Viltrox 85mm f1.8 lens review

Viltrox 85mm F1.8 for Fuji x

Recently I managed to get my hands on the Viltrox 85mm f1.8 Fuji x mount lens. In this post I will be testing out some of the features and taking a look at image quality and autofocus.

The Viltrox lens is a camera lens that I've wanted to try for some time. essentially it's a fast prime, that's ideal for portraits, especially in low light situations. This is a unique lens that is brimming with character and quality and for that reason, I will not be comparing it with other similar lenses, I truly believe it deserves a write up all of its own.

I will be testing a few different things, but this will not be a scientific test, I much prefer a more user-based, real-world way of testing camera gear. I will also share some sample video footage and photos with you that you will be able to download, so you can make your own decisions regarding the image quality of this lens.

The Viltrox 85mm f1.8 is a solid lens, the overall feel is one of quality, it's an all-metal construction with 10 elements in 7 groups, has a minimum focus distance of 0.8 meters and silent autofocus. The aperture ranges from f1.8 to f.16 and is electronically controlled in-camera as opposed to having an aperture ring like many fuji lenses. The lens is not light by any stretch of the imagination but this is a lens that houses a lot of glass, it weighs in at 636 grams or 1.4 lb

Viltrox 85mm f1.8 specifications

Specification

Lens Type: Is a Fixed focus lens

Focus method: Auto Focus

Filter size:72mm

Compatibility camera: Fuji X-mount camera & Sony E mount

Focal length:85mm

Aperture: F1.8-F16

Full Frame Equiv: 85mm focal length,

Precision metal structure Optical structure: 10 Elements in 7 Groups,

Weight: 636g (1.4lb)

Focusing distance: 0.8m

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Viltrox 85mm f1.8 fuji price

The Viltrox 85mm f1.8 lens for fuji x mount rangers in price from £320 to £380. To view the latest prices on Amazon, please follow the link : VILTROX 85MM F1.8 PRICE

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Viltrox 85mm Sample images

The first test was a little tricky, the idea was to capture a few dog portraits while the dogs were active during a walk, which is never easy. I thought this would be a good test to see how snappy the autofocus would be. I shot the whole test at an aperture of f2.8 and used single point autofocus and was very selective about when I took the shot due to the very shallow depth of field. I was very surprised at my success rate which was about 70% while trying to nail focus on the eye. Below is one of the shots, as you can see the detail is stunning and the bokeh nice and creamy too, even though the aperture wasn’t at its widest.

On the way back from my dog test I stopped off at a local reservoir to check how the lens performed in a more controlled situation. To make this test as consistent as possible I used the cameras 2-second timer to reduce camera shake, I used manual focus and used the AFL lock button to select the focus on each frame that I took. I focused on exactly the same spot in all of the images. I went through the aperture range and took 3 images at each setting, I adjusted my shutter speed to get the correct exposure and kept my iso at it's lowest which was 160 on the fuji xt3.

At f1.8 for some reason 2 out of the 3 shots were completely out of focus. As you can see the focus is on the trees in the background. This is very strange and not something I would have expected in such a controlled way of shooting. The shot that is in focus is tack sharp though. Next up I changed the settings to F2.8 and did exactly the same test. At f2.8 again 2 out of 3 shots were completely out of focus. The one that did land was again, tack sharp. I continued testing throughout the rest of the apertures and had no further problems regarding missing focus. I found the sharpest to be around the f5.6 range. I am extremely impressed with how sharp this lens is, although it obviously gets softer at either end of its aperture range. That is to be expected and is common on pretty much any lens. I did notice some purple and green fringing in some of the finer edges of the tree and edges of this bridge but this was easy to correct in lightroom with the remove chromatic aberrations button checked and to me it isn't worth worrying about. Again these images will be in the test pack for you to take a look at.

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CHECK OUT MY CAMERA GEAR

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Is the Viltrox 85mm f1.8 good for video?

I really wanted to test out how this lens works for video use. I have put together a short 40 second series of video clips of me brewing a coffee. Now this footage is all shot with the aperture wide open at f1.8 and manually focused. The first few shots are at iso 800 then the last few clips are iso 160 with an nd filter to get the right exposure and shutter speed. I have exposed for the highlights making sure nothing gets clipped to make the footage as cinematic as possible. Now you may see banding in the clips on the youtube video below, as YouTubes compression can sometimes reduce how high dynamic range clips are rendered, but I will include these clips in the media package so you will be able to take a proper look for yourselves.

Is the Viltrox 85mm f1.8 lens a good portrait lens for weddings?

At the weekend I shot a wedding with this lens and have to say it performed very well especially on the fuji x-t3 with face and eye detect turned on. This is a massive bonus for me as I usually do my long-range stuff with the 50mm 140mm f2.8, so having a stop and a third more light, definitely helped me, especially in the church when conditions were quite dark. I can't share those images as I haven't delivered them to my client yet, however, I thought it would be more beneficial to do a live test in the studio. I want to test the lens in poor lighting with a moving subject, so I've got my son to play some guitar and set the camera on the tripod so you can see how well the face and eye detection works here on the fuji xt3. The first test I have Ollie in mixed light but with my continuous video led light, lighting him from the front, I have covered the window behind to make this test fairly easy for the camera to cope with the lighting. My iso was set to iso 500 for this first test, with my shutter at 250th of a second to make sure got a nice sharp image, whilst using an aperture of f1.8. Even though Ollie wasn't looking directly at the camera, it did a stellar job of tracking his eye, only missing a few times. The shots from this test are pin-sharp at f1.8

Next up I removed the blanket from the window and turned off the video light. This made the lighting a lot more difficult. The iso is now 1250 with no direct lighting and with the overexposed window light I expected the autofocus to really struggle, to my surprise though it only missed a couple of shots in the thirty or so that I fired off. Pretty incredible really.

Next up I wanted to test the lens for a simple portrait shoot. I've been wanting to take a nice black and white portrait shot of Ollie for a while so this was the perfect opportunity to throw up a black cloth grab a strobe and take a few shots. My set up for this shot was a simple as a studio shot can get really. One light with a softbox positioned to the right, a meter and a half away. camera settings 160-sec iso 160 at f8. For shots like this, I expose to make sure my background is completely black then light my subject with the strobe making sure not to get any spill on my backdrop, its just a case of feathering the light at the right angle. As you can see from these shots, the quality is exceptional. Again I used face and eye detection in continuous autofocus. At this f-stop you could easily use single-point autofocus as the depth of field is a lot greater than in my earlier tests.

So to conclude

So for me, this lens is quite possibly one of the nicest portrait lenses I have ever used. Wow, can't believe I just said that about a sub £400 lens. But it really is a great lens, regardless of the price. It renders images beautifully, it’s fast to focus, incredibly tough and rugged and looks great on a fuji body. It is also fabulous as a video lens, I love the smooth focus ring, dare I say it, but the focus ring is probably better than any fuji lens I currently own.

So What are the negatives of the Viltrox 85mm f1.8?

To be truthful there aren't many, I would love to see an aperture ring like most of the other Fuji lenses and the fact that it missed focus on the controlled manual focus test was a concern, however, I have tested this out again in my studio at f1.8 using the AFL button and switched focus between two subjects and it obtained focus perfectly every time, so I can't quite put my finger on that one. All in all, it is an exceptional piece of glass at an incredible price point, I will continue to use this lens for my wedding videography and photography, it really is that good. As I mentioned before You can download some sample images from my tests I've also added in an edge to edge sharpness test in case you were wondering how that works out. Be sure to check out the video below for a full review and to see me run through these tests.

Drop me a sub if you enjoyed it, that would be much appreciated.