Viltrox AF 16 mm f/1.8 review - Summary

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Viltrox AF 16 mm f/1.8

15 May 2025

Maciej Latałło

11. Summary

Pros:

solid, weather-sealed, stylish casing,
very good image resolution in the frame centre,
sensible image resolution on the edge of the APS-C sensor,
imperceptible longitudinal chromatic aberration,
negligible lateral chromatic aberration,
lack of problems with spherical aberration,
moderate distortion,
fast, silent, and efficient autofocus,
imperceptible focus breathing,
good price/performance and price/quality ratio.

Cons:

huge vignetting,
too high coma,
noticeable problems with the performance against bright light.

After its launch in May 2023 the Viltrox AF 16 mm f/1.8 didn't have any direct rivals for almost two years, being a kind of king, a category of its own. The launch of the Sony FE 16 mm f/1.8G near the end of February 2025 showed that you can produce a lens with the same parameters but physically lighter and optically better.

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Did this fact hurt the Viltrox a lot? Not really. Firstly, compared to the Sony it still has a lot of important assets. It shows, for example, that despite such steep angles of view you still can fight off distortion and do it in an effective way. Secondly, its price tag, amounting to $580 still makes the Viltrox almost two times cheaper than the Sony, with a good price/performance ratio. I don't doubt the tested lens will find a lot of satisfied fans and users.