn't be so quick to assume that – the Sigma 50mm ƒ/2 DG DN was one of the earlier lenses in the new wave of mirrorless 50mm lens design that uses a concave front element in a 'reverse telephoto' configuration. New improvements in optical design for mirrorless and more cost-effective low dispersion glass types have made this type of lens far more achievable than it was in the past.
Using a reverse telephoto design for a 50mm lens like this gives you a very, very sharp lens, presuming you can correct for chromatic aberration. The Sigma 50mm ƒ/2 is less corrected for this than the Viltrox, coming out before some of the low dispersion glass advancements, if I'm honest I think it's due for a Mark II. However, from a sharpness perspective, it's one of the sharpest 50mm lenses I've seen. The Viltrox is in a sense copying the design choices made by the Sigma and subbing in newer, cheaper Chinese low dispersion glass to control the LoCa, hence why it shows less LoCa than the Sigma.
However, I have owned both and I do prefer the Sigma despite its weaker aberration performance. The sharpness is actually on par to my eye (and with my copies — you can't necessarily take this for granted), but I prefer the bokeh on the Sigma quite a bit more.
In sum, I would say expect similar sharpness because they use similar optical designs, and if you don't believe me about the trend to make reverse telephoto 50s, check out how many 50mm lenses since about 2018 or so have been reverse telephoto — it's actually almost all of them. Truly, the double gauss 50mm lens is essentially dead at this point and this is the new standard.
Thank you for the info, there isnt much in the way of comparisons between the two and the 50 sigma f2 doesnt have much chatter here on it either.
Dustin Abbott mentioned briefly in an article that the air was better without elaborating, I assumed he meant sharpness.
To be fully honest, a bit more SA would suit my intended purpose for the Sigma more (family snaps), though I also love what Im seeing with this in certain situations too. But perhaps Im not going to get what i expect. Tried to get an understanding from lenstips chart but seems like that might not actually line up.
Oct 03, 2025 at 08:39 PM
Previous versions of Yogifi's message #16902055 « Viltrox 50mm 2.0 Air - Image Thread »
