![\"Viltrox](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8180-bewerkt.jpg\" "\\"Viltrox")
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The Viltrox PFU RBMH 85mm f\/1.8 STM is cheap and offers AF. Is it the best bang for your buck 1.8\/85 for Sony E-mount at this moment?<\/p>\n
![\"Viltrox](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8020-bewerkt.jpg\" "\\"Viltrox")
![\"Viltrox](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7378.jpg\" "\\"Viltrox")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7179.jpg\")
Next to the AF version there also is a manual focus version of this lens. As far as I know the optics are the same and the main difference can be found in the housing.<\/p>\n
The Viltrox PFU RBMH 85 mm f\/1.8 STM AF can be found new for around 310$ at ebay.com*<\/a> or 289\u20ac at ebay.de*<\/a>. When bought at one of the bigger camera stores in Europe it will set you back at 379\u20ac but you don’t risk customs hassle.<\/p>\n I bought this lens at full retail price from my own money. Viltrox offered me to pay the netto loss after selling the lens when the review is done.<\/p>\n The Viltrox PFU RBMH 85 mm f\/1.8 STM AF is heavy and feels very solid. The lens is made of metal and glass only. Most, but not all markings are engraved and filled with paint. The lens lacks an aperture ring so the aperture needs to be changed with the camera. At least on my sample the aperture blades were aligned lousily and changing the aperture made a lot of noise. Updating the firmware of the lens significantly reduced the noise, but I’m still not sure how durable the aperture system is.<\/p>\n The is also a flimsy plastic lens hood included, it doesn’t sit really tight and is also a bit reflective it seems. On my a7II with and L-bracket handling was quite OK, but walking around with the camera around you neck for some time isn’t much fun due to the weight. Furthermore there are no control buttons on the lens like with the Sony GM lenses which is a bit bothersome.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wide open vignetting is roughly 1.8 EV, at f\/2.8 vignetting is reduced to 1 EV and at f\/4 it is only 0.5 EV. A respectable performance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n f\/1.8: The center already is excellent, the midframe looks very good and the corners are good to very good.<\/p>\n f\/2: No much difference compared to f\/1.8, only midframe and corners might be a tiny little bit better.<\/p>\n f\/2.8: A small improvement in midframe and corners, the corners are very good now, the midframe very good to excellent.<\/p>\n f\/4: The center and midframe are both excellent now, the corners are very good to excellent.<\/p>\n f\/5.6: Excellent across\u00a0 the frame.<\/p>\n f\/8: Diffraction kicks in, the image is a bit softer.<\/p>\n f\/11: Diffraction reduces sharpness to very good levels.<\/p>\n Already wide open the center looks very good, the corners look a bit worse but are still usable. At f\/2.8 the center is excellent, and the corners look very good.<\/p>\n Wide open the center and midframe already look very good, the extreme corners stay a bit behind, but who will put the subject in the extreme corner? There is significant focus shift, see the test photo’s below.<\/p>\n <\/li> <\/li> <\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n Autofocus is quick on my a7II but not that reliable, especially at half body and full body distances. The focus was often a bit behind the subject. For shoulder portraits AF works mostly fine though. To make sure the inaccurate AF wasn’t caused by my a7II I asked my friend Rick<\/a> to do some testing on his a7III and a7rIII. His findings matched mine and I think it is save to state that auto focus accuracy isn’t good, especially considering other reports like this<\/strong> <\/a>one. I used the newest firmware<\/strong> of the lens for these tests!<\/p>\n The Viltrox 1.8\/85 unfortunately suffers from moderate but complex pincushion distortion that reminds you of a wide angle lens. The distortion is hard to correct (I didn’t succeed) so I would avoid this lens in you plan to shoot architecture.<\/p>\n Longitudinal chromatic aberrations (LoCA) are present but not really distracting.<\/p>\n Lateral chromatic aberrations (LaCA) are moderate but easily correctable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bokeh is where the Viltrox stands out to me. Unlike many fast portrait lenses cat’s eyes are minor. The bokeh balls don’t have much outlining and backgrounds look calm in most situations due to some spherical aberrations outside the focus plane. Even very hard backgrounds like lit foliage are handled fairly well.<\/p>\n I had the chance to make a quick bokeh comparison with the Sony FE 1.8\/85. The most obvious difference are the much more pronounced cat’s eyes you get with the FE 1.8\/85. I did not had the chance to test them side by side in the field but I think in general the bokeh of the Viltrox is a little bit smoother.