Introduction

The “Evo” series is a new lineup of Viltrox lenses positioned between the “Pro” and “Air” lineups. This series seems to combine the build quality and controls of the “Pro” lenses with a slightly slower maximum aperture like the “Air” lenses while maintaining very high image quality – similar to the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar series or Sigma’s Contemporary primes. Let’s find out what the first entry of this series – the Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo FE – has in store for us.

Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Specifications

This Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo FE has the following specifications:

• • Diameter: 69 mm
  • Length: 72 mm
  • Weight: 338g (without hood [32g], without caps)
  • Field of view: 29.1° (diagonally)
  • Filter Diameter: 58 mm
  • Number of Aperture Blades: 9 (rounded)
  • Elements/Groups: 10/8
  • Close Focusing Distance: 0.73 m
  • Maximum Magnification: 1:7.3 (measured)
  • Mount: Sony E

buy from manufacturer’s shop | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $275

Disclosure

This Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo FE was kindly provided free of charge by Viltrox for reviewing purpose prior to release.

Handling/Build quality

This Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo is the first lens of Viltrox’ Evo lineup. In terms of handling and build quality it is pretty much the same as their Pro lenses though: it features a dedicated de-clickable aperture ring similar in style and function to Sony’s GM and later G lenses, an AF/MF switch and a lens button.

The aperture ring has 1/3 of a stop click stops – which you can declick by using a lever on the right side of the lens.
You can also set the ring to “A”(utomatic) and let the camera choose the aperture value or to be able to use the camera dial to change the aperture value instead of using the aperture ring.

The focus ring has decent damping and a linear coupling. No matter how fast you turn the focus ring it takes a surprisingly long  360° from the minimum focus distance (0.73 m) to infinity.
When you turn your camera off the lens will remember the last focus position and will still be there when you turn the camera on again.

As is the case for many modern AF lenses the focus group moves freely when without power, so when shaking the lens you will notice that focus group moving around. This is normal. Don’t annoy your dealer with complaints that “there is something moving in the lens”.

Unlike the lenses of Viltrox’ LAB series the lenses of the Pro series do not feature a display. Personally I don’t find that display particularly useful and I also prefer the aperture ring design of this Evo and the Pro series as it always shows you what aperture is set right now without having to look at that display.

It also allows to preset the desired aperture when the camera is not turned on yet, which can save crucial time in the heat of the moment.

At the bayonet you can find a USB-C socket and a rubber gasket.

A plasticky bayonet style lens hood is also part of the package. It integrates nice into the design of the lens and can be attached reversed to take up less space.

I am sure this Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo will appeal to those that don’t want one of the big 85mm 1.4 lenses. As can be seen from the picture above it is way smaller than its bigger and faster brother, the Viltrox AF 85mm 1.4 Pro FE.

AF performance

I am not shooting sports or fast moving animals/humans so if you want to know if the lens is fast enough for this, or how it compares to other lenses in this segment, you may have to look for a different review with a more detailed assessment of this aspect.

The AF is very fast and for normal use cases – especially portraiture – it certainly worked well.

Vignetting

light falloff

Most of the lenses with similar specifications we reviewed showed around 2 EV vignetting at their maximum aperture. With 2.4 EV this Viltrox 85mm 2.0 Evo is a bit higher than that but not to a worrying degree and things also improve fast on stopping down.

It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.

optical vignetting

Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.

Here the small size of this lens seems to take its toll, as we see rather strong optical vignetting which already starts in the midframe area. In this category obviously the 85mm 1.4 lenses have an advantage when stopped down to f/2.0. 

As this lens does not make use of any aspherical elements, there are no onion ring structures to be found here.

Sharpness

Focus Shift

This Viltrox 85mm 2.0 Evo does show a low amount of focus shift between f/2.8 and f/4.0 but not enough for the subject to drop out of the focal plane, so nothing to worry about.

infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)

 Long story short: the Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo shows a very good performance in this category. Center and midframe look impeccable from f/2.0, the corners look already good but benefit from stopping down a bit and look best around f/4.0. 

This performance is actually very similar to what we have seen from more expensive lenses like the Nikon Z 85mm 1.8 S.

Keep in mind heat haze can always have a negative impact on the peformance in this category.

portrait distance (2.0 m, 42mp Sony A7rII)

For portraiture it isn’t so important how flat the field is, it is more interesting to see what the sharpness is like when focused at different parts of the frame to take field curvature out of the equation.

