Introduction
We didn’t see many pancake lenses for Sony’s fullframe E-mount cameras that actually deserve that title and when it comes to those featuring auto focus it starts to look really dire. Viltrox comes to rescue by offering this Viltrox AF 28mm 4.5 FE Pancake lens with the nickname “Chip”. As is always the case with such small lenses, there are some quirks to be aware of, so let me walk you through them.
Sample Images
You can find most of the sample images in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications
The Viltrox 28mm 4.5 VCM Asph ED has the following specifications:
-
- Diameter: 60 mm
- Field of view: 73.42° (diagonally)
- Length: 15 mm
- Weight: 58g (without caps)
- Filter Diameter: –
- Number of Aperture Blades: –
- Elements/Groups: 6/6
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.32 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:9.4 (measured)
- Mount: Sony E
A crowdfunding campaign for this lens starts on indiegogo on September 29th.
Later you should also be able to buy it from manufacturer’s shop (use the code “PRnet” for 8% discount) | B&H | ebay.com (affiliate links) for $99
Disclosure
The Viltrox 28mm 4.5 VCM Asph ED was kindly provided free of charge by Viltrox for reviewing purpose for a few weeks prior to release.
Handling/Build quality
Well, there is not a lot to talk about here. This is the first lens I came across so far that features auto focus but cannot be focused manually.
This is also a fixed aperture lens with the only aperture being available is f/4.5. The lens cannot be stopped down further.
The only thing that can be moved on this lens is the lever for opening or closing the built-in lens cap.
You can also see a mask on top of the front element with an octagonal opening. This is supposed to create sunstars despite the lens not having an actual diaphragm, more on that in the corresponding section.
As this is an auto focus lens it features electronic contacts. To my surprise it also features an USB-C socket for potential firmware updates.
As you can also see here, the rear element is way bigger than the tiny front element.
The auto focus performance was generally good and also fast. At times I would have wished to be able to override it manually though, which isn’t possible with this lens due to the lack of a manual focus ring.
As is common with modern auto focus lenses the optical block moves freely when the lens has no power.
Vignetting
Light falloff
I was hoping the big rear element helps to tame the vignetting, but I still measure 2.9 EV, which is certainly noticeable in the field. The Brightin Star 23mm 5.6 showed 2.6 EV, the Funleader 18mm 8.0 an even stronger 3.9 EV. The Funleader x Brightin Star 28mm 2.8 XSlim Pro is at an advantage here as it features a diaphragm (2.9 EV at f/2.8, 1.6 EV at f/11).
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
The vignetting is easily visible in real world pictures, as can be seen from the sample above.
Color cast
Some wide angle lenses, especially very small ones, show a bit of a color cast towards the corners, this Viltrox 28mm 4.5 is one of these lenses. With evenly lit or mostly white subjects you may spot a blue color cast in the corners.
You can check out my article How to: Correcting Color Cast in Lightroom where I explain different methods to fix this.
Sharpness
infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)
For a slow fixed aperture wide angle lens the one thing that would be important to me is across frame sharpness at infinity.
We definitely need to manage expectations here, the lens is neither as contrasty nor as high resolving as say Sony’s compact G lenses, but then those are several times bigger and more expensive.
This wouldn’t be my prime choice when aiming to create high resolution landscape or architecture pictures, but it certainly does a good enough job for street or documentary photography.
It is also better here than the other non-AF pancake lenses for E-mount I tried (Brightin Star 23mm 5.6, Funleader 18mm 8.0, Funleader x Brightin Star 28mm 2.8 XSlim Pro). The TTArtisan 28mm 5.6 M is not as compact as the aforementioned lenses, but its corners also never look good when used on a Sony camera.
Sharpness close (0.32 m, 1:9.4)
At close distances the resolution is good, but contrast could be a little higher for my taste. Compared to other lenses I more often found myself increasing contrast in post with this lens.
Flare resistance
Good flare resistace would also be important to me in a lens like this, so where do we stand here?
As can be seen from the pictures above a light source outside the frame may create severe issues with veiling flare running across most of the frame.
With the sun close to the center of the frame veiling flare becomes less of an issue and I haven’t seen any ghosts from this lens at all, I am not exactly a fan of those huge sunstars created by the mask with octagonal opening though.
Now these are mainly staged scenarios you see here, in the field it wasn’t as much of an issue and often slightly reframing helped, still a good idea to check in the viewfinder if there is a lot of veiling flare like in the sample above.
It still does better than the other pancake lenses I tried, so that’s good news.
