Viltrox AF 26mm f/2.8 EVO Lens: Another winner.
As I stated in an earlier post,…
…I want one. Had said I was good. Other lenses had me covered. But with time I changed my mind.
Why? Easy.
I was trying to make sense with regards to photography. Nonsense.
None of this makes any sense. Little in the world seems to make sense at times. Could use a distraction. And this is a fine one. Onward.
Just thankful that Viltrox seems intent on offering great value for your dollar.
I have purchased a lot of lenses. A lot.
I struggle to think of a lens that offers similar value when taking it in as a whole. Sure, the Viltrox lenses I have purchased are good values. For example a wonderful, one of a kind for Sony, nifty fifty for less than $200 is nothing short of amazing to long suffering Sony shooters who have waited for such a lens. But this lens pulls ahead of even those. More on this later.
Here I will cut and paste my past Viltrox summary followed by a summary of the 26mm EVO.
Those Air lenses are so good that I have not swayed by the two f/1.8 EVO releases.
I do want them also if I am honest, but I am far too smitten with the Air 50mm f/2 that sits between them to make that trade. There is also this. I do not want a larger lens. This makes sense with a portrait length lens like the 85mm EVO, but I find the 50mm f/2 to be a perfect nifty fifty prime.
With regard to the 26mm EVI I had said that I was covered by the glass I already had. The Samyang/Rokinon Remaster Slim kit.
It shares in pancake-iness and reasonable price while offering three focal lengths for a little more spend.
21mm f/3.5
28mm f/3.5
And my personal favorite…
32mm f/2.8.
And yet… partially driven by a one day Viltrox bender at my day job…
…I still wanted one.
So I got one.
First impressions were better than I expected.
I knew the lens looked good. But this lens is more than looks.
It feels great. All metal body done well.
Sans hood it is a bit underwhelming head on aesthetically admittedly.
But add the hood and hey now.
But the real star of the show is the hood.
Aesthetically clean and elegant. Solid metal build that is well balanced. Feels like a low damage throwing weapon. All true. But…
The magnetic thing.
Ka-Plink. Remove. Ka-Plink. Remove. Ka-Plink…
I have already lost minutes taking the cap off and putting it back on.
Put it all together and, before you even get to image capturing,… don’t tell Viltrox this… you have a lens that feels far more expensive than its $299 asking price.
True. Other companies have made metal AF lenses for Sony. I have owned a few.
Liked them. Even raved about them a bit. But if I am honest it wore off soon after. Not bad. But Viltrox does it better. The difference?
Those metal lenses are impressive at their price.
A great lens for a first try at AF and metal build
This lens, and the 85mm f/2 EVO. feel great regardless of price.
It feels like they have doing this for years.
Not to throw share elsewhere but better than any other third party Sony FE lenses…
…and as good as many…
… and better than some Sony native glass.
Again do not tell Viltrox this, but I would expect to pay more for their lenses.
But none of that matters if I do not like the images.
Spoiler alert. I do.
Perfect? No. No such lens exists.
But this lens is very good. Enough talk.
The pics.
Thoughts.
Overall impressed.
Downsides. There are a few.
- A bit of distortion.
- Noticeable with straight lines across the frame.
- A plus 8 in LR fixes things nicely.
- Once a LR profile is available I expect this will be a one click affair.
- A bit of flare or maybe haze shot directly into sunlight.
- Not terrible. Just good to know.
- Not the fastest AF.
- Nat bad. Just not best of breed. Plenty quick for my purposes.
That is about it on the downsides. The rest is all positives.
- Quality metal build.
- Again, like they have been doing this for years.
- Aperture ring.
- Quality feel to it and not easy to bump out of place.
- Quality hood and magnetic metal lens cap.
- Great colors.
- Sharp.
- No noticeable vignetting.
- Accurate AF.
- Might not be lightning fast, but very accurate.
- Has a gasket so it should offer some weather resistance.
And lastly when attached to an A7C II it looks the business.
Does that have anything to do with taking pictures?
No.
Does it matter?
Yes.
Simple fact with me. A good looking and feeling rig that makes me want to use it. I am sure I am not alone in this.
How do I know this?
While I like the Rokinon Remaster Slim lens mentioned above… I never use them. Never knew why until now. The Remaster Slim does not feel special.
The Viltrox 26mm f/2.8 EVO feels special.
It is on the camera right now.
Welp. That is a wrap.
Happy capturing.
-ELW
