Thanks for the review, I enjoyed it. To sum up my verdict: Positives: + Sharp (a bit sharper than both 23mm Fujinon lenses in fact) + Good color rendering (more natural than Fujinon 23mm F1.4) + Nice bokeh (less onion-ringing than both Fujinon 23mm lenses) + Fast and quiet autofocus + Good build quality and nice metal lens hood + Price (in comparison to 23mm Fujinon primes) Negatives: - The clickless but electronically controlled aperture in steps does not make any sense - Contiuous AF not as smooth as Fuji 23mm F2 - Some purple fringing wide open (this can be easily removed in e.g. Capture One or Lightroom though) - Higher minimum focusing distance than comparable Fujinon lenses - Ugly golden font is a design blemish (ok this is subjective but the Viltrox 85mm F1.8 looks much nicer and more professional to my eyes so I was hoping these newer lenses would look similar) Overall I actually believe this is currently the best 23mm lens for the Fuji X system regardless of price - for most people. However, it does have a few quirks and doesn't win every category so you need to consider what matters most to you. Price/performance is very good.
Amazing review! You put a lot of work into this. All the tests you did. I don't think some people realize how much work that can be. You actually strike a perfect balance between practical and technical in this. And hilarious as always bro. (I like my little snippet of our podcast too)
Based on my experience, when you shoot video, you can try to set sensitivity af to -2 then you will see it perform so much smoother. No more 2 steps hunting. Cheers.
Great video. I was surprised that I picked B as my favorite and all of the image examples for the contrast and slight improvement and sharpness. Gonna go ahead and pick one of these up!
YES FINALLY SOMEONE OR A RUclipsR GET'S WHAT THE VIEWERS WANTS(from the intro of your video). It's so boring when some one talks about photography review of a camera and lens, and the whole 10-20 minute video was talking about how good or bad the camera and lens is, while being on the desk and sitting down. At the last ending of the video that's when they only showed 5 images for 10-15 seconds on a very boring long video which I'm trying to get to the youtuber's mind what he's or she's talking about.
Fun and informative...THANKS for the great effort. You mentioned that the only way to determine aperture was to look at the lens(?). When I recently tested this lens' mate, the 33mm f1.4 on my X-T20, the aperture setting showed in the EVF and it was remarkable easy to rack through the apertures quickly for each test shot without removing my eye from the eyepiece when focusing on a single subject. I thought that I would dislike the non-click aperture ring, but I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked and it had a nice firmness to it and it is so close to the body, that I never lost the desired setting accidentally.
After this video I am 100% going for Fujifilm 23mm f2. Sharpness is not that important to me. That f1.4 aperture is nice but Fujifilm is better with everything else, smaller, lighter, better more usable autofocus in video, close focusing, aperture ring, weather resistant! I am so glad I watched your video.
Just guessing, but for AF it seems Viltrox is using a stepper motor, instead of a linear motor. Fuji's original 23mm f/1.4 also uses stepper. Fuji's more recent offerings all seem to use linear.
Pretty shocked that I preferred the Viltrox IQ for what looked like better color, contrast, and bokeh. The Fuji only won when pixel peeping the corners where I could see less CA and maybe a smidge better sharpness. Also noticed the barrel distortion of the viltrox, though slight, made me wonder how portraits might look as I’d need to take some. I have the viltrox 56mm and it is an awesome lens. If this matched it I’d have no doubt I’d love it. That said, Fuji has a new 23mm f1.4 LM WR with closer focusing, weather sealing, and a huge price tag. Important features for my do-all walk around 35mm equivalent that I’d like to have. An older used Fuji 1.4 might be awesome, but no weather sealing, noisier, slower AF. Decisions decisions.
I don't have the Viltrox but the F2 is my least favorite of all Fujis. I picked the images of the Viltrox, I could tell the highlight rendering was exactly like my F2 on the sample pics.
