Yeah you're always giving up "something" when you're making a lens. Jack Flesher wrote:
Aperture or f-stop is a fixed, calculated value based on focal length divided by the maximum aperture diameter.
T stops are the actual transmission value of an individual lens. Most lenses will vary somewhat in T value, primarily because of number of elements. Any better and fast lenses will have several extra internal elements over a slower counterpart. It's how they get them to perform so well optically. It seems Viltrox is in line with this and giving up some actual light transmission for excellent performance wide open. The old axiom in lens designing is, there's no free lunch...
I ended up picking up a nice used copy of the Sigma 30mm f1.4. It will likely not be as sharp as the Viltrox 27mm f1.2, but it looks like it will perform slightly better in low light, which is my priority.
If I absolutely need “f1.2 low light performance” I can always lug around my Sony 50mm f1.2.
Sounds like we are in a similar boat in that you don't mind focal length overlap or a little bit of redundancy in tools on paper, as there can always be another horse for a different course in the stable (even when some of the overlap is within the same system).
I shoot primarily Sony with a few of their FF offerings, Canon RF, and Fuji. They each have their own place depending on what I'm shooting, and how I feel like shooting them that particular day.
Personally, even if a piece of equipment isn't absolutely necessary to have around because I have other options that overlap, I'll keep it around just because I like it. The Viltrox 27 is one of those pieces. I paid about the same amount of money for that lens as of one of my CFExpress cards, so it's not like it was a huge investment. Putting that factor aside, it's just a really high IQ lens that there is no real native Fuji equivalent for. There's certainly stuff that will get you in the ballpark, but that's not truly equivalent.
I've had mine for a bit and previously shared my thoughts in further detail and a bunch of image samples in another thread from last year. In a nutshell, autofocus performance is pretty solid compared to Viltrox's earlier offerings, price point is stellar (especially used), super sharp and has a nice look, has WR, and while large, isn't as bad as I anticipated. I've also added a Haoge square metal hood which reduces the overall length by a pretty decent amount (and tested plenty without seeing any hit to IQ).
All that being said, I also keep the Fujicrons around for when I want to be as compact as possible, or the FF equivalents for the other systems like the Sigma 35/1.2 when I want to go big. Sounds like you might be like me. If that is true, I don't think you'll regret picking up these Viltrox lenses, as they are definitely very useful and bring a lot to the table.
If this is aimed at me I have already purchased both Viltrox lenses and have used them at a few events. They get the job done. JohnDizzo15 wrote:
Sounds like we are in a similar boat in that you don't mind focal length overlap or a little bit of redundancy in tools on paper, as there can always be another horse for a different course in the stable (even when some of the overlap is within the same system).
I shoot primarily Sony with a few of their FF offerings, Canon RF, and Fuji. They each have their own place depending on what I'm shooting, and how I feel like shooting them that particular day.
Personally, even if a piece of equipment isn't absolutely necessary to have around because I have other options that overlap, I'll keep it around just because I like it. The Viltrox 27 is one of those pieces. I paid about the same amount of money for that lens as of one of my CFExpress cards, so it's not like it was a huge investment. Putting that factor aside, it's just a really high IQ lens that there is no real native Fuji equivalent for. There's certainly stuff that will get you in the ballpark, but that's not truly equivalent.
I've had mine for a bit and previously shared my thoughts in further detail and a bunch of image samples in another thread from last year. In a nutshell, autofocus performance is pretty solid compared to Viltrox's earlier offerings, price point is stellar (especially used), super sharp and has a nice look, has WR, and while large, isn't as bad as I anticipated. I've also added a Haoge square metal hood which reduces the overall length by a pretty decent amount (and tested plenty without seeing any hit to IQ).
All that being said, I also keep the Fujicrons around for when I want to be as compact as possible, or the FF equivalents for the other systems like the Sigma 35/1.2 when I want to go big. Sounds like you might be like me. If that is true, I don't think you'll regret picking up these Viltrox lenses, as they are definitely very useful and bring a lot to the table....Show more →
So, not having any hard data, but knowing that it appears that the Viltrox 27mm F1.2 suffers from poor light transmission, I went with the Sigma 30mm F1.4. I shoot in environments where I need a moderately fast shutter speeds, and I care more about light transmission than I do shallow depth of field. That makes sense, right?
I had a small intimate Catholic wedding this week and I just received the church’s “Photographer Rules”. It stipulates that my camera cannot make any noise. I have a couple of A7RIV’s that have nicely dampened shutter, but will be annoyingly loud in a quiet church. They also have very poor electronic shutters.
This church has fluorescent lighting on the sides of the sanctuary, and canned LED lighting above that I’m confident will cause banding on shutter speeds above 1/125th.
This got me thinking, I could just use my X-T5’s. The mechanical shutter is so soft and quiet that I don’t need worry about noise! What could go wrong?
So... that Sigma 30mm f1.4 is garbage in this situation. It's a little soft, but that's fine. The issue is the purple fringing on every contrasting surface. It's horrible. Everywhere near the bride's dress is purple. The white shirt against the groom's black suit jacket is purple. I showed my wife and she thinks the photos are fine, and I'm just being dramatic, but I can't not see purple everywhere...
I went on Facebook Marketplace and found a guy selling both his Viltrox 27mm f1.2 and 75mm f1.2, and we settled on $675 for both. They are both in perfect condition. They are a little on the big side, but for work I don't really care. My Sony kit is significantly bigger and heavier.
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I set up a test environment and compared all my comparable in focal length lenses to see the differences in exposure with normalized image brightness. ISO was at 125 for all images.
The lenses compared:
Viltrox 27mm f1.2
Sigma 30mm f1.4
Fuji 27mm f2.8
Fuji 35mm f2
Tamron 17-70 f2.8 @ 28mm
Viltrox 75mm f1.2
Fuji 56mm f1.2 (Ver. 1)
The data:
The Viltrox 27mm f1.2 does really well! It doesn't suffer from poor light transmission. At worst I would say it has " slightly below average/average" light transmission. It's comparable to the Sigma at f1.4 and just behind the group at f2 and f2.8.
The Viltrox 75mm f1.2 is comparable to the Fuji 56mm f1.2 in light transmission as well.
The image quality is on a completely different level. The Viltrox lenses are outstanding.
(for reference these are at or near 100%, and the test chart wheel is in the center of the image)
Viltrox 27mm and Sigma 30mm at f1.4:
Fuji 56mm and Viltrox 75mm at f1.2:
I got the Sigma used for $200 and will probably try to sell it for that much. I bet it wasn't a bad lens on a 24/26 megapixel sensor. 40 megapixels is just a little too demanding.
I write for Wirecutter and just finished up a year of testing over 60 X-mount lenses for a new guide. The 27 and 75 will be our top picks for normal and portrait lens, respectively. (We're also recommending the Fuji 35/2 and Sigma 56/1.4 for lightweight alternatives.) But yeah, they're excellent/
deadwolfbones wrote:
I write for Wirecutter and just finished up a year of testing over 60 X-mount lenses for a new guide. The 27 and 75 will be our top picks for normal and portrait lens, respectively. (We're also recommending the Fuji 35/2 and Sigma 56/1.4 for lightweight alternatives.) But yeah, they're excellent/
That Sigma 56mm f1.4 has replaced my Fuji 56mm 1.2. Not as sharp and contrasty as the Viltrox, but significantly superior to the original 56mm f1.2. It’s tiny and easy to bring around! When is the guide coming out?
