Viltrox has been steadily climbing the ranks of 3rd party lens manufacturers lately. One of the reasons for their success is their willingness to come up with unique lenses, not just copying focal lengths and ranges in lenses that mainstream brands already have. With the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 Z-mount lens, Nikon mirrorless users now have an ultrawide full-frame lens that is worth every dollar you’d pay for it
If you visit the Viltrox Z-mount lens page, you’ll see that the lenses they have available are unique. Either in focal length, focal range, aperture (in the case of prime lenses), or a combination of these. That gives Nikon mirrorless camera owners the leeway to pick and choose lenses that aren’t available from not just Nikon themselves, but also other 3rd party brands. And to the best of my knowledge, all but one of them (Viltrox MF 20mm F1.8 Full-Frame Lens for Nikon Z-Mount) are currently autofocus lenses. The addition of the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 to their Z-mount lineup is a welcome one. I remember when I first tested the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 Sony E-mount lens, the performance and image quality just blew me away:
“The autofocus on the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 lens is blazing quick; the sharpness is incredible for a lens at this price point, and the build quality is exceptional. The distortion? Almost non-existent. Weather sealing? You got it. Want a physical aperture ring? It’s there for you. Worried about your 77m screw-on filters being left unused? Not anymore; this lens has no bulbous front element. In short, Viltrox may have just created the perfect ultrawide lens for amateur and professional photographers and videographers. Currently available for Sony’s FE mount, it’ll soon make its way to more brands’ cameras. This lens could and should have other manufacturers shaking in their boots. It’s a fascinatingly good lens for such an affordable price, and it will tick off all the boxes that many photographers (and videographers) looking for an ultrawide lens would have.”
Below is the updated text to our review.
The Big Picture: Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 Z-mount Review Conclusions
The widest full-frame mirrorless lens currently sold by Nikon is the Nikon Z 14-24mm F2.8 S. The widest full-frame prime lens they sell is the Nikon Z 20mm f1.8 S. The Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 comes in between at a sweet spot, with a wide f1.8 aperture, boasting amazing sharpness even when wide open. You’d easily forget that this is a 3rd party lens when you use it for a while. The build quality is superb, and the autofocus is lightning-quick. In fact it’s got all the qualities of an S-line Z-mount lens at a lesser price point. The addition of an LCD on the top of the lens and two Fn buttons is a welcome bonus. The Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 is a perfect choice for any mirrorless Nikon Z camera looking for an ultra-wide lens with fast autofocus, barely visible distortion, and weather sealing. Take it anywhere you go to grab a unique perspective of the world around you.
I’m giving the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 our Editor’s Choice award. There’s no longer a need to get the E-mount version and add an AF adapter that could potentially slow down autofocus speeds.
Pros
- Exceptional sharpness, even at f1.8
- LCD screen on the top that also acts as a distance scale for manual focus mode
- Low minimum focal distance of 27cm(10 5/8 in).
- Aperture ring with de-click option
- Really quick autofocus
- Weather sealed
- USB-C port for future firmware updates
- Two programmable FN (function) buttons
- Non-bulbous front element allows you to use 77mm screw-on filters.
Cons
- Lens hood still doesn’t come in metal and doesn’t exactly click in place
Gear Used
I used the Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 with my Nikon Zf. A Hoya 77mm UV filter was used during this Z-mount version review. If you love your lenses and want to care for them, you should put a good quality UV filter on there too
For the Innovation, Tech Specs, Ergonomics, Build Quality, Ease of Use and other sections, take a look at our Viltrox AF 16mm f1.8 Sony E-mount article. There’s really nothing to tell these two lenses apart if you put them side by side, except for the mount nomenclature engraved on the lens barrel. The image quality in the Z-mount version is as good as what I saw on the E-mount model I tested.
Extra Image Samples
From day one, The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, lots of folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can make a decision for yourself.
Unedited
Edited
Most of the edits in here were done using the presets made by us. They’re available for purchase and use with Lightroom or Capture One today in our store.
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:
- At the time of publishing this review, Viltrox is not an advertiser with the Phoblographer.
- Our reviews are constantly updated when new firmware comes out. So please expect updates from us in the future if there’s a new firmware for this lens.
- None of the reviews on the Phoblographer are sponsored. That’s against FTC laws and we adhere to them just the same way that newspapers, magazines, and corporate publications do. Others don’t always make declarations.
- Viltrox knows that they cannot influence the site’s reviews. If we don’t like something or if we have issues with it, we’ll let folks know.
- The Phoblographer’s standards for reviewing products have become much stricter. After having the world’s largest database of real-world lens reviews, we choose not to review anything we don’t find innovative or unique, and in many cases, products that lack weather resistance. We’ve also steered away from Micro Four Thirds and APS-C as they’re dying formats. This is a conclusion that even the other members of TIPA agree on. Unless something is very unique, we probably won’t touch it.
- In recent years, brands have withheld NDA information from us or stopped working with us because they feel they cannot control our coverage. These days, many brands will not give products to the press unless they get favorable coverage. In other situations, we’ve stopped working with several brands for ethical issues. Either way, we report as honestly and rawly as humanity allows.
- At the time of publishing, the Phoblographer is the only photography publication that is a member of Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative. We champion human-made art and are frank with our audience. We are also the only photography publication that labels when an image is edited or not.
More can be found on our Disclaimers page.
