Vento wrote:
While Viltrox uses silent and very fast Voice Coil AF motors in its LAB series, its autofocus reliability isn't quite on par with OEM products, which is inevitable when you have to reverse engineer the communication protocols.
IBIS effectiveness isn't always at the same level either.
Look at the reviews on B&H, lots of issues with focusing on their LAB lenses including the 135mm.
This also becomes very clear in Matt Irwin's review.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to link to it with a set timestamp here in the forum; skip to minute 17 and 56 seconds.
Another criterion is that some features, like the focus limiter, only work with Nikon Z OEM lenses, which could affect other features in the future as well.
Then there's the problem of the lack of a service network.
Once the official warranty expires, there's no way to get it officially repaired if a problem arises.
At least in my location, Germany, a large market in Europe, there isn't a single Viltrox service partner for repairs.
This means that after the legally mandated one-year warranty period, you can throw the lens away if it has a technical problem.
Factors that unnecessarily increase the risk of errors.
Moreover, this raises the question of what the point of an expensive and super fast Z8/Z9 body is if, in very demanding scenarios, the bottleneck for autofocus is the lens and the communication with the camera.
Even if this only occurs in demanding scenarios, these are absolutely essential criteria.
Criteria in the form of maximum reliability and guaranteed compatibility, and thus maximum possible AF system performance in all situations, which only OEM lenses fully meet.
Especially for the category that the ambitious LAB series targets, aimed at enthusiasts and semi-professional users, optical excellence alone isn't enough.
This is also reflected in the achievable used prices, where the depreciation after purchase is significant.
All these factors are likely to considerably increase the return rate.
This is certainly less of a problem with the more affordable series, such as the Evo.
It's a kind of strange situation. Normally the warranty for products sold in Germany or Europe is 2 years by law.
No repair center suggests they replace a defective product with a new one.
Rollei in Germany offers a 2 year exchange warranty on Viltrox lenses bought in their store ('2 Jahre Austausch-Garantie')
The 85 EVO and 14 AIR I bought on black friday where cheap lenses.
But with their more expensive Pro lenses targeting the professional, heavy duty market, its another story.
Only 1 year warranty outside of the EU and no chance of repair, might scare off customers.
Jan 27, 2026 at 04:45 AM
Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /var/www/vhosts/fredmiranda.com/httpdocs/forum/viewedits.php on line 155
Vento wrote:
While Viltrox uses silent and very fast Voice Coil AF motors in its LAB series, its autofocus reliability isn't quite on par with OEM products, which is inevitable when you have to reverse engineer the communication protocols.
IBIS effectiveness isn't always at the same level either.
Look at the reviews on B&H, lots of issues with focusing on their LAB lenses including the 135mm.
This also becomes very clear in Matt Irwin's review.
Unfortunately, it's not possible to link to it with a set timestamp here in the forum; skip to minute 17 and 56 seconds.
Another criterion is that some features, like the focus limiter, only work with Nikon Z OEM lenses, which could affect other features in the future as well.
Then there's the problem of the lack of a service network.
Once the official warranty expires, there's no way to get it officially repaired if a problem arises.
At least in my location, Germany, a large market in Europe, there isn't a single Viltrox service partner for repairs.
This means that after the legally mandated one-year warranty period, you can throw the lens away if it has a technical problem.
Factors that unnecessarily increase the risk of errors.
Moreover, this raises the question of what the point of an expensive and super fast Z8/Z9 body is if, in very demanding scenarios, the bottleneck for autofocus is the lens and the communication with the camera.
Even if this only occurs in demanding scenarios, these are absolutely essential criteria.
Criteria in the form of maximum reliability and guaranteed compatibility, and thus maximum possible AF system performance in all situations, which only OEM lenses fully meet.
Especially for the category that the ambitious LAB series targets, aimed at enthusiasts and semi-professional users, optical excellence alone isn't enough.
This is also reflected in the achievable used prices, where the depreciation after purchase is significant.
All these factors are likely to considerably increase the return rate.
This is certainly less of a problem with the more affordable series, such as the Evo.
It's a kind of strange situation. Normally the warranty for products sold in Germany or Europe is 2 years by law.
No repair center suggests they replace a defective product with a new one.
Rollei in Germany offers a 2 year exchange warranty on Viltrox lenses bought in their store ('2 Jahre Austausch-Garantie')
The 85 EVO and 14 AIR I bought on black friday where cheap lenses.
But with their more expensive Pro lenses targeting the professional, heavy duty market, its another story.
Only 1 year warranty outside of the EU and no chance of repair, might scare of customers.