I had a hard time with the Viltrox lens for video, but then I upgraded the firmware and watched Philip Bloom's video on Fuji Auto focus, and now I'm very happy with the settings
i would love to know your preferred fuji lens for video/documentary style if you said both are still not "great" and im still curious on the issues if the lens focus isnt great if the focusing is done in camera and the camera's software? unless the lens needs to be sharper so the camera could detect that it's already correctly focused the subject.
I wonder how the Tokina xf lenses will compare to the viltrox and Fuji lenses. Hope they send you some for testing after they're released later this year.
If you do such a comparison of different aperture lenses again, maybe also compare shutter speeds at same f. Just to know how much light transmission you loose and how much light gathering the lower f lens will practically yield. Nice stuff once again!
He’s used the 23 f2 from Fuji for years. His comparison is from years of experience with it -be smarter with your questioning because being the devils advocate just makes you look like silly.
I guess this is one of the oldest videos I've watched from you 😅 But after my X100V I just fell down the Fuji rabbit hole after thinking "I want to adapt my old Minolta lenses to something digital" and bought an X-T1 - and now looking for a first "modern" prime with AF for it 🙈 And then the comparison shots are shot in my neighborhood 🙂 Have you been living here before you embraced the countryside? 😉
I have seen many reviews, but it's the first were the chromatic aberration is so prevalent. Such a turn-off... :( Now I'm back on the market for an AF lense to complete my set of MF lenses for my X-E2...
I have the 33mm because both of the 35mm by Fuji are too noisy. It's much better than i expected and now i'm thinking about replacing my 23mm 1.4 also, because i never actually liked the construction of the choke focusring anyways.
Dont go for viltrox 23 if going to shoot at 1.4 the chromatic abberation is terrible and also even if after correction not good compared to the fujinon lens
Hahaha that is some A+ editing 😂 For the money this lens feels like a no brainer! It's a same about the electronic step-down in the aputure. Would have been perfect for video
The CA is the deal breaker for me. Plus some people seem to have worse copies, so I would only buy in person. The 23mm f2 also had too much CA for me. Seeing this got me wanting a GR again. Might have to get one to go with my Fuji with 27mm pancake and 50mm f2.
The XH1 is 700€ now on ebay. It's not that expensive. I bought it for 900€ two years ago. And I can only use what I have. I recommend Omar Gonzales review. He shows it on a XT20.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
The first 1000 people who click the link will get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium: skl.sh/samuellstreetlife7
Is it active already? If yes it doesnt work for me^^
nvm, it works.
@@dm976 Good to hear :D
Awesome thank you, just signed up 😁
Love your videos!
Thanks for the review, I enjoyed it. To sum up my verdict:
Positives:
+ Sharp (a bit sharper than both 23mm Fujinon lenses in fact)
+ Good color rendering (more natural than Fujinon 23mm F1.4)
+ Nice bokeh (less onion-ringing than both Fujinon 23mm lenses)
+ Fast and quiet autofocus
+ Good build quality and nice metal lens hood
+ Price (in comparison to 23mm Fujinon primes)
Negatives:
- The clickless but electronically controlled aperture in steps does not make any sense
- Contiuous AF not as smooth as Fuji 23mm F2
- Some purple fringing wide open (this can be easily removed in e.g. Capture One or Lightroom though)
- Higher minimum focusing distance than comparable Fujinon lenses
- Ugly golden font is a design blemish (ok this is subjective but the Viltrox 85mm F1.8 looks much nicer and more professional to my eyes so I was hoping these newer lenses would look similar)
Overall I actually believe this is currently the best 23mm lens for the Fuji X system regardless of price - for most people. However, it does have a few quirks and doesn't win every category so you need to consider what matters most to you. Price/performance is very good.
well, they removed ugly golden font and now it's just white letters
I liked the video just for the intro. That’s all I needed. Genius! 👏🏻
Haha, glad you liked it!
