Viltrox Launches AF 75mm F1.8 and AF 90mm F2.2 EVO Lenses Offering Portrait Mastery at an Accessible Price

Finding the balance between professional performance and a budget-friendly price tag is a major challenge for photography enthusiasts. For the past few years, Viltrox has been stepping up to bridge this gap. Today, the company announced two new APS-C mirrorless portrait prime lenses: the AF 75mm F1.8 EVO and the AF 90mm F2.2 EVO. Designed to deliver professional telephoto portrait performance in a compact, lightweight package, these lenses offer value-conscious creators an impressive alternative to traditionally heavy, expensive gear. Weighing under 355g each, and more importantly with a price tag south of $500, they represent an excellent everyday carry option for photographers looking to elevate their portfolio without breaking the bank. Here’s what you need to know about these two new portrait powerhouse lenses.

A Quick Tour of the AF 75mm F1.8 and AF 90mm F2.2 EVO 

As you might have gleaned from the title, these lenses are designed to meet the needs of portrait photographers. Both the AF 75mm and AF 90mm EVO have a very short minimum focusing distance which enables tighter framing and immersive close-up shots. By getting closer to your lens’s subject, you can capture more expressive portrait compositions.

Second, these lenses improve image consistency and quality across the entire frame. Viltrox implemented optical designs incorporating Extra-low Dispersion (ED) and High Refractive Index (HR) elements to reduce chromatic aberration. Even when shooting wide open at maximum aperture, these primes deliver sharp, high-resolution image quality from the center to the edge. They maintain bright, consistent illumination across the frame, resulting in natural tonal transitions and highly refined rendering characteristics.

Beyond optics, these lenses improve your shooting experience through responsive autofocus and smart ergonomics. Both primes utilize Viltrox’s STM autofocus system, providing fast, accurate, and quiet focusing performance for both photography and video. The highly responsive continuous autofocus tracking is a massive benefit in dynamic environments, ensuring subjects stay sharp even when moving.

Hybrid photographers or videographers using Nikon or Sony cameras can easily transition between photo and video workflows thanks to a customizable Fn button, an AF/MF switch, and a switchable click/de-click aperture ring. This hardware configuration allows for seamless adjustments depending on your creative needs.Sadly, Fujifilm users should be aware that the XF mount version lacks the click switch, Fn button, and AF/MF switch – though we still get a click/de-click option for the aperture ring. Furthermore, a rubber-sealed mount and a water-resistant front coating ensure you can shoot safely in outdoor conditions.

Getting the Most From These Viltrox EVO Prime Lenses

To get the most out of these lenses, it helps to understand where each focal length shines. The AF 75mm F1.8 EVO provides a versatile 112.5mm-equivalent focal length. Viltrox designed this lens to balance strong background blur with flexible, everyday usability. Its best applications include street photography, half-body portraits, and urban shooting. It allows you to move freely through a city while capturing natural, atmospheric bokeh that beautifully isolates your subject from distracting backgrounds.

For stronger subject isolation, the AF 90mm F2.2 EVO provides a classic 135mm-equivalent portrait perspective. This longer focal length delivers enhanced spatial compression, pulling the background closer to your subject. This makes the 90mm EVO exceptionally well-suited for outdoor portraits, wedding photography, and cinematic portraiture. It is ideal for creators looking to achieve strong compression and clean subject isolation.

Pricing and Availability

We’ve recently received a sample in for a more in-depth review of both the AF 75mm F1.8 and AF 90mm F2.2 EVO lenses and we’re excited to see what can be done with these two lenses. By the nature of the focal lengths, we’ll most likely spend a bit of time creating portraits and headshots with these lenses but we’ll also be testing them out in other scenarios. The immediate gut feeling on these lenses is that they will provide enthusiasts with two very strong options should they be interested in experimenting with portraiture at a very accessible price. 

The AF 75mm F1.8 EVO is priced at USD $329 while the AF 90mm F2.2 EVO is priced at USD $369, well below the $500 price point I referenced earlier. Available for E, Z, and XF mounts, these lenses showcase Viltrox’s commitment to delivering reliable engineering excellence that empowers photographers without draining their wallets.

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