Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 Lens

Introduction

From the early 1990s until our move to the Sony Mirrorless system in 2014, we used a Nikon 20mm f2.8D lens. Coinciding with our conversion to mirrorless, our beloved 20mm f/2.8D lens decided to call it a day and could no longer be used due to the elements separating inside the lens . So we went on a quest to find an affordable, lightweight, quality lens for our travel photography work. At that time, we could not settle on a replacement that fitted our needs until the Samyang AF 18mm f/2.8 FE lens was released at the end of 2019. The Samyang 18mm f/2.8 is a fantastic lens, and we use it continually at home and when travelling. However, deep down, we still yearned for a 20mm lens. Even though we had our Sony FE 16-35 f/4 lens, which can be used at 20mm, for us there seems to be something magical about the 20mm prime lens – maybe it is just nostalgia 🤔

Viltrox is not a newcomer to the field of photography. The company started in 2009, but mostly manufactured flash lights, flash triggers, shutter remotes, etc. As the mirrorless camera age took off, many photographers shifted from DSLR cameras to Mirrorless; however, many had thousands of dollars invested in great DSLR lenses. Companies like Viltrox concentrated on manufacturing lens adapters so that existing lenses could be used with mirrorless cameras. Since 2018, they progressively started producing camera lenses as lens manufacturers had caught up and offered lenses with a wide variety of lens mounts, making lens adapters less needed. Nevertheless, nowadays, lens adapters are still widely used by photographers who want to adapt a third-party lens to their camera system, particularly those who want to adapt vintage lenses.

Viltrox currently offers a range of prime focal length lenses for X mount ( Fuji), E mount (Sony), Z mount (Nikon), and M mount (Canon). The M-mount lenses are ONLY for APS-C sensor cameras. Back in 2022, Canon demanded that Viltrox cease production of its RF mount lenses for Canon mirrorless models due to an infringement of their intellectual property rights. So at the time of writing, you will not find RF mounts for Viltrox lenses. Viltrox currently does not offer any zoom lenses.

In early 2024, Viltrox announced the AF 20mm f/2.8 lens and from the reviews online from pre-production copies it sounded like an awesome lens for the price. Quite frankly, we didn’t expect a great lens at the price advertised as you usually get what you pay for when it comes to camera lenses. However, we are very easily pleased as we are not the type of photographers who worry about tack-sharp images in the corners at f/2.8. None of our lightweight Samyang lenses are sharp in the corners wide open yet they have served us well over the years. We would not regard this lens as a landscape lens, but instead as a lens for travel, street, environmental portraits, documentary photography, and vloggers, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use this lens for landscapes. 

The Lens

At first glance, the Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 lens looks like a cheap lightweight lens that can hardly be taken seriously. This is a no-frills lens that has only been released for Sony E & Nikon Z mounts. There are no switches on the lens and a wide focus-by-wire ring dominates the barrel. The construction is purely polycarbonate (plastic). In all honesty, we don’t give a rat’s ass about the construction of a lens and neither should you as the optics are the key. The lens includes a soft drawstring bag emblazoned with the Viltrox logo, and a plastic lens hood. The lens hood, unfortunately, and this is one of our pet hates, does not lock into place, although it is a lot more secure than our Laowa 15mm f/2 lens, which is problematic (and it’s a thousand-dollar lens!!). If you are a photographer that constantly pulls your camera in and out of a bag with the 20mm attached you may want to check each time that the lens hood has not moved. The lens also doesn’t have weather sealing, but for the price, we are not surprised. The Samyang Tiny lens series are more expensive than this lens, but except for the AF 35mm f/1.8 FE and AF 24mm f/1.8 FE lens, they also do not have weather sealing.

The lens has a 52mm thread at the front for attaching circular filters. We recommend the *Urth range of filters that we use on all our lenses except for the Samyang 12mm f/2.8 Fisheye and Voigtlander 10mm f/5.6 lenses, which do not accept circular filters. Urth’s slim-rim filters will pair perfectly with this lens while avoiding vignetting. We suggest you refrain from stacking filters on this lens due to the chances of vignetting, even with slim-rim filters.

Now, this might start sounding like a bad lens review but keep reading to discover the merits of this lens, which far outweigh all the negative points above.

Focus

The Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 lens has internal focusing which is always the case for prime lenses. The focusing motor is an STM (Stepper Motor) which is adequate for photos but more suited to video shooting. We found that the focusing is a little sluggish compared to other lenses when shooting stills, especially when using AF-S. We found that the focus was more responsive in AF-C mode. This may be improved with future firmware upgrades. Speaking of which, there is the ability to update the firmware of this lens using a USB-C to USB cord that is not included with the lens. The USB-C connection is at the base of the lens. At the time of writing the current version is V1.1.2 (Sony E) and V1.0.2 (Nikon Z). To check for the latest version click the links.

