Viltrox AF 85mm F1.4 Pro FE Review by Dustin Abbott

85mm lenses tend to be the top choice of many portrait photographers for a reason. I personally find images from a 135mm lens slightly more exotic, but the focal length is often too long for a lot of environments. An 85mm lens allows you great subject separation but isn’t so long that you can’t use it in an ordinary room. It still works great for outdoor, environmental portraiture, too.

Reprinted from(https://youtu.be/pD52SVOQmiA?si=nus1P7aYdL70EDXR)

We see the Pro formula brought forward to this full frame series, though with a few of the most recent Viltrox tweaks. The 27mm and 75mm Pro lenses for APS-C relied on STM focus motor technology, but the Pro 85mm will use their new VCM (voice coil motor) technology for more thrust and smoother focus action. We’ve got a full set of features, including an aperture ring that be clicked or declicked, a custom/function button, an AF | MF switch, weather sealing, and a USB-C port for easy firmware updates. This is a lens with a GM level of build and features.

The first thing to note is that this is definitely a pro-level build quality, which is interesting considering that this is not their most premium lineup. The more I use the 85mm Pro, the more I appreciate it. It has a clean, streamlined design that is really growing on me. 

There are things that I love about Viltrox’s design philosophy on the LAB series, but their integration with the aperture ring is not one of them. The Pro series takes a more traditional approach to controlling aperture, and in this case you can call me a traditionalist! 

The manual focus ring is wide, very nicely damped, and provides a great manual focus experience, with good precision, no lag in the focus (as sometimes experienced on mirrorless lenses with their focus-by-wire systems), and a nice amount of focus throw.  

Viltrox continues with a trend that other lens makers are now imitating by including a USB-C port in the lens mount that allows you to do firmware updates right to the lens. I’m a fan of this approach, as it eliminates the need for a separate dock or lens station for firmware updates, and I find the process a little more intuitive than even doing firmware updates through the camera. Even better, however, Viltrox now has an app for iOS or Android where firmware updates can be done either through the Bluetooth module in the lens or by connecting a USB-C cord to the lens and connect it to your phone for a quick, stable process. 

There is no lens based stabilization, so you will need to rely upon the in-camera stabilization if your camera is so equipped. 

Viltrox has redesigned their bigger front lens caps with a bevel along the front that makes it feel slimmer. The lens also comes with the hood and a leather pouch (similar to Canon L-series lenses). There is some cushion on the bottom, but I don’t find these pouches nearly as useful as a good padded nylon case like what Sigma provides. The lens hood itself is fine, with a gripped section for removing it similar to what Sigma provides, but without the rubberized edge seen sometimes on nicer lens hoods. 

The lens hood doesn’t have a lock, but does have a firm bayonet into place that sits securely. I had no issues with it coming loose. It will reverse and fit closely for storage, which is something I have a bit of an issue with on the Sigma lens hood, which flares fairly widely and thus takes up more room for storage. 

The Viltrox Pro AF 85mm F1.4 is a beautifully made lens that does weigh a bit more than its primary competitors but compensates nicely by undercutting them in price anywhere from $500 to $1000 while providing a build quality and handling experience that equals those competitors. I am once again very impressed by how Viltrox is able to make beautifully crafted lenses and sell them so much cheaper than competing brands.

One area where the newer Viltrox lens has an advantage over the older Sigma lens is when it comes to autofocus technology.  Sigma was still in their STM era of focus motors (as Viltrox was until recently), whereas Viltrox has now moved to higher end HyperVCM (voice-coil motor) focus in their recent premium lenses. Thus far they seem to be reserving their multiple-motor “hyper-VCM” focus systems to the LAB lenses, but even the single HyperVCM motor powering focus is nice and snappy in the Pro 85mm.  I was particularly impressed in the circumstance of this particular shot, as I was out in the pre dawn light in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and decided to shoot this narrow stalk of dried grasses in the dunes. Focus instantly snapped into the right zone and delivered a shot with perfect precision.  

