Today, the new Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro Z Mount lens comes to Nikon cameras.
You know, sometimes a lens will just scratch you right where you itch. It can be hard to explain. Sometimes you’ll shoot with two lenses, both sharing the same focal range. In practical terms, you are expecting essentially the same result. But maybe one is slightly warmer than the other, maybe one is slightly lighter than the other, and next thing you know, you’ve discovered a valuable tool that becomes a permanent part of your rotation.
That’s kind of how I’ve felt about the new Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro Z. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article on the massive objective lens test I did, comparing every lens I owned side by side to see what the actual measurable differences were between them. I didn’t have the Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro Z at that time, so it wasn’t part of the test. I only got my hands on it later to test it out. I’d already tested the crop sensor 56mm Viltrox, and so when this full frame 50mm arrived, I figured I knew what to expect. But even I was surprised at how quickly I felt right at home with this piece of glass.
Okay, a quick history of me and the 50mm focal length. I’ve always loved 50mm. Why? Well, I was taught back in my early cinematography days that 50mm is the closest approximation there is to a photographic equivalent of a human being’s natural field of view. In other words, a 50mm lens sees the world in the same way that we do. Is this mathematically accurate? I have no idea. Some say 35mm, some say 40mm, some say 50mm. I’m not a scientist. But it always felt right. So, for the first several years of my professional career, I literally shot with nothing but the 50mm.
But my love of the 50mm went far beyond theoretical statements about field of view. Committing to the 50mm provided me with another, less tangible but oddly more important quality: simplicity. One of the issues with having options is that it forces you to make a choice. I am fortunate to have access to a massive quantity of lenses after having been a professional for over three decades now. But just like I have an entire shoe closet full of sneakers, if I’m being honest, it’s the same two or three pairs that I leave the house in 99% of the time. Same thing with lenses. For professional photography work, the 24–70mm f/2.8 stays on my camera 99% of the time. For professional video work, it’s usually either a 24mm or 50mm cinema prime. These lens decisions aren’t simply a result of me being lazy. I also make these choices because committing to a focal length can allow my brain, which can easily get distracted by options, to ignore the tech and focus on creativity within the frame.
If I’m thinking back, one of the happiest shooting times of my life was my early photo days, when all I had was an old nifty 50mm Nikon lens and a crop sensor body, and I could just shoot to my heart’s content. Objectively speaking, I was limiting myself. But in actual practice, my brain chemistry just seems to work better when I have fewer choices to make rather than more.
I have a small bevy of 50mm primes in my arsenal now, but I can’t say that any of them have felt as natural a fit as that original 50mm NIKKOR 1.4 I had twenty years ago.
So what is it about this new Viltrox 50mm that has me so impressed? It’s not necessarily the size. This 50mm f/1.4 is about the same size as the native NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.8 S. It’s a bit heavier, I think, although far smaller than the NIKKOR Z 50mm f/1.2 S. This Viltrox is just about as big as I would want a prime lens to be. It has 15 elements in 11 groups and weighs 830 grams, with a front filter diameter of 77mm (there is also an E-mount version that comes in at 800 grams). For me, the big advantage of a prime lens is that it can be smaller than my zooms, so size is an issue.
Yet I don’t think I mind the mid-sized chassis of this lens because it comes with a number of advantages. For one, the all-metal construction feels well built. It has a sturdy body, and I don’t feel guilty putting it into a war zone. I trust it will make it out unscathed.
I haven’t done a 1:1 focus speed test, but in actual practice, I find the focus speed to be more than adequate within the Nikon ecosystem compared to my native lenses. Again, I haven’t done a side-by-side test. I’ve just used it in the field and can’t say I’ve had any complaints. It really is a treat these days that we have so many third-party lens options that do such a good job of keeping up with the home-team advantage.
But I think the two things that I like the most about the lens, aside from image quality, are two other items on the lens barrel—neither of which is strictly necessary, but both of which contribute to why this lens works so well in my particular workflow.
The Viltrox AF 50mm f/1.4 Pro Z has a manual aperture ring with markings. This may seem like a small thing. After all, native Nikon glass can also be set to use a custom ring as a manual aperture ring. But the clear markings on the lens barrel of the Viltrox really help me lean into the tactile feel of the lens. I shot the lens across multiple Nikon bodies, including the Nikon Z9, the Nikon ZR, and the Nikon Zf, but I think mentally it clicked most when I mounted it to the Zf. That body’s emphasis on tactile dials pairs beautifully with this lens’s physical aperture dial to give me an experience far closer to my early analog days of photography. Again, this isn’t something quantifiable in terms of specs, but it’s the little things that add joy to the process that end up making the real difference in how often I reach for a particular lens.
Also, because the majority of my work is filmmaking, there is one more addition to the Viltrox lens that is a major aid to my process. The aforementioned aperture ring can be set to clicked or clickless operation. A clicked aperture means the lens positively seats when you go from f/2.8 to f/4 to f/11, and so on. Clickless means you can smoothly rotate the aperture ring, much like a focus ring, and gradually ramp your exposure.
Why is this important? A clickless aperture is particularly valuable in filmmaking applications because you will often have a scene that may, for example, start inside and then move outside, leading to a dramatic shift in exposure within the same shot. If your aperture ring is clicked, that change would be jerky mid-shot. Having it declicked allows you to make the adjustment gradually so that it feels seamless to the audience.
Furthermore, if you are working with a full crew and have a first AC pulling focus for you, they can also attach motors to the aperture ring. If you are working with a remote AC, a clickless aperture allows them to smoothly adjust exposure mid-shot without the audience noticing.
What’s cool about the Viltrox is that you can choose either option. If you want to be exactly at f/4, you can choose clicked and lock it in. If you want the option to gradually shift exposure—perhaps even landing between hard aperture values in the process—you can opt for a clickless aperture. On the Viltrox, this all happens with the flip of a switch.
The manual focus ring itself is smooth and well placed should you opt for a fully manual workflow. Minimum focus distance sits at 45 cm. In terms of focus breathing, the lens performs capably. These two images give you an idea of how far the outer frame shifts when racking focus from near to infinity.
With a maximum aperture of f/1.4, the lens is a bokeh machine, making it a wonderful choice for portraits or for situations where you want to emphasize subject separation from the environment. Focus breathing appears to be well controlled.
Pros
- Clicked or clickless aperture
- Tactile physical aperture ring
- Build quality
- Sharpness
- Full frame
- Autofocus
- Bokeh
Cons
Conclusion
I think the reason I’m enjoying this lens so much is that it fits so well into the particular way I work. On the still photography side, it offers me the simplicity of choice that lets me focus my brain solely on creativity while still providing the technical proficiency I need. On the video side, it gives me practical advantages that fit into a team-based workflow while still offering the option to lock into a more traditional approach when that better suits a particular scenario. To put it simply, this lens gives me the simplicity I crave while still offering options when I need them.
The lens is now available in both Z- and E-mount versions and retails for $549.
