Gear Review: Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 Z

Who?

Viltrox is a relatively new player in the realm of third-party (relatively) low-cost lenses. They’ve been around since 2009 and their visibility is increasing thanks to the quality, especially their glass for Astro landscape photography. Viltrox manufactures lenses for Nikon, Fuji, Sony, and Canon. Check their website for your particular camera.

This is the second Viltrox I have purchased. I own the 40mm f/2.5 lens I often use on my H-alpha converted Nikon Z6. This little lens is impressive for Astro landscapes.

Acadia National Park

📷 – Nikon Z6 h-alpha | 🔘 – Viltrox 40mm | 🎞 – ISO 4000 | 🔘 – f/2.5 | 🕒 – 13 second⁠s

Viltrox 16mm f/1.8

I picked up this lens after purchasing the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 Z mount. I love Rokinon glass, although you work for a sharp glass. Yes, work. You become the second-tier quality control department. Rokinon makes great inexpensive lenses but their quality control department leaves much to be desired. When buying a Rokinon/Samyang lens (they are one and the same company), it is critical to test the lens thoroughly,

Focused stars are a litmus test on the quality of a lens.

Astro landscapes require lenses that are sharp and have minimal coma aberrations. The first Rokinon I purchased was the F mount 14mm f/2.8 manual focus lens. It took 4 tries to get a sharp lens, but gosh, it was worth the pain. At the time I paid $249 (on sale) and it is a razor-sharp glass, edge to edge. It is a favorite lens in my kit.

Rokinon/Samyang are well known in the Astro photography arena, both for deep space and landscape applications. They are also well known for their QC issues. However, don’t let that stop you from buying their lenses. A little pain is worth a sharp, fast lens on the cheap. Gear review on the Rokinon 14mm f.2.8 Z.

First Impressions

The lens is similar in size to the Nikkor S 20mm f/1.8 Z lens. The Viltrox is a bit heavier. Like the Nikkor S 20mm lens, it can take a 77mm filter. It has a removable hood that can be reversed for storage. It comes with a soft lens pouch, a manual, a USB-C cable, and a warranty card. The lens feels good in your hand. It possesses the feel of high-quality craftsmanship.

The hood is a bit finicky to attach. I do wish it had a click/lock feature like the Nikkor S 20mm. That would be handy when setting up the lens in the dark so you have a tactile confirmation the hood is locked in.

It has an LCD that displays the focus mode, aperture, and the distance of the focus point on the subject. Neat feature. The LCD is rather bright so if you are shooting astro landscapes, you may want to put a piece of gaffer tape over it. It didn’t bother me over much when I used it though.

The aperture ring feels solid and operates smoothly. The aperture is manually adjustable and can also be placed in automatic mode by moving the ring to the “A”. This will let the camera control the aperture setting.

The lens has a switch on the barrel that controls whether the aperture ring clicks into the stops or is free-rotating to further refine the aperture.

On the opposite side of the barrel are 2 function buttons and the switch for focus. One locks auto-focus or manual focus and the function buttons pertain to the distance preset.

The lens has a USB-C port whereby you can update the lens firmware. This is a great feature to have in a third-party auto-focus lens. This helps keep the lens functioning in the future with the cameras it is built for. The firmware can be updated via PC or Mac.

Focusing

This is an autofocus lens. It focuses fast and smoothly. However, for astro landscape photographs, manual focus is in order.

For help in focusing stars, I use the Focus on Stars filter to fine-tune the focus. The calibration pattern is clean and sharp as you can see in this screenshot from Adobe Camera Raw. This is zoomed in at 100%.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16mm | 🎞 – ISO 4000 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 5 second⁠s. Single frame.

This Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 is sharp and fast. It has minimal coma and chromatic aberration. The image from my backyard zoomed in at 100%.

In the Field

Here are a few photographs I’ve captured with this lens.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16mm | 🎞 – ISO 360 | 🔘 – f/6.3 | 🕒 – 1/800 second⁠

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16mm | 🎞 – ISO 6400 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 5 second⁠s. Single frame.

Unedited raw file detail and the processed final image.

A Milky Way scene with a bright spotlight behind me creating a funky-looking foreground. Nonetheless, the stars look real good.

📷 – Nikon Z9 | 🔘 – Viltrox 16mm | 🎞 – ISO 6400 | 🔘 – f/1.8 | 🕒 – 5 second⁠s. Single frame.

Yay or Nay

The Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 Z is a great lens. It is ideal for Astro landscape photographers providing a fast aperture and excellent sharpness with minimal coma aberration. It is a fast-focusing, well-made prime lens. Like the Rokinon, this Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 is a budget-friendly lens. The 16mm focal length provides a super-wide angle of view that is perfect for architecture and all sorts of applications. Its use of 77mm filters is another bonus.

For the price of under $600, this lens gives you a lot of bang for the buck.

Step up Rokinon, you have a challenger in town.

Focus on Stars Filter Review

How to focus stars.

Gear review on the Rokinon 14mm f.2.8 Z.

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