Review of the Viltrox 9mm f/2.8

[Fons Baerken]

https://alikgriffin.com/viltrox-9mm-f2-8-air-review/

Review of the Viltrox 9mm f/2.8

[Birna Rørslett]

Getting this lens for your Z/DX camera is no-brainer.

I availed myself of a pre-release offer and got the lens ridiculously cheap. However, even at a more normal asking price it is inexpensive - combined with a surprisingly high image quality.

[Les Olson]

I agree that this lens is a non-brainer for DX users who want an ultra-wide.

I don't see as much flare and ghosting as is shown in the review. Here is an example - and I am at 19 degrees south and it is mid-morning a week to the summer solstice.

Vignetting is quite marked - this is at f/5.6 and with +1 stop of exposure compensation. I think the distortion would be a problem for interiors, and people for whom that is an important use-case might be better off with one of the Laowa ultrawides.

One irritation is that the included lens hood is difficult to fit and can cause mechanical vignetting if you are not careful - but I guess that is better than not including it at all. 

[Birna Rørslett]

The Laowa 9mm f/5.6 is a viable alternative if vignetting is a problem on the DX format. It's much heavier and bulky, besides being slower and manual focus only. Not to mention more expensive.

[Birna Rørslett]

The 9mm Laowa has much less vignetting on the DX cameras, and handles shooting into bright lights better than the Viltrox. There is some barrel distortion, but nothing one cannot fix in post processing.

[Fons Baerken]

The 9mm Laowa has much less vignetting on the DX cameras, and handles shooting into bright lights better than the Viltrox. There is some barrel distortion, but nothing one cannot fix in post processing.

Sunstars look a lot sharper, cleaner here with the Laowa!