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Viltrox has announced the new Viltrox AF 20mm F2.8 FE (buy here). As an FE lens, it’s a full-frame lens designed for Sony E mount cameras. It’s also an ultra-lightweight autofocus lens and comes at a very low price point.
With a focal length of 20mm, this is a very wide angle lens on full-frame, offering about 91.6º field of view. And with a weight of only 157g, it’s an ideal walkabout landscape lens or even for vlogging.
Viltrox has announced its new 27mm f/1.2 Pro XF lens (buy here) for Fuji X mount cameras. This 27mm lens is, naturally, for APS-C sensors, providing a field of view equivalent to that of 40.5mm on full-frame.
Its bright, wide f/1.2 maximum aperture also gives a similar relative depth of field to that of around f/1.8 on that hypothetical 40.5mm lens mentioned above on a full-frame sensor, all with a nice, fast, snappy autofocus.
Regular followers of my photography will know that as a general rule of thumb, I love the Viltrox 23mm F/1.4 and the Olympus 17mm F/2.8 (for my Olympus Pen E-PL8), both approximately 35mm focal length equivalents in full frame terms. In fact, either of those lenses generally lives on one of my cameras. However, in recent months, my Viltrox 56mm has been getting more and more use.
Viltrox is planning to release a number of new lenses, according to a post on Weibo. A number of images of one of them, the Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 for Sony E mount cameras, have also been shared. The lens is designed for full-frame cameras and despite being extremely wide angle, it features a standard 77mm filter thread rather than the usual bulbous front of similar lenses.
As well as the 16mm f/1.8, Viltrox is also said to be releasing a new full-frame AF 28mm f/1.8 for Sony E-Mount and two APS-C lenses. The first is a 75mm f/1.2 for Sony E mount and a 27mm f/1.2 for Fuji X mount – neither of which appear to be autofocus lenses. There’s no word yet on when any of the lenses are coming, but here’s the translated (thanks to Sony Alpha Rumors) report.
It was inevitable. Viltrox has proven to be an aggressive new player on the lens market that isn’t afraid to take some risks, and they have been steadily stepping up their game in terms of build and autofocus. They started with the safe, traditional focal lengths, (roughly the equivalent of 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm on full frame), but more recently have taken on a wider angle of view in the Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 STM, a lens I considered perhaps their best yet in my review.
But now they are pushing the boundaries into more extreme (and premium) territory with the release of their newest lens: the Viltrox AF 75mm F1.2 STM. This is an APS-C lens, so the crop factor of the camera it is mounted on will affect its apparent aperture. The Viltrox Pro 75mm is first being released on Fujifilm’s XF mount, which has a crop factor of roughly 1.5x (just a bit more, actually), which will make it behave something like 115mm on a full frame camera – a very, very intriguing focal length for portrait work, particularly with that extremely wide maximum aperture.
Teased at the end of November with a little bit of a photos leak, Viltrox has now officially announced their new 75mm f/1.2 autofocus lens for Fuji X mirrorless cameras. The new lens adds to Viltrox’s existing 13mm f/1.4, 23mm f/1.4 Mark II, 33mm f/1.4, 56mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8 Mark II but marking a new milestone in maximum aperture at a very bright f/1.2.
It offers a full-frame equivalent field of view to around 112.5mm, with full autofocus support on Fuji X mount cameras. It houses 16 elements in 11 groups inside an aluminium alloy enclosure. The HD Nano multi-layer helps to repel dirt and moisture with low-dispersion elements helping to squash chromatic aberration and other potential issues.
Since Fuji finally opened up its lens X mount to 3rd parties, we’ve seen a lot of great and interesting lenses popping up. Sigma’s finally started expanding its range to include Fuji shooters, as well as Tamron, Tokina, Zeiss and more. One company that’s been offering a lot of autofocus lenses for Fuji is Viltrox, with seven lenses having been released. Now, it seems there’s a new one on the way.
Photos have leaked of an as yet unannounced Viltrox 75mm f/1.2 XF lens. As an APS-C lens, it offers the equivalent field of view to around 112.5mm on full-frame, making for a nice, fast, super-wide-aperture portrait lens for Fuji shooters. It should become available at a fairly reasonable price, too, given that it’s being made by Viltrox.
This is something I’ve been thinking about ever since word broke that Canon essentially ordered Viltrox to stop making autofocus RF mount lenses. In response, Viltrox didn’t just stop making autofocus RF mount lenses, but all RF mount products altogether. Samyang/Rokinon also seems to have faced a similar challenge from Canon last year when they pulled all of their autofocus RF mount lenses.
Is Canon potentially stifling their own growth amongst camera users by doing so, though? I think they probably are and I’m not the only one who thinks so. In a recent and rare opinion video, Christopher Frost made a number of good points about Canon’s potential place in the future mirrorless landscape and they align quite well with some of my own thoughts over the last few weeks.
Canon has previously been very quiet on the topic of 3rd party RF lenses. Last year, all of Samyang’s autofocus RF mount lenses disappeared from the market and just a week ago, so did all of the autofocus RF mount lenses made by Viltrox. Samyang didn’t say a word about why theirs left the market but Viltrox has told customers that they’ve been ordered to stop selling RF mount products by Canon.
Now, a statement from Canon indeed confirms that they told Viltrox to quit selling autofocus RF mount lenses as they believe that they infringe on their patent and design rights. Canona specifically mentions RF lenses with respect to autofocus in the statement, which is something I previously speculated upon, so it appears that we may still be able to continue to see manual focus RF mount lenses from third parties.
If you wondered why major third party lens manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron hadn’t released any RF mount lenses yet, this might explain it. It seems that Canon is being a bit heavy-handed when it comes to those manufacturers that do. At least, that’s the case according to Viltrox who told a customer that Canon has told them specifically to stop selling “all RF mount products”.
The statement came from Viltrox in an Instagram conversation when a user enquired as to why he couldn’t download the firmware for Viltrox RF lenses from the Viltrox website. Viltrox said that Canon told them to stop selling RF products. A screenshot was posted to the DPReview forums by user EJ Fudd. This might also explain why Samyang’s RF mount autofocus lenses suddenly disappeared last year, too.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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