What’s more, focus is perfectly silent, without any accompanying noise or drama. I can put the lens right next to my ear and focus and not hear anything.  

The Sony 85mm F1.4 GM II is going to win the focus battle, as it is powered by two of Sony’s high thrust XD linear motors, but the Viltrox is going to stand its ground against most other competing lenses. I suspect the LAB lens will be powered by quad VCM motors and will challenge the Sony for focus speed. 

On the Pro 85mm, focus changes are not quite instantaneous, but there is only a split second lag, and focus not only moves quickly but arrives with great confidence. It’s a hair quicker to focus than the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DN and its STM focus motor. With the Viltrox, I can focus on a distant subject and then back to a human subject just a meter away and focus is nearly instantly locked on the eye. That eye is accurately in focus, even in profile. 

One of the chief advantages of the move to VCM from STM is that VCM moves in a linear fashion as opposed the steps involved with an STM (stepping motor), which means that the likelihood of smooth focus transitions in video is higher.  Such proves to be the case here, as focus transitions are nice and smooth.

There is some focus breathing, but it isn’t bad for an 85mm lens. The Sigma’s focus breathing is much, much higher.

My “hand test” where I alternatively block and unblock the camera’s view of my face with my hand went well, with smooth and confident transitions from my hand to my face and back. 

Typical clips with either static or moving subjects were all fine. I had no issues with video focus. Outside of the most recent GM II, this is as good of autofocus as I’ve seen on a fast 85mm lens (definitely much better than the first 85mm F1.4 GM). Viltrox has gotten impressively competent in basically every aspect of lens design. 

The Pro 85mm sports an optical design of 15 elements in 11 groups. This includes 3 ED (extra low dispersion) elements, a whopping 9 HR (high refractive index) elements, and one aspherical lens. That leaves only two “normal” elements! The result MTF shows a strong center and midframe and a mild dip in the corners at F1.4, with a little lower center sharpness at F8 but a more consistent performance across the frame.

So, on paper, how does this compare to the Sigma 85mm F1.4 DN? I like putting the MTF charts onto a grid and putting a line through 80% to show what lands above and below that threshold. My experience is that anything at 30 lp/mm that falls above 80% looks pretty fantastic. On paper, the Viltrox should be sharper in the center, very slightly softer in the mid-frame, and very slightly sharper in the corners. We’ll see if that holds up in real world results.

What I found in the real world was very slightly more nuanced. I have found that the Sigma consistently meters a little faster than the Viltrox, but it isn’t really as simple as better light transmission, as the Sigma’s results consistently look a little darker than the Viltrox’s. What I think is actually happening is that the Sigma has in camera corrections right now while the prerelease Viltrox does not. The Sigma’s metering is based on a slightly corrected (brighter) result which goes away if you turn off the corrections. 

The Sigma shows a bit more contrast in my tests in the center, while the Viltrox shows slightly more detail (both are splitting hairs). It is the Viltrox that looks slightly sharper in the mid-frame, though the Sigma shows slightly more contrast. The corner results depend on which corner you look at. I typically sample the lower right corner, and I would argue that the Sigma is a little better there, but the Viltrox looks better in all three other corners. 

As I said…definitely more nuanced. My bigger takeaway is that you couldn’t call either of these lenses the winner at F1.4. They have a slightly different performance, but the results are highly similar. There’s just a bit of give and take here and there. 

If you stop them both down a bit, they are both utterly, even ridiculously sharp by F2.8: 

Those are both going to show as much detail as you could ask for, considering that the results above are from a 61MP Sony A7RV and shown at 200% magnification. I don’t think you could tell a difference at 100% magnification. 

We’ll come back to resolution in a moment. One area where the Pro 85mm definitely has an advantage over the Sigma is in the area of the Sigma’s biggest weakness – distortion. The Sigma suffers from a really significant amount of pincushion distortion, where as the Viltrox is pretty much distortion free.  

