Viltrox AF 50mm f/2 lens review

Another little lower-budget Viltrox lens. This one with slightly more humble parameters - does the maximum aperture of only f/2 mean potentially better image quality?

All pictures taken by me on Sony a7R III and a5100 cameras.

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Holy moly this is too good for it's price!

[cesar]

Photography revolution, now we can buy decent FF lenses without selling a kidney. Cheers to Viltrox!

[cemhochreiter]

This channel is an absolute must for anyone who likes photography. Thank you very much Sir!

[amermeleitor]

The chinese cheap good quality lenses are the reason why I can't go with Canon. Sony, Fuji and Nikon have a big advantage allowing third party lenses

[markdecoveny]

Chris, you might have gotten a somewhat bad copy for review. Dustin Abbott also reviewed the same lense, and his copy has AF that is easily twice as fast. Otherwise, his findings and yours are identical.
Edit: possibly the difference in AF performance has to do with the bodies used in the test. Yours is an older body, his is a newer version.

[coreymullins]

Was rocking the Sigma 28-70 exclusively for years and the Viltrox 20mm 2.8 made such a nice addition for me in terms of quality and price.

Thanks for your reviews Christopher, they're always so helpful and reliable!

[larvenfritson]

Love what Viltrox is doing here with the lineup of small affordable lenses.

[tinzi]

Exact same AF issues is reported to Viltrox at 9am by another viewer in HK, he is using Z mount, he got firmware update send to him by 7pm and AF issue is no longer an issue.

[Kliffot]

The Air, Pro & Lab lines are all excellent to incredible !

[denispelletier]

Wow, a sharp lens for scenery pictures.

[AndreiDimaReviews]

What a nice surprise from Viltrox! Great review!

[robertsouzza]

Thanks for review, good job Viltrox👏🏻

[fotografalexandernikolis]

It's so funny how this lens absolutely wipes the floor with the Canon RF 50 1.8 in literally every category while being cheaper, not just optical quality but including things like focus breathing and distorsion. Not getting myself locked into Canon's ecosystem is probably the best choice I've ever done.

[lefteris]

Do I get this one or the Nikkor 40 F/2 for my Nikon Z5? It looks super good for the price! Very nice performance.

[cohoonatube]

Amazing performance for the price on this one, thanks Christopher! This will be a good (inexpensive) option for travel or to lend to my kids :D.

[MrSimonj]

Wow, very impressive! I love my Viltrox 40mm, but this is very tempting indeed.

[benw]

This plus the new Sony 16mm 1.8… finally have my dream travel pair of lenses.

[kubagornowicz]

I really hope that there is a bright APS-C standard zoom with that pricing and quality somewhere on the way.

[BbongbbongE]

it is budget but performance is not budget...
unless I need 1.4 or best performance
I would go this one

[TehTechnoGuy]

Extremely impressive optics for the form factor and price. Pity about the focusing capabilities and close focus distance, though.