Bokeh
A maximum aperture at f/4.5 in a 28mm lens doesn’t exactly make for a lens that will be famous for creating a shallow depth of field. Due to the decent minimum focus distance it is still possible to create some bokeh in close focus scenarios and it even looks surprisingly nice.
Coma
Coma is generally reduced when stopping down, but as you already know stopping down is not possible with this lens. This aberration is still decently corrected at f/4.5.
Distortion
Distortion is surprisingly well corrected, there is only a tiny bit of distortion visible. A correction profile is not available yet, but I don’t think it is needed for this lens’ typical applications.
Sunstars
This is a fixed aperture lens so normally there would be no sunstars, but – as shown in the handling section – a mask with octagonal opening has been placed in front of the front element, so this lens does actually create sunstars with eight rays.
The thing is, the effect cannot really be controlled (the rays are often extremely long) and reminds me very much of what you get with those Star Effect Filters, as those rays also have a bit of a rainbow pattern as you can see here:
I am not sure if I am a fan of this. I would have preferred if that mask with the octagonal opening was the built-in lens cap, allowing you to decide if you want these sunstars or not.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
There is a low amount of lateral CA which is easily corrected in post.
longitudinal
Due to the maximum aperture being f/4.5 you will only encounter bokeh fringing in your pictures. Purple fringing is also not really an issue.
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
|
Designing a tiny pancake lens – and offering it at a very affordable $99 – means there must be some optical compromises. And with the pancake lenses I previously reviewed, there certainly were a lot of those compromises – and those lenses didn’t even feature auto focus.
Here some of those compromises are also obvious: fixed f/4.5 aperture, no manual focus ring, no filter thread, high vignetting. But in the field, you may not even notice these on a regular basis. The fixed f/4.5 aperture in fact proved to be less of an issue than I initially expected and I ended up enjoying my time with this lens – something I cannot say about most of the competitors.
So out of all the pancake lenses for fullframe E-mount cameras (I think I have used all of them) this is actually my favorite so far. The inclusion of auto focus also makes it appealing to a broader audience than a purely manual focus lens.
This lens seems to be best used for street or documentary photography. The inconspicious size and the auto focus can surely come in handy here. And if your main lens is a fast 50mm, you can just put this 28mm lens in your pocket for the times you need something wider.
A crowdfunding campaign for this lens starts on indiegogo on September 29th.
Later you should also be able to buy it from manufacturer’s shop (use the code “PRnet” for 8% discount) | B&H | ebay.com (affiliate links) for $99
PS: Viltrox is also running a photography competition, be sure to check it out!
Alternatives
Auto Focus
Samyang 24mm 2.8 AF:
Samyang calls the 24mm 2.8 tiny, but it actually looks huge next to this Viltrox. It is still one of the smallest AF lenses and has the benefit of a more traditional design.
Unlike the other alternatives I will mention here it isn’t really a pancake lens though.
buy from Amazon.com | Amazon.de | ebay.com | ebay.de | B&H for $199 (affiliate links)
Manual Focus
Funleader x Brightin Star 28mm 2.8 XSlim Pro:
I already talked about the 28mm 2.8 XSlim Pro in most of the categories above. It is an M-mount lens that doesn’t pair really well with Sony filter stack. It does look cute, but check out my review first to make sure you can live with the compromises it comes with.
buy from Funleader.com shop | ebay.com (affiliate links) for $359
Brightin Star 23mm 5.6:
Another fixed aperture lens. It didn’t really convince me, but have a look at my review to see if it might be for you.
buy from Amazon.com | ebay.com (affiliate links) for $98
Funleader 18mm 8.0 Pro:
The focal length is very different, but this is also a fixed aperture lens and the only other lens which is similarly sized. The optics are a bit worse, especially the very wavy distortion, bad flare resistance and even higher vignetting should be mentioned.
buy from ebay.com (affiliate link) for $140
7Artisans 35mm 5.6 Wen:
The focal length is different but it has a similar minimum focus distance and also a fixed aperture. I haven’t reviewed this one.
buy from amazon.com | ebay.com | ebay.de | B&H new for $138 (affiliate links)
Sample Images
You can find most of the sample images in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- Sony FE lenses: Our comprehensive and independent guide
- Review: Viltrox AF 16mm 1.8 FE
- Review: Viltrox AF 28mm 1.8 FE
- Review: Viltrox AF 75mm 1.2 E Pro (APS-C)
- Lens aberrations explained
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Not a lens for me, but I can appreciate the no-frills design and performance for the price point. Nice.
I’ve had a chance to use it, and it’s a fun little lens to use. It won’t be for everyone, but I can see it being a cult classic amongst some who love the purist design.