Amazing review! You put a lot of work into this. All the tests you did. I don't think some people realize how much work that can be. You actually strike a perfect balance between practical and technical in this. And hilarious as always bro. (I like my little snippet of our podcast too)
One thing I noticed looking at the blind test is that the Viltrox has a lot more contrast, with deeper blacks and quite higher color saturation
Based on my experience, when you shoot video, you can try to set sensitivity af to -2 then you will see it perform so much smoother. No more 2 steps hunting. Cheers.
is dis true?
Great video. I was surprised that I picked B as my favorite and all of the image examples for the contrast and slight improvement and sharpness. Gonna go ahead and pick one of these up!
YES FINALLY SOMEONE OR A RUclipsR GET'S WHAT THE VIEWERS WANTS(from the intro of your video). It's so boring when some one talks about photography review of a camera and lens, and the whole 10-20 minute video was talking about how good or bad the camera and lens is, while being on the desk and sitting down. At the last ending of the video that's when they only showed 5 images for 10-15 seconds on a very boring long video which I'm trying to get to the youtuber's mind what he's or she's talking about.
Yay! Besides your terrible CF-around-the-lamp test, perfect review. ;) haha
I never used C-AF in my life and thought that would be a decent test lol.
@@SamuelStreetlife Just messing with you. :). Nice job!
I also wait for your review Omar!!
Fun and informative...THANKS for the great effort. You mentioned that the only way to determine aperture was to look at the lens(?). When I recently tested this lens' mate, the 33mm f1.4 on my X-T20, the aperture setting showed in the EVF and it was remarkable easy to rack through the apertures quickly for each test shot without removing my eye from the eyepiece when focusing on a single subject. I thought that I would dislike the non-click aperture ring, but I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked and it had a nice firmness to it and it is so close to the body, that I never lost the desired setting accidentally.
After this video I am 100% going for Fujifilm 23mm f2. Sharpness is not that important to me. That f1.4 aperture is nice but Fujifilm is better with everything else, smaller, lighter, better more usable autofocus in video, close focusing, aperture ring, weather resistant!
I am so glad I watched your video.
Just guessing, but for AF it seems Viltrox is using a stepper motor, instead of a linear motor. Fuji's original 23mm f/1.4 also uses stepper. Fuji's more recent offerings all seem to use linear.
Seeing Bello with a purple fringe beard killed it for me 😱
Quality video as usual. Fun to see you added in some humor in the midst of the segment.
hi im thinking of getting either the 33 or 23mm f1.4. which do you think would a better choice to pair with my 18mmf2 fuji lens?
Bro how about older xf23mmf1.4 R over viltrox 23mmf1.4 , is it worth upgrading for continue AF. Thanks
hi, question: which is better to choose in terms of portrait shots, fuji xc 35mm f2 or the viltrox 23mm f1.4
nice shots!! may i know ur FS for the colored protest shots?
How does it compare to the 23mm f1.4?
Pretty shocked that I preferred the Viltrox IQ for what looked like better color, contrast, and bokeh. The Fuji only won when pixel peeping the corners where I could see less CA and maybe a smidge better sharpness. Also noticed the barrel distortion of the viltrox, though slight, made me wonder how portraits might look as I’d need to take some. I have the viltrox 56mm and it is an awesome lens. If this matched it I’d have no doubt I’d love it. That said, Fuji has a new 23mm f1.4 LM WR with closer focusing, weather sealing, and a huge price tag. Important features for my do-all walk around 35mm equivalent that I’d like to have. An older used Fuji 1.4 might be awesome, but no weather sealing, noisier, slower AF. Decisions decisions.
Very informative! Great video thanks!
Looool that intro! So jokes! Love your vids bro!
Nice review! To my surprise I actually preferred B in pretty much every picture.
Such a good review. Love your videos! Always entertaining!
Almost bought this until they mentioned there’s an issue with lens mount gap/clearance with lens release button on the xpro3 🙁
Extension tube to get closer?
