Viltrox has been making waves in the lens arena for some time now, but its LAB series, a new push into professional-grade optics, takes the company’s ambitions up a notch (or two). The Viltrox Lab 135mm f/1.8 aims to deliver professional performance at a very low price. Does it deliver the goods?
One way to make a lens optically brighter is to make it physically larger. By increasing the size of the lens and, subsequently, the image circle, you can achieve your desired focal length and aperture while using more of the central part of the image circle. This helps with sharpness and vignetting but at the cost of weight and size. I’m not sure if Viltrox is doing exactly this with their Lab 135mm, but the lens is a beast.
The Viltrox LAB series lenses are designed to compete with top-end lenses from major manufacturers, such as Sony’s G Master, Nikon’s S line and Canon’s L series. It’s important to note that at $899, the 135mm is less than half the price of the Sony 135mm f/1.8G Master with which it directly competes. Can an affordable lens deliver world-class results and be worth the extra money?
Viltrox Lab 135mm f/1.8 review: How it feels
How the Viltrox feels is heavy as hell. At 45.9 ounces (1,300 g), the Viltrox weighs the same as a professional 70-200 f/2.8 lens. The weight isn’t flaky, but you do feel it after a day of shooting. However, the huge physical dimensions are sometimes difficult to manage, and my thin fingers felt uncomfortably squeezed between the body and the lens. An 82mm filter is required in front of the lens, although this is also on par with the G Master.
The manual focus ring is smooth, and I had no problems getting precise focus. It also has a simple AF/MF switch, a focus limiter, and two customizable buttons. There is an LCD on the top of the lens, which gives the distance scale, focus distance and aperture scale. Lag isn’t too bad, and the display is easy to see, but there’s no option to display an indication of depth of field. Overall, the lens feels very solid and well built, and the lens has full weather seals.
However, I was disappointed with the aperture ring, as the click-stops are poorly indexed, and it takes two to three clicks for each half-stop of aperture. This is precise and annoying, and I’m not sure why Wiltrox chose to do this. A click per half or third stop increment would be much more useful. You can set the ring to rotate smoothly; That’s when I would prefer to do that instead.
If the aperture ring is rotated all the way to the right, it engages auto aperture, where the body now controls the setting. However, there is no locking switch or even hard click to ensure that the setting stays in position, so if you turn the ring a bit, you unexpectedly end up at a very tight aperture instead. Will shoot.
Viltrox Lab 135mm f/1.8 review: How it shoots
Inside the 135mm lens, you’ll find twin VCM motors, which produce a slight whirring sound when focusing, but are quick and accurate. I still think the Sony focuses faster and is the better choice if you want to shoot a lot of specific sharp action. For portraits, this is not an issue. All of Sony’s advanced in-camera autofocusing modes work flawlessly with the Viltrox.
Macro capability isn’t stellar on any fast portrait prime lens, but the Viltrox can achieve a 1:4 life-size reproduction ratio. It focuses out to about 28 inches (0.7 m), giving plenty of working distance, and is excellent for tight portrait details like eyes. Most importantly, the results are very sharp even when the Viltrox 135mm is at its minimum distance.
The lens occasionally shows flare and ghosting, but it’s not a big deal, and there’s also a bit of LoCA to be found. This LoCA shows a slight blue/yellow split between background and foreground, but the amount is minor, and the Sony G Master suffers a similar amount.
Bokeh was particularly good thanks to the 11-bladed aperture. There’s a small cat’s eye at f/1.8, and it goes away completely by f/2.8. The specular highlights are nice and round, with no onion rings and only a slight soap bubble effect. Overall, I found the Bokeh smooth and pleasant, which is essential for the shallow depth of field of a lens like the 135mm.
The sharpness of the Viltrox 135mm f/1.8 LAB lens really impressed me. At f/1.8, the center is bright, contrasty and sharp. Stopping the lens down has minimal impact as it is already very fine when wide open.
As far as the corners, there is some vignetting at f/1.8, but detail is good, though softer than in the centre. Stopping down to f/4 removes vignetting and sharpens the lens in the corners. To keep it simple, the Viltrox is equivalent to the Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM.
Viltrox Lab 135mm f/1.8 review: Optical excellence on a budget
Viltrox has managed to create a lens that can easily compete with the best in the business at an impressively low price. The only things the lens gives up are some questionable design choices with the aperture ring and a very large and heavy body. I would happily use the Viltrox for any photography due to the excellent optical performance, but I did not enjoy the feel of tight fingers and a tight arm. Priced at $899, as long as the extra size doesn’t bother you, there’s no denying the incredible value of this lens.
Are there any alternatives?
Viltrox is currently only made for the Sony E-mount. The Sony 135mm f/1.8 GM is an excellent lens but the price is too high. Samyang also makes an affordable 135mm f/1.8 lens, which I haven’t had a chance to test.
Should you buy it?
Yes. The optics are incredibly good for the money, and the lens works very well. I hope a version will be further refined in the future, but this current lens is excellent value no matter how you slice it.
