The Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.4 XF Lens costs $329, which is the lower price than fuji's 50mm F2. It is well liked by many portrait photographers because of their colors and image quality. It also suits photographers who has a tight budget.
$10 OFF for the Viltrox 56mm, discount code ViltroxAF56
The Viltrox 56mm lens on an aps-c camera is the full-frame equivalent of 84mm. It has a f1.4, the maximum aperture, which is ideal for portrait or subject photography and gives you tight field of view and deeply autofocus background. F1.4 as a great feature of the viltrox 56mm can allow lots of lights let in when shooting in a darker condition.
For its build quality, the lens itself, the high-quality camera lens, feels much more metallic. Weighing 290 grams, it is easy to carry around when travelling and working outside. Open its crack, there is a USB port at its back, which allows you to updated the firmware and renew your lens.
Compared with other lens with click control ring, the 56mm f1.4 lens have click-less on its control ring. It is no a big deal. Some people like tactile feel, but others don’t. Honestly speaking, the control ring turns smoothly when it turns to the automatic mode. When using the lens to shoot video, the Viltrox 23mm has a good performance and its focus ring turns smoothly and responds well while 56mm hunt a little bit before locking onto your subject.
Then Let’s talk about image quality. At f1.4 in the middle of image, we will see a good level of sharpness and contrast，as well as a little purple fringing on the contrasting edges. When at f2, the lens’s sharpness stays the same but the contrast has a little stronger. When at f2.8, the f2.8 has an excellent performance but the corner looks a tiny sharper. When stop down to the f11, there is a little softness creeping in because of diffraction overall.
In the widest aperture, fuji’s 50mm and 56mm will be better and sharper than the viltrox 56mm. However, you need to pay extra money. Its distortion and vignetting also have a good performance. The lens has some pin cushion distortion and at f1.4, there is a little mild vignetting and the corners don’t look too dark. At f2, the vignetting disappears. At f2, it is excellent in dealing with vignetting.
Let’s look at its close-up image quality. Because of the lens’s distance of 60cm in its minimum focus, it is so nice to your shooting subject when shooting at f1.4. At f2, the close-up image quality looks a bit of dark and punchier. At f2.8, it is much sharper when shooting close-up pictures.
Let’s look at its bokeh. When you take a picture, it is nice to see the picture’s backgrounds and all of them are so smooth. For its longitudinal chromatic aberration, at f1.4, it is a little stronger than usual. Then bokeh highlights turn blue. At f2, it turns red.
Overall, the Viltrox 56mm f1.4 lens performs well. The 56mm lens is very sharp and has low vignetting, nice bokeh and nice contrast.
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