Introduction
The Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is a very fast standard prime lens for Sony Alpha full-frame mirrorless cameras.
It can also be used on APS-C sensor Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, where it provides a 75mm equivalent focal length.
The optical construction is comprised of 15 elements in 11 groups, including one ultra-precisionm aspherical (UA) element, three extra-low diespersion elements (ED) to help reduce chromatic aberrations and color fringing and eight high-refractive (HR) elements.
It offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.45m / 17.72in. with a maximum magnification of 0.145x and has an 11-blade circular aperture which creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas of the image.
There’s also a manual aperture ring that can be de-clicked for si…
Introduction
The Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is a very fast standard prime lens for Sony Alpha full-frame mirrorless cameras.
It can also be used on APS-C sensor Sony E-mount mirrorless cameras, where it provides a 75mm equivalent focal length.
The optical construction is comprised of 15 elements in 11 groups, including one ultra-precisionm aspherical (UA) element, three extra-low diespersion elements (ED) to help reduce chromatic aberrations and color fringing and eight high-refractive (HR) elements.
It offers a minimum focusing distance of 0.45m / 17.72in. with a maximum magnification of 0.145x and has an 11-blade circular aperture which creates an attractive blur to the out-of-focus areas of the image.
There’s also a manual aperture ring that can be de-clicked for silent video shooting, a customisable Function button, a Dual HyperVCM motor for fast auto-focusing, a USB-C firmware update port, a protective water and smudge-resistant front coating and an all-metal construction with built-in dust and moisture resistance and a durable brass-plated lens mount.
The Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO lens is available now priced at around £525 / $550 in the UK and the US, respectively. This lens is made in China.
Ease of Use
Weighing in at 800g and measuring 84.5mm in diameter and 111mm in length, the all-metal bodied Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is about par for the course in terms of its size and weeight for such a fast, 35mm full-frame lens.
Its overall dimensions and weight make it well-suited to a camera like the Sony Alpha 7CR that we tested it with, as shown in the photos below, even with the supplied hood attached.
Compared to the Sony 50mm F1.4 GM, which is one of the lightest and most compact 50mm f/1.4 prime lenses that we’ve ever tested with a weight of 516g and length of 9.6cm, the Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is 1.5cm longer and 284g heavier. On the other hand, it is much cheaper at around 1/3rd of the price of the hybrid metal and engineering plastic bodied Sony equivalent.
Compared to the Sigma 50mm f1.4 DG HSM Art, which is one of the biggest and heaviest 50mm f/1.4 prime lenses that we’ve ever tested with a weight of 910 grams and length of 12.6cm, the Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is 1.5cm shorter and 110g lighter.
The build quality is of this lens excellent, with the all-metal barrel construction and matte black finish adding to the premium feel. It has a sealed dust and moisture resistant design, although Viltrox stops short of saying that it’s 100% weather-proof, and the front element features a water and smudge-resistant coating.
It has a supposedly more durable brass-plated lens mount and it accepts 77mm filters via metal threads on the front of the lens.
This lens features an aperture ring that has 1/3EV stops ranging from f/1.4 to f/16 and an Auto setting.
There is a Click switch on the bottom-right of the lens barrel lets you select whether the aperture ring clicks into place at each aperture stop or rotates smoothly for silent operation during movie recording.
There is a round, clicky, unmarked customisable Function which can be programmed to quickly access various functions from within the camera.
There is a fairly wide, ridged focus ring. Manual focusing is possible by using the focus mode switch to toggle between AF and MF.
There are no hard stops at either end of the range, making it a little more difficult to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the economical 58mm filter thread doesn’t rotate on focus.
The lens utilizes a Dual HyperVCM motor to provide quiet and smooth auto-focusing, making it very well-suited to shooting video.
When it comes to auto-focusing, the Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO proved to be an almost silent, fairly quick performer on the Sony A7CR camera that we tested it with.
We didn’t experience very much "hunting", either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time, but it’s not as quick to find and lock onto the focus point as rival Sony lenses.
This lens does not feature optical image stabilisation, so it relies on the camera body’s own built-in stabilisation, which is fine unless you’re an owner of an early Sony Alpha camera.
One other significant feature is the USB-C Firmware Upgrade Port which as the name suggests allows you to update the lens directly using Viltrox software, rather than via a camera body.
This lens is commendably supplied with both a soft case and a good quality plastic petal-shaped lens hood (PL-68A).
Focal Range
The 50mm focal length provides an angle of view of 47 degrees on a 35mm full-frame camera.
Chromatic Aberrations
Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as blue or purple fringes along contrasty edges, were not very apparent in our test shots, only appearing in very high contrast areas. The example below shows the worst-case scenario.
Vignetting
With the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/1.4, there is some light fall-off in the corners as you’d expect, requiring you to stop down by at least 3 f-stops to prevent it completely.
Distortion
There’s just some slight barrel distortion evident in both the JPEG and RAW files.
Sunstars and Flare
The Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO is capable of producing quite nice sunstars when stopped-down to f/16, as shown below.
The lens is susceptible to flare when shooting directly into the sun, though, even with the supplied lens hood fitted, but it’s mostly well-controlled.
Macro
The Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO isn’t claimed to be a macro lens, but it does usefully offer a minimum focusing distance of 45cm with a maximum magnification of 0.145x. The following examples demonstrate how close you can get to your subject.
Bokeh
Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc.
In the AF 50mm F1.4 PRO lens, Viltrox have employed an iris diaphragm with 11 circular blades, which has resulted in very appealing bokeh for a standard prime lens.
We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we’ve included several examples below for your perusal.
Sharpness
In order to show you how sharp the Viltrox AF 50mm F1.4 PRO lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.