Scenes Seen/Viltrox AF 50mm f/2 Air: A Review Addendum & Wrap Up.
One question has nagged at me since I received this lens.
Why do I like it so much?
On paper, it does not excel at any one thing in particular.
It is not the fastest aperture lens.
It is not the most well-built lens.
It is not the best looking lens.
It is not the smallest lens.
It is the least expensive lens with solid IQ however.
A few days on I think I have it sorted.
It is a collection of compromises that reaches an ideal middle ground for my daily carry purposes.
To make sense of it all I will compare it to some lenses that same close.
Two are so close in spec, build and size that they are practically the same lens.
Remove the hood and they are nearly the same size. Both all metal with an aperture ring with solid IQ. At one point I thought both were the A7C lens I was looking for. But they were not. Close. But no. Nothing glaring. Death by a handful of cuts in both cases.
- A touch too big.
- A touch too slow of an aperture.
- A bit too expensive for their spec.
Again. Close. But for me, for the size and at those apertures, a zoom was a better fit for both.
No much larger, it either came close or matched the aperture for both, and offered the flexibility of a wider focal length.
After collecting nearlt all of the S0ny 40mm-ish prime offerings…
…I eventually sold them all. All were great lenses…
Ok. All but one…
…but none were the Golidilocks prime I was looking for.
Still, I wanted a daily carry lens. Others are good…
…or even great,…
…but are too large to fit the daily carry job title.
So… the Goldilocks thing. Home invasion sociopathic tendencies set aside, I think that is the whole point of the Viltrox AF 50mm f/2 Air.
Compromise.
No, it is not a metal build with an aperture dial and buttons…
But it is very compact and light.
No, it is not the best looking lens.
But, it looks just fine.
No, it is not the closest focusing lens.
But, it is so sharp that a crop later does the trick.
No, it is not as fast as other lenses…
But it is significantly smaller than lenses that are not much faster.
Ok. That last point about the aperture. This lens made me realize something.
f/2 is the threshold for prime lenses to make sense for me.
I learned this with the Sony 40mm and the SIGMA 45mm above. On paper, there is not much difference, but in the wild, f/2 is just on the right side of fast for me. To my eye, it provides enough subject isolation…
…and light gathering…
…to justify going with a prime lens, instead of the many wonderful, nearly as fast zooms on the market. This is why the other Viltrox Air lenses did not interest me as much. Great price and reviews, but they offered nothing that the Tamron 20-40mm f/2.8 mentioned above did not cover.
Some larger and heavier zooms even match that f/2 spec now.
But those are much larger and more expensive beasts to meet a different need.
That is why it is so important to try gear out for yourself.
Based on paper specs, I should prefer Viltrox’s own AF 50mm f/1.8. It is built and sized more like the 7Artisans above, with a slightly faster aperture and an aperture ring. But after having tried this smaller, lighter, and less expensive Viltrox option, I would go for it instead, even with a slightly slower aperture.
Ok. Enough of my hypothesizing. On to the scenes seen.
Thoughts.
One note I have not mentioned. This lens has a profile in Lightroom and it makes an already great image even better.
This is lens is very good. Shockingly good when you tale the price into consideration.
Well done Viltrox.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
Eric L. Woods 