I don't have the Viltrox but the F2 is my least favorite of all Fujis. I picked the images of the Viltrox, I could tell the highlight rendering was exactly like my F2 on the sample pics.
I had a hard time with the Viltrox lens for video, but then I upgraded the firmware and watched Philip Bloom's video on Fuji Auto focus, and now I'm very happy with the settings
Which settings do you like best for the autofocus?
i would love to know your preferred fuji lens for video/documentary style if you said both are still not "great"
and im still curious on the issues if the lens focus isnt great if the focusing is done in camera and the camera's software? unless the lens needs to be sharper so the camera could detect that it's already correctly focused the subject.
I wonder how the Tokina xf lenses will compare to the viltrox and Fuji lenses. Hope they send you some for testing after they're released later this year.
Is good for video? I have 18-55 f2.8-4 now... fujinon 23mm 1.4 better?
Very informative, and the sense of humor kept my attention. Does this lens get firmware updates? If so how is that accomplished.
I was so ready for you to start dancing around the lamp for the first CAF demo.
What lens hood are you using for Fuji 2.0
Nice video thank you 😊 nice to have your pick about this lens although I'll stick to my f2 because size matters. Stay safe!
Thanks Marti! Size does matter :D The Fujinon makes the camera much more compact.
Hey man, great video! Can you tell me what square lenshood you used on the fujinon f2 lens? Thanks! :)
It is a squarehood from Haoge.
Love your channel! Keep it up you seem like a cool dude 👍
Thanks!!
If you do such a comparison of different aperture lenses again, maybe also compare shutter speeds at same f. Just to know how much light transmission you loose and how much light gathering the lower f lens will practically yield. Nice stuff once again!
What is the hood on fuji? squarehood?
Lens review and cat reveal, another youtube flex! Crushing it.
😂 our cat had her debut already in my first video!
@@SamuelStreetlife I must have missed that moment, still a strong combo none the less 😂
Fujifilm 23mm 1.4 or viltrox 23mm 1.4 which one is best for documentary photography work
Fujifilm 23mm 1.4 if you can afford it!
That intro is funny xD
Can you make a video about camera bags?
The minimum focal distance and chromatic aberration is a deal beaker for me. I’ll take the Fuji 1.4 every time.
Weird, I have both lenses, and my viltrox 23mm 1.4 has significantly less CA than the fuji one. It's also a bit sharper (but not much)
I love that intro - awesome!!!
Viltrox 23 has latest firmware update V 1.1.7. Has it fixed the fringe?
you're so funny!
Klasse ,,,,Danke fuer das Video! Schoene Gruesse nach Deutschland !
I know this is several months later but Viltrox discount 8% in Japan doesn't seem to be working now. Cheers.
Nice lens. Can you please review your x-H1?
Viltrox is good bang for the buck. I might get it over Fuji's 23f1.4. But who knows I might win the lottery.
I'm confused are you comparing a brand new lense with a damage one ?
He’s used the 23 f2 from Fuji for years. His comparison is from years of experience with it -be smarter with your questioning because being the devils advocate just makes you look like silly.
@@ddiegorosa All the comparisons we saw would've been taken with a dropped lens though. Although it probably didn't make much of a difference.
“And we are back” any references to the nine club? :)
Haha didn't think about it but maybe that's why I said it lol.
those jumps were pretty rad. definitely GIF material
Haha
@@SamuelStreetlife truly is
I guess this is one of the oldest videos I've watched from you 😅
But after my X100V I just fell down the Fuji rabbit hole after thinking "I want to adapt my old Minolta lenses to something digital" and bought an X-T1 - and now looking for a first "modern" prime with AF for it 🙈
And then the comparison shots are shot in my neighborhood 🙂 Have you been living here before you embraced the countryside? 😉
Pass auf bei Autofocustests wenn du gleichzeitig über HDMI das Sucherbild abnimmst. Das hat durchaus starke Auswirkungen auf den AF.
