Viltrox af 15 mm f/1.7 air review

Viltrox released AF 15 mm f/1.7 air, a wide and sharp APS-C lens with autofocus. This lens is available for Nikon Z, Sony E, and Fuji X. I think it can be especially interesting for Nikon Z shooters, who do not have much dedicated DX lenses, especially Fast Prime. In this review, I test my experience Viltrox AF 15 mm f/1.7 air and will show how it performs.

Disclaimer: I tested this lens on Nikon Z6, which is compulsorily 12MP APS-C camera in crop mode.

Construction and general features

This new Wiltrox is 15 mm f/1.7 is a cute little prime. It is a smooth design with the only control of a smoothly bent focus ring. It has autofocus, which I would say is about average in speed. It is accurate and not slow, but it is not very fast. Here are the original glasses of the lens:

• Mount: Nikon Z DX (also available for Sony E and Fuji X)
• Aperture: F/1.7-F/16
• focal length: 15 mm (22.5 mm FF equivalent)
• Aperture Blade: 9 (goal)
• Construction: 12 elements, 10 groups
• Special elements: 3D elements, 2 high refractive, 2 aspherical
• Minimum focus distance: 0.23 m (9.1 ″) with 0.1x magnification
• Filter Size: 58 mm
• weight: 180 grams (0.4 pounds)
• price: $ 239

It has received a thread of 58 mm like many other Wiltrox Primes, making it easier to swap the filter between them. The lens has such a minimum focus distance of 0.23 meters (9 in).

This lens looks relatively durable and has a metal mount, but it is without sealing. Personally, I do not feel so bad that I rarely used this lens in harsh conditions, but it is something to keep in mind.

Overall, Wiltrox 15 mm f/1.7 feels like a good continuity of some of the last release from the wind Wiltrox: decency -made, a promising set of features, and the perfect for those who want some compact to the lighter journey.

Optical features

My first impression of this lens was quite favorable. But let’s take a look at the very tight center crops of the $ 20 bill to check the sharpness of the center:

We see that there is some tenderness on f/1.7, but the lens becomes very fast at f/2.8. Further stopping for f/5.6 and f/8 produces rising levels Diffraction,

What about corners?

Again, they are slightly soft at f/1.7, getting much better at f/2.8 and also better on f/4. Then f/5.6 and narrow, they become a little soft again. So for a very thick constructive, it seems that this is the best limit for this lens between f/2.8-f/4, with f/4 a sweet place.

In practice, F/1.7 is a very useful aperture, although you can definitely notice minor improvements when stopping down.

Now let’s take a look at the shot of a flat grid:

Some paper-kuring at the corners, waving slightly with the pincoan distortion, but not too bad. There is also a relatively high amount of vignetting, which is ideal for recent lenses of viltrox and a compromise for the mild weight of the lens. It becomes a little better, but not too much. You will definitely need to correct it slightly in the post in some cases.

Now see Bokeh on a very busy background of focus branches and trees on three apertures:

It remains very round even when it is closed. not bad!

So far, things look good for this lens. You must be thinking, are there any serious weaknesses? There is one that can be modest or not depends on how you intend to use it: Flaving. In some cases the frame can find some unusual flowing flowing in the form of a straight, thin line – with a bright, concentrated light in the frame:

It does not occur in all shots, and feels when the sun or slightly outs up near the edge of the frame. I suspect that a part of the problem can be resolved by a slightly long hood on the part of the Wiltrox; I really succeeded in blocking it with my finger without blocking the image. In my opinion, this can be a concern for landscape photographers, as it is not very easy to remove in the post.

Other main negative side lenses lack VR or optical stabilization, especially since all current Nikon Z APS-C cameras lack image stabilization.

conclusion

After using this lens for a few weeks, I found that it is a very good 15 mm lens. This is not correct, but its MSRP of $ 239 means that it is a solid contender for Nikon APS-C users who require this focal length. I think it can be a great journey and a vologging lens. Although it has some flare issues, its proper sharpness and good bokeh means that it performs sufficiently well in most situations.

If you are interested in this lens, please consider buying it through the affiliated link given below. This will not spend anything extra to you and it supports one of the remaining independent photography websites on the Internet:

1. Buy it from B&H photo for $ 239 – Nikon Z
2. Buy it from B&H photo for $ 239 – Sony e
3. Buy it from B&H photo for $ 239 – Fuji x