<\/p>\n f\/1.8, before is Viltrox<\/p>\n <\/p>\n f\/2.8, before is Viltrox<\/p>\n The only part in the bokeh department where the Viltrox doesn’t fare that well is foreground bokeh, it can be pretty busy on some occasions as branches or grass will cause double edged structures. But the performance still is OK in most situations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Due to the not so precisely aligned aperture sunstars are rather average. Rays are not very defined and the length of the rays isn’t equal either.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Flare resistance is a mixed bag, in general it is quite good but with the low evening sun one runs into trouble. Ghosting can sometimes be observed, and with the sun just outside the frame veiling flare is an issue. Recomposing a bit helps a lot though.<\/p>\n Sometimes I even liked the veiling flare a bit \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n Sony FE 1.8\/85<\/strong><\/a> Sony GM 1.4\/85<\/a> Samyang 1.4\/85 Meike 1.8\/85 Vintage 85 mm options For more native options make sure to check our FE list<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nLink marked with * are affiliate links, we will receive a small commission if you buy something via these links and it won’t cost you anything else. This helps us keeping the blog running, thank you \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\nDisclosure<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7293.jpg\")
Handling \/ Build Quality<\/span><\/h2>\n
\nThe focus ring is very wide with a nice texture and feels very nice. The focus ring runs smooth but resistance is a bit on the high side for me. Furthermore, the focus throw is a tad long too, near 300\u00b0. But in the end I liked the manual focus experience a lot, and I think it is one of the best implementations of focus-by-wire so far.<\/p>\n![\"Viltrox](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8179-bewerkt.jpg\" "\\"Viltrox")
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\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8174-bewerkt.jpg\")
<\/p>\nVignetting<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/vignetting_f1p4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSharpness<\/h2>\n
Infinity<\/h3>\n
![\"Viltrox](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/28Vorlage.jpg\" "\\"Viltrox")
<\/p>\nSharpness near MFD<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MFD.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPortrait distance (234 cm)<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Portrait-distance.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nAt f\/2.8 the corners improve a lot and looks good.
\nThe Viltrox is simply very sharp at portrait distances (and at all other distances) and perfectly usable from wide open.<\/p>\nFocus shift<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8160.jpg\")
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Autofocus<\/h2>\n
\nFrom f\/2.2 the aperture will open up to focus.<\/p>\nDistortion<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7396.jpg\")
<\/p>\nChromatic aberrations<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8157.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8156.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBokeh<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7642.jpg\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7458.jpg\")
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![](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8144.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8142.jpg\"\/)
![](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8146.jpg\"\/)
<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7074.jpg\")
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Sunstars<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7459.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC8148.jpg\")
Flare resistance<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7498.jpg\"\/)
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<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/phillipreeve.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DSC7687.jpg\"\/)
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<\/div>\nAlternatives<\/h2>\n
\nBokeh is a little worse with a pronounced cat’s eye effect, and manual focusing isn’t nearly as nice as with the Viltrox. However, the AF is very fast and reliable and the FE 1.8\/85 is almost 300 grams lighter. Used prices are a bit higher that the new price of the Viltrox.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>More expensive and heavier, but bokeh is very, very good and AF is accurate. The Sony features an aperture ring, a focus-hold-button and a AF\/MF switch which improves handeling a lot.
\nThe Sony GM 1.4\/85 costs around \u20ac1900.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>A little bit lighter and even a bit faster. AF seems to be slower but reliable. The Samyang 1.4\/85 costs around \u20ac630.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Cheaper and lighter, but no AF and optically less good..<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Often lighter but they lack AF and I doubt they will be better, you will probably save some weight though.<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h2>\n
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