Did you have to apply the latest firmware for the lens? www.viltrox.com/en/index.php?m=index&a=show&cid=149&id=285
the code does not work for me :( tried on amazon.de
I will ask Viltrox if they know something about it!
Okay I updated the Link! I had the wrong link... Should work now with the code.
simply don't use auto apperture. set it manual and it's perfect for video :)
Some how I was unsubbed, so I subbed again. Idk what happened, I watch your videos all the time.
That's weird! I definitely noticed a slowing down of channel growth... Maybe this is related. Thanks for letting me know! And re-subbing :)
I subscribed him immediately because the first scene :)))
I have seen many reviews, but it's the first were the chromatic aberration is so prevalent. Such a turn-off... :(
Now I'm back on the market for an AF lense to complete my set of MF lenses for my X-E2...
I have the 33mm because both of the 35mm by Fuji are too noisy.
It's much better than i expected and now i'm thinking about replacing my 23mm 1.4 also, because i never actually liked the construction of the choke focusring anyways.
Interesting! Yeah the older fuji lenses are a bit noisy but optically very nice. The Viltrox 23mm was a surprise! Expected it to be much worse...
Also the af itself is surprisingly at least as fast as the 35mm f2 on the xt3, but it is much smoother with video!
Dont go for viltrox 23 if going to shoot at 1.4 the chromatic abberation is terrible and also even if after correction not good compared to the fujinon lens
Hahaha that is some A+ editing 😂
For the money this lens feels like a no brainer! It's a same about the electronic step-down in the aputure. Would have been perfect for video
Yeah such a big missed opportunity! :D But it's still nice for video. I heard it's not compatible with the X-Pro3 though.
I have both...
I wish there was a coupon code for Amazon Japan 😭
there is a 8% code for this lens, you can find it here : asobinet.com/fullreview-viltrox-af-23mm-f1-4-stm/
What a handsome person 💜
Kommst du irgendwann mal nach Berlin? ... Cooles Review. Danke dir.
Ich war letztens erst in Berlin. Als die erste BLM demo war. Und mein Bruder wohnt in berlin :) Also komme ich sicher bald wieder
Intro was fire! Almost like Peter McKinnon
For the cost of the Viltrox lenses you really can't moan. It renders bokeh really well too. Love my 85mm 1.8.
Yeah, hard to hate the lens with that price.
HAHAHAHH that samuel from the bottom of the screen tho hahahahaha
best intro 😂
Intro was amazing 🤣
Greetings from brazil!!!
7 seconds in and I’m already lmfao 😂😂😂
You should be able to get the lens repaired surely?
Home insurance may cover it if it's anything like mine...
I think the aperture ring bended a bit. I could get it fixed (I have no insurance on it though) but I can live with it for now.
The CA is the deal breaker for me. Plus some people seem to have worse copies, so I would only buy in person.
The 23mm f2 also had too much CA for me. Seeing this got me wanting a GR again. Might have to get one to go with my Fuji with 27mm pancake and 50mm f2.
Test should be on xt20,xt30 ,or maybe xt2 ,. Not everyone having This expensive camera
The XH1 is 700€ now on ebay. It's not that expensive. I bought it for 900€ two years ago. And I can only use what I have. I recommend Omar Gonzales review. He shows it on a XT20.
I thought I didn't care about CA until I started seeing images with this camera and it was just...bad. I hate post.
Fuji vs Viltrox? Get the GR...
But... is the GR is good enough for 2020? 😂
Samuel L. Streetlife next video? 🤔
Not even close to Fuji lens.
Nicely made doesn't mean you can drop it!
Good point :D
It`s bad, but acceptable. 🤣🤣🤣
Fugi is still hopeless, better shifting to sony
22 minutes is just too long for a lens review. Skipping to the end, thanks for that at least.
Bwwwwwwhatsupeveryone
Lol pretty bad but acceptable!
Haha, yeah makes no sense😂