Aperture

Unlike most lenses. the Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 lens only closes down to f/16 rather than f/22. We don’t find this an issue as no photographer these days should be using f/22 due to the effects of Diffraction. The only benefit of a f/22 aperture is to gain as much depth-of-field as possible and if you want to trade that off against diminished sharpness then this may be a concern for you. Keep in mind that even f/16 on many lenses has diminished sharpness so not sure why lens manufacturers design lenses with f/22. Nevertheless, for the vast majority of photographers, this will not be an issue. 

Vignetting

The Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 lens suffers from quite dark edges and corners when opened wide to f/2.8. We needed a setting of +80 to correct it, which equals about 3 stops of vignetting. This will be improved once the lens profile is applied in post-processing (Lightroom already has a lens profile in its latest update), although stopping down to f/4 will improve it significantly. Darker corners have never been a problem for us, as we typically add a vignette during our processing. Unless you’re in low-light conditions, you’ll usually be shooting at apertures between f/5.6 and f/11, where vignetting is generally not an issue.

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Sharpness

As mentioned above, when you purchase a lens like this, you don’t expect razor-sharp images from corner to corner wide-open at f/2.8. If that’s what you want, consider another lens, but be prepared to pay considerably more. Surprisingly, the Viltrox, in our opinion, performs remarkably well at f/2.8, and if you are not a pixel-peeper, you will be quite satisfied with the results. Stopping down to f/4 will vastly improve the corners, and by f/5.6 and f/8, it will be sharp from corner to corner. Ultimately, the main subject matter is the most important part of the image, and this is where your concerns about sharpness should lie. No one, in their right mind,  looks at the corners of an image, and honestly, if this bothers you, consider another lens or therapy. ​  The sweet spot for this lens is f/5.6 for contrast and sharpness; however, you will still get great results at f/8 and f/11. Diffraction starts kicking in at f/11, although only minimally, while f/16 gets progressively worse.

The Viltrox 20mm f/2.8 is the perfect focal length for vlogging. The lens works seamlessly with the Hohem iSteady MT2 gimbal while giving you a multitude of professional functions including Independent AI Tracking. Click on the banner above to check out their range of gimbals.

Chromatic Aberration, Bokeh, & Flaring

Chromatic Aberration – Surprisingly the chromatic aberrations on this lens are very well controlled. They are minimal when wide open and increase once stopping down but only minimally. Regardless, chromatic aberration is very easily fixed in post-processing.

Bokeh – You don’t buy a lens like this and expect perfect Bokeh. At f/2.8 the bokeh shape is a soft contorted 7-sided circle that becomes more defined as you stop down. Nevertheless, this is not a lens used for the type of shots requiring perfect bokeh so this really should not be a concern. The lens has a minimum distance of 19cm from the subject but even at this distance at f2.8, it is difficult to render the background out of focus, but this is normal for a wide angle lens.

Flare – The lens demonstrates decent flare resistance, though it’s not great. Across all tested apertures, the contrast remains good Overall, we would say the performance is commendable for an inexpensive lens.

Specifications

Price

Sample Images

Below are a few sample images taken with the Viltrox 20mm f/2.8 lens in Greece. If you are on a desktop computer, just hover over the images for a magnified view. All images were taken using the Sony A7Riii Full-Frame sensor mirrorless camera.

Above: Athens, Greece.
20mm  –  f/8  –  1/200  –  ISO100

Above: Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
20mm  –  f/8  –  1/30  –  ISO3200

The Final Word

The Viltrox AF 20mm f/2.8 lens is surprisingly good and comes with a very affordable price tag. It is extremely lightweight and compact. In our opinion, it performs well in all test categories, and although it is not as sharp as lenses from more experienced manufacturers, we believe you still get a lot of bang for your buck with this lens. On the downside, it’s probably the slowest focusing lens we have in our bag; this may be an issue for some. We thought that Viltrox may have added a firmware update for this issue; however, the lens has been released for over a year, and nothing has eventuated at the time of writing.

Although we have not tested the lens for astrophotography, we seriously doubt that this lens, given its price point, will be suitable for lens coma. Therefore, we would not recommend this lens if your primary use is for astrophotography and coma is a primary concern.

For those of you who are more interested in the creativity of an image rather than the quality of the pixels in the corner, this lens should be seriously considered. If you are a photographer seeking premium quality in your images at all apertures, this is NOT the lens for you. Start saving your pennies to invest in a much more expensive lens. As photographers with over 40 years of experience, we have little to complain about with this lens. Personally speaking, we find that the combination of weight, low price, and optical performance far outweighs the negatives, making this lens a pretty attractive option.

Update – The lens was used during a recent 6-week visit to Greece and Italy, and we must admit, the sluggish focusing when in AF-S mode was a little annoying. Nevertheless, we are still happy with the images we were able to capture with the lens. 

RATED: RECOMMENDED