The Sigma needs a -9 to correct all that distortion, while the Viltrox needs only a -2 (and you could easily leave that uncorrected, as a little pincushion distortion can be flattering). Neither are extreme on the vignette side of things, but the Viltrox is a bit better (+48 to correct) than the Sigma (+56 to correct). Here’s the before and after of a manual correction, though a correction profile will be available shortly after this review has released.

There is a bit of longitudinal chromatic aberrations (LoCA) visible on my test chart, though that may not be a bad thing.

I find a bit of uncorrected LoCA can have a positive impact on the bokeh, though that is within reason. 

I think this shot and the crop shows what I’m talking about. 

The larger image shows the beautiful bokeh rendering, but you can see a bit of lost contrast and a tiny bit of fringing at pixel level around some of the transition areas. Not enough to cause a problem, but I suspect the LAB lens will have stronger microcontrast if the trends from the first two LAB lenses continue. 

I see only the tiniest amount of fringing around specular highlights, so no big deal here. 

There is zero issue with lateral style chromatic aberrations found in the contrast transitions near the edge of the frame.

Overall we have an excellent performance in these metrics. 

So let’s return to focus on resolution. These results are shot on a 61MP Sony a7RV and the crops are shown at roughly 200% magnification level. Here’s a look at the test chart that the crops are taken from. 

If we zoom in and look at the 200% crops from the center, mid-frame, and lower right, we discover that sharpness and contrast are excellent in the center and mid-frame, with a fade into the corners (though they are far from bad). 

A real world shot with a reasonably flat plane of focus (depth of field is still impacting this image a bit) shows that even the corners look quite good at F1.4 in a real world image. 

This real world shot of a seagull in the predawn light shows pinpoint accuracy of focus and great detail even at F1.4.  

That may help to put the previous results comparing the Sigma and Viltrox Pro in context. Both lenses are incredibly sharp in real world use. 

For portraits, for example, you’ll have all of the detail you could want, and I would say this is most important if you are shooting portraits at a bit further of a distance and want to retain detail for cropping. There is plenty of detail to take a full length shot like this: 

…and tightly crop it into a very different looking image like this:

Reviewing a fast 85mm prime is a lot of fun. It’s so easy to produce beautiful images with it, and the 85mm focal length is short enough that it doesn’t take a inordinate amount of skill to use it well. For a long time there were surprisingly few autofocusing 85mm F1.4 lenses on Sony FE, though that is starting to change. In the past few years we’ve seen the Samyang AF 85mm F1.4 II, the Sony FE 85mm F1.4 GM II, the Sirui Aurora 85mm F1.4, and now this Viltrox. The Aurora remains the cheapest option (about $100 less), but I’d take the Viltrox Pro AF 85mm F1.4 every day of the week. It goes head to head with the Sigma and comes out looking pretty solid, which is amazing considering that I’ve put the Sigma up against all of these other contenders and have upheld that it represents the best value for a premium 85mm on the platform. This will almost certainly be an equally strong contender on Nikon Z mount when it arrives there, too.

The biggest shortcoming for the Viltrox Pro AF 85mm F1.4 is its weight, though I didn’t find it particularly onerous in real world use. If you want to travel light, however, there are some decent alternatives, with the Samyang AF 85mm F1.4 II being the most compelling. The Viltrox has a build quality that is more akin to the Sigma and GM, however, and has the second fastest autofocus that falls only behind the GM II.  

This is a lovely portrait lens along with being an excellent general purpose 85mm lens. I find that it strikes a great balance between sharpness and rendering, with images that seem to have that “special sauce” that photographers like myself are looking for. I’ll be very intrigued to compare it to the LAB 85mm F1.2 once it arrives. But I think that many people will find this Pro 85mm a good compromise – smaller, lighter, less expensive, but still excellent. This is a LOT of lens for under $600 USD. Viltrox is on one of the most impressive streaks of great lenses that I’ve ever seen from any brand. I’m now ready for them to get a little more creative in the focal lengths and shake up even more spaces. In the meantime, however, lenses like the Pro AF 85mm F1.4 will only further cement Viltrox’s place as one of the premium third party brands.