A really interesting lens design! Flawed it may be, but definitely not boring. A great one to drop into the pocket just in case, if carrying a normal to telephoto lens for some serious shooting.
That’s one of my favorite applications for a lens like this. I love being able to bring along a very compact wider angle lens to compliment longer shots with a telephoto.
What a shame that it just isn’t physically possible to create a bright FE mirrorless pancake lens like Canon and Nikon has. The only options are this slow fixed aperture pancake lens and the Samyang ‘soft glow effect’ toy pancake lens.
Would be possible, just that Sony doesn’t see the market for it and no one would pay the price of the Z 26mm 2.8 if there was Tamron, Viltrox or Meike written on it.
It could be sony sees no market with a lens with as many design compromises (ie: external focusing w/ noise and extreme focus breathing, missing filter threads) as the rf 28 f2.8 or z 26 f2.8.
The fact that this lens exists (and is nearly 10mm shorter than the Nikkor 26mm) tells me that a brighter pancake is possible. It would just have to be bigger than this particular lens. I think if the Viltrox sells well, we will probably see a few more pancake options come.
I wish it were a little faster, or a little thicker (+5 to 10mm) in order to feature an actual aperture mechanism, I don’t mind the mask too much tho… For lack of better AF pancakes (or even MF ones), I’ll gladly take this. I already own the 24/2.8 G and I’m curious to compare them, but the size alone will make a big difference in my most minimal kit…
Instead of said kit (in a waist pack) being just the 24G + SY 45/1.8, I’ll be about to carry this 28/4.5 in place of the Sony 24G and add a 3rd small lens in the same tiny waist pack/sling, maybe even swap the 45 for a 75… So 11/4.5 + 28/4.5 + 45/75 f1.8.
This is one of the few lenses that can make a small Sony camera pocketable.
I could see myself pairing this with the old first gen A7 camera, as a fun, little combination to carry in a bag sometimes. But I’ll probably never find out if AF would be any good on A7, except if I try it myself. I may do so… I prefer MF wide angles, but it probably wouldn’t be a comfortable experience with a pancake.
But I have to agree, I wish they didn’t add that fake aperture mask, or at least create a prettier, less gimmicky effect. A matter of taste, of course.
I’m guessing the logic was about creating the very pointed sunstar blades (which would otherwise be undefined at F4.5) with the recognition that this lens isn’t going to be creating a lot of specular highlights anyway.
Have you heard ob the “OREO-Lens” 30 mm F/10 Pancake.
And do you think you will test it too?
Thanks for your work!
Not anytime soon, no.
For $100? Im totally getting this. Despite its flaws, it’s well worth having a half decent performing pancake lens
You should check out the Indiegogo on Saturday. I am not getting any affiliate money there, but I heard it will be only $69.
I appreciate you letting me know! Thanks. Maybe I will buy it and then paypal you $10 or something lol 🙂
Huh, I thought it was gonna be $100 then (just a blind assumption) and more later on after Indiegogo, that’s crazy… I’ll be doing something like Scott, PR has been invaluable in rounding out my kit… And the Discord looks great even tho I’ve not had time to hang out in there lately.
It looks like the crazy discounts are over, but you can still get it for $89 on Indigogo.
There is a Nikon Z version too, but I also own 26mm which seem much better lens (as it should taken in consideration the price, also with less compromises – 2.8, has aperture and supports MF). Maybe it is more attractive to Sony owners as they do not have an alternative.
Will I get one? maybe as a lens cap.
It looks like Fuji XF mount is coming, too.
For the price, especially if you enjoy the focal length, how can you say no! Seems like a lens that might not get further manufacturing runs, so I’ll be grabbing one now while they’re fresh. Appreciate the review, as always!
It even has nice colors and tonal fidelity!
That’s an interesting take. What makes you feel like this will be a limited edition type lens? They did do one other Indigogo launch, but that was for the 13mm F1.4 (APS-C), which they are still making.
This isn’t the real Dustin Abbott is it?
Only if this is the real Christopher Frost 😉
The whole reason I use my camera for wide angle shots instead of my phone is to control aperture, so I don’t see much of a reason for this
I’m on your side on this one. Pergear 25/1.8 MF as a pancake for me along side the not so pancake 27/1.2 😀 (APS-C).
Winter is coming.
Frost Abbot
LOL on the name! Lenses like this aren’t for everyone, but the simplified control system is what allows a lens like this to exist. It certainly is capable of producing MUCH better images than what my phone (iPhone 14) can produce.
my iphone 15 pro max is better than this.