This is what I did here, I refocused for every shot and aperture to get the best possible result at different locations in the frame (center, inner midframe and outer midframe).
Focus distance was roughly 2.0 m and the circle of the dollar bill is more or less the size of a human eye.

f/2.0 <————> f/2.8

At portrait distances this Viltrox lens shows an evem more impressive. Already at its maximum aperture its image quality is impeccable, easily on the same level as Voigtländer’s best Apo-Lanthar lenses, Sigma’s f/2.0 Contemporary primes or Sony’s latest G primes. 

close (0.8 m, 1:7.5, 42mp Sony A7rII)

At the minimum focus distance this Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo is just a tiny bit softer at f/2.0, but it still shows an impressive performance.

Flare resistance

As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.

The faster 85mm f/1.4 tele lenses have rarely performed well in this category. This 85mm 2.0 having smaller glass elements might be an advantage though, let’s see for ourselves.

The performance at the maximum aperture is already a positive surprise: no issues with ghosting and even veiling flare is hardly an issue.

Stopped down the performance is similarly impressive. Ghosting again is no problem and I only found one specific angle leading to veiling flare which can be easily avoided by slightly reframing.

All in all a very good performance in this category.

Coma

We saw that in the corners stopping down a bit does improve the image quality and it looks like Coma is the reason for that, as we see some small artefacts at f/2.0 to f/2.8 that are gone on stopping down to f/4.0. For most applications this rather low amount of Coma will hardly be relevant though.

Distortion

This Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo hardly shows any distortion.

Bokeh

Obivously the 85mm 1.4 and 1.2 lenses will create a more impressive bokeh, but not everyone is after a shallow depth ot field as this as possible, so let’s see how this 85mm 2.0 Evo with its more moderate specifications fares.

Close distance

At close distances this Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo renders a very nice bokeh. Optical vignetting (cat’s eye shapes in the corners) is visible, but not to a disturbing or swirly degree.

Mid distance

At mid distances you might want to pay a bit more attention to your backgrounds. When the background is very structured – like in the last example – things get busier. This is true for many of the highly corrected modern lenses and something you will also see with e.g. the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar lenses.

Long distance

At longer focus distances I found this lens to have a slight tendency towards creating double edged structres with structured background, as can be seen in the top and right part of the second picture above.  

For typical portrait applications – especially those where you can choose your background – there really isn’t anything to complain about here though.

However, its predecessor, the Viltrox AF 85mm 1.8 FE does create a much smoother bokeh, at the cost of being a much bigger and heavier lens with worse handling.

Sunstars

It does not seem to me that sunstar rendering was high on Viltrox’ priority list, as even stopped down a lot, the sunstars do not feature rays of even length. If you want to learn more about this topic have a look at this article.

Chromatic aberration

lateral

I did not see any lateral CA with this lens.

longitudinal

• background f/2.0
• f/2.8
• foreground f/2.0
• f/2.8

• 
• 
• 
• 

Sony A7rII | Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo FE | 50% crops

There is hardly any bokeh fringing to be found here, a very good performance.

Also purple fringing does not exist.

Conclusion

good very good contrast and resolution at all distances from f/2.0 bokeh (close to mid distances) CA correction flare resistance low distortion build quality/handling fast and silent AF size/weight

average Coma corerction vignetting

not good

With “Air”, “Pro”, “LAB” and now “Evo” Viltrox has a lot of different lens lineups and I do think they want to make sure that whatever you are looking for, you will be able to find a lens with a Viltrox badge that fits your needs. 

This Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo is clearly a competitor to the Voigtländer Apo-Lanthar lenses and the Sigma Contemporary primes, featuring a moderate f/2.0 maximum aperture but offering a very good correction of most optical aberrations and this lens really delivers, as can be easily seen from the table above.

If you don’t need your 85mm lens to be faster than f/2.0 and you value optical performance higher than having the smoothest bokeh this is a lens you surely should have a look at.

An impressive first entry of Viltrox’ “Evo” series.

buy from manufacturer’s shop | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $275

Sample Images

Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.

Further Reading

• Guide to 85-135mm portrait lenses for Sony FE cameras
• Review: Viltrox AF 16mm 1.8 FE
• Review: Viltrox AF 20mm 2.8 FE
• Review: Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 LAB FE
• Review: Viltrox AF 135mm 1.8 LAB FE

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BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

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