The Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Z is a full frame ultra wide-angle large aperture autofocus prime lens For Nikon Z-mount cameras. It could be used for astrophotography, landscape, architectural photography as well as video shooting.
Key features
- ✅16mm ultra-wide angle,F1.8 large aperture
- ✅LCD IPS full color screen
- ✅Custom function buttons Fn1,Fn2
- ✅CLICK aperture ring ON/OFF switch
- ✅Designed with AF/MF switch key
- ✅Non-bulb design,filter size φ77mm
- ✅15 elements in 12 groups (4 ED, 3 ASPH)
- ✅Efficient dust-proof structure
- ✅Auto focus STM+ Lead screw stepper motor
- ✅Support firmware update
- ✅Size: φ85.2*105mm, Weight ≈565g
Size & Weight
The lens weighs in at 565g which makes it reasonably lightweight and compact.
Above you can see the physical size of the lens when attached to a Nikon Z9.
The lens is reasonably compact given its focal length and F stop.
Build Quality
For a lens at this price, it is solidly made and well-constructed.
The physical operation of the focus and iris rings is smooth and they have a nice amount of resistance.
Above you can see how the manual aperture works.
I like the large focus grip on the lens.
Other Features
There are two function buttons that you can assign, as well as color LCD display. I found the color LCD screen to be a bit of a novelty, but some people may find it useful.
The front filter diameter is 77mm and there is a USB-C interface for firmware updates.
The breathing effect is claimed to be well controlled. There is also a click less aperture.
The 16mm F1.8 also comes with a lens hood.
What is interesting is that Viltrox is showing the lens on a DJI Ronin 4D, but at least to my knowledge, there isn’t a Z-mount available for that camera.
Optical Design
The optical construction of the AF 16mm F1.8 Z consists of 15 elements in 12 groups, with three built-in aspherical lenses. The 3 aspherical lenses are claimed to accurately reproduce point light sources, and effectively suppress coma.
Sharpness
The lens is very sharp, even when used wide open at F1.8. Even out at the edges of frame it still remains reasonably sharp. The lens actually surprised me, because I wasn’t expecting it to be as sharp as it was, especially for a 16mm ultra wide full frame lens. The edge sharpness is impressive for a lens at this price.
I shot the tests in 8K UHD (7680 x 4329) on a Nikon Z9.
Lens Breathing
Above you can see a quick test to show how the focus breathing of the 16mm F1.8 when using manual focus. For a wide-angle stills lens you wouldn’t expect much breathing and that is certainly the case with the Viltrox.
No lens technically has zero breathing, but very good cinema glass has such minimal amounts that it is virtually impossible to see. What you will normally see is some perspective shift which is normal when refocusing a lens.
Image shift is the change in location of a fixed point after a focus rack. It should be in the same spot after you rack focus.
Perspective shift is the focal length of the lens being modified by the movement of the optics. A slight change in focal length may happen if there is a floating element that moves and is not properly corrected for in the design. Certainly, the great majority of lenses have this issue. It’s also tenths of a mm so not overly noticeable.
Focus breathing is a change in image size so the size of the object will get larger as it moves out of frame. That is reproduction size.
In summary, perspective shift is the effective focal length change (angle of view change) and focus shift is the reproduction size of the object changing as focus moves. Think of it like Macro. A macro lens can be 1:1 life-size reproduction but as you focus it can change the reproduction size. That is focus shift from intentional breathing design. The angle of view is not overly affected in that case because it is flat field focus. On spherical lenses, the angle of view does change slightly as you focus rack thus making for perspective/angle of view shift.
Lens Flare
The lens flare isn’t particularly pretty, but the lens does maintain very good contrast even when a direct light source is aimed straight down the barrel.
There is a bit of veiling and I preferred the flare once you started to stop the lens down.
Even Illumination?
I did find that the lens is noticeably brighter in the center of the image and that you do get slightly darker corners out toward the edge of the frame.
In saying that, it wasn’t anything that I found overly distracting.
Real World Use
The lens performs well. While it doesn’t have a lot of interesting optical characteristics it’s very sharp and clean. Having the ability to shoot at F1.8 on an ultra-wide angle lens can be very handy, especially in low light environments.
The lens is also a good option when used on a gimbal.
I actually used it to shoot a lot of content in a cropped APS-C mode on the Z9 as I felt that 16mm was too wide in the full frame mode when shooting people.
Being a 16mm full-frame prime, the lens is suitable for extremely wide shots and when you need to shoot wide in lower light environments.
AF Performance
The quiet STM stepping motor is claimed to provide the high driving force required for precise autofocus and tracking, and the lens also supports face and eye tracking when using Z-mount cameras.
I found that the lens performed reasonably well when it came to AF when using it on a Z9.
Price & Availability
The Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Z retails for $580 USD.
- US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G3YT12K
- CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00G3YT12K
- AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00G3YT12K
- DE: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00G3YT12K
- Pergear: https://www.pergear.com/products/viltrox-af-16mm-f-1-8
Competition
The lens doesn’t really have any direct competition, because to my knowledge, no one else makes a 16mm F1.8 AF, but below are some lenses that could be considered competition.
| PRICE | |
| Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Z | $580 USD |
| Rokinon 14mm f/2.8* | $369.95 USD |
| 7artisans Photoelectric 15mm f/4* | $299 USD |
| Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D | $649 USD |
| Venus Optics Laowa 14mm f/4 FF RL* | $449 USD |
| NiSi 15mm f/4 Sunstar ASPH | $479 USD |
| Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical III* | $549 USD |
*manual focus only
Conclusion
The Viltrox AF 16mm F1.8 Z is a good option if you are looking for an affordable full-frame ultra-wide AF lens for a Nikon Z camera. It is nice and sharp and it is very fast for a wide-angle prime.
Lenses like this can be quite niche, especially for anyone shooting video, but they can be a nice addition to your kit as they allow you to get a very wide shot which is handy in certain situations. I say niche because a lot of people shooting video with mirrorless hybrids would prefer a wide zoom.
While it does suffer from some edge darkness and the flare isn’t particularly pleasing, all in all, it is a solid offering that provides good results for a very low price.
