If you are reading this Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 review you probably like small lenses. For me it is the same. I love my Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 S and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 S lenses. But the thought of lugging these lenses around on a trip with my kids or when I’m wandering a city isn’t something I’d prefer. That’s why I’ve bought the Nikon 26mm f/2.8 lens some time ago, it’s a very small and high quality lens that brings me great joy. But after holding the subject of this review, the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 pancake lens the Nikon feels huge!
The Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 is the smallest full frame lens with autofocus you can buy. And the best part is that besides the small size the price is also unbelievably small. You can buy this lens for an incredible 109 euro’s. The lens is available for Sony FE and Nikon Z full frame and also for FujiFilm X mount. The Fuji’s optics are the same as the full frame versions but you’ll only use the APS-C part of the lens, so it acts like a 42mm full frame equivalent lens.
In this review I’ll tell you about my experience with the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 pancake with both my Nikon Zf and Nikon Z6III. And I’ll compare it to the Nikon 26mm f/2.8 lens. I hope this review will help you decide if this is the tiny wonder you are looking for.
Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 pancake build
I knew this lens was small, but I wasn’t ready for how small it actually is when I first took it out of the package. It is almost comically small. Think body-cap plus. And for the price and size you might expect it to feel cheap and plastic, but it really is not. It is built around a metal mount – I was truly surprised by that. Despite the metal parts it weighs only 80 grams. The affordable Nikon 28mm f/2.8 and 40mm f/2 lenses have a much cheaper feeling and looking plastic mounts. I can’t say if the plastic is a problem in normal use, but at least a metal mount feels more durable and more premium.
The base of the lens is also made of metal. The front section of the lens is made of high quality plastics and has a small lever to close a built-in lens cap to protect the tiny front element. This saves space and works very well. The little lever gives great feedback and makes it easy to open and close the cap with one flick of the finger without looking.
Of course there is no weather sealing on the lens. So you have to be careful with dust and moisture when using this lens. On the back of the lens you will find the mount contacts and a USB-C port that allows you to install new firmware.
So, no compromises at all?
Well sort of, but physics also exist for Viltrox so you can’t eat your cake and have it too unfortunately. To keep it so small (and probably affordably) Viltrox has chosen to leave out the adjustable aperture. This lens has a fixed f/4.5 aperture, so you can’t change it. This can be somewhat of a limitation as you don’t have any control over the depth of field or brightness of the lens. This can either be a problem or you can see it as a challenge. I didn’t mind, as it means there is one thing less to think about. No need to think about which aperture is the best for a situation as you simply don’t have any choice.
The other compromise is the quality of the coatings used on the lens. Of course you have to be realistic about it, you can’t expect a 109 euro lens (with AF!) to have the same quality of coatings and glass as a lens that costs multiple time that. So some chooses were made. I’ll come back to that later on.
Sun stars of the Viltrox AF 28mm f/2.8 lens
With some lenses, mostly the ones that don’t have very rounded aperture blades, you can create sun stars when you have bright (high)lights in your image. This normally happens at smaller aperture (think f/11 and higher). This can be a great addition your images. Since this lens doesn’t have an adjustable aperture you might think you can’t create any sun stars with it. But the good news is that Viltrox has added an aperture plate to the front lens element that mimics the aperture blades of a normal lens. This creates a somewhat funky looking 8-pointed sun star. Depending on the situation this will give you some quite well defined points. A nice little feature.
Autofocus (compared to Nikon)
The Viltrox AF 28mm f/2.8 lens includes full auto focus on Nikon, Sony and FujiFilm bodies. When mounted to my Nikon camera’s this means you have all regular auto focus functions of the Nikon system. So modes like eye-AF, 3d tracking and subject tracking are the same as a original Nikon branded lens.
Autofocus speed is very acceptable. When comparing it to the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 the Viltrox wins on pure speed. Because of the small lens elements the speed when going from closest focus to infinity is fast. It is noticeably quicker than the somewhat slow Nikon26mm lens. I think the speed is about the same as the Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8.
I did notice that focus acquisition can be a little less dependable than with the f/2.8 Nikon primes. This is most noticeable in the closest focus range and when there is less light. So I think this is also caused by the less bright maximum aperture, so it has less light to work with. But all in all the autofocus offers very usable results, since you probably won’t be using this lens for action photography.
Minimum focusing distance is 35cm (a little less than 14 inches). That is perfectly fine for normal shooting but can be a little long for shooting small details. The little Nikon 26mm can focus as close as 20cm from the sensor. This offers some extra flexibility.
Image quality – sharpness
Ready to be impressed? I was expecting a 109 euro lens that is this small to be soft and deliver low image quality. I was wrong! This lens offers very acceptable sharpness across the frame. Will it rival a Nikon S lens? No of course there will be a difference. And with the fixed f/4.5 aperture you will also loose some depth of field, so some of the difference in sharpness will also be explained by the aperture.
The Nikon S and non-S primes have more pronounced ‘bite’, as the image is sharper but also more harsh.
Because of the f/4.5 fixed aperture this isn’t the best lens for landscape photography. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. When you take in account the low price and the small size I can only be very impressed by what Viltrox has realised with this lens.
Image quality – flares and coatings
The sharpness of the Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 is impressive in most situations. But it can be compromised by light hitting the front lens element from certain angles. That’s when you see the less advanced coatings and the lack of a lens hood impacting the image. Or you could call it character, of course. If it bothers you is personal taste. In some situations you will see quite loss in contrast by a veiling flare, especially with light hitting the front element from the side. In backlit situations the flares can also be wild. Sometimes it is too much and in other situations it can really add something extra to the image.
Besides the extreme impact of light you will also see that the overall image is a little less contrasty than the Nikon 26mm f/2.8. This lens has a classic and soft contrast look. It is even more pronounced than the Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8 and Nikon Z 40mm f/2 lenses that are known for their classical and softer rendering.
Same distance, the Nikon is wider at 26mm The Nikon also has more contrast and ‘bite’.
In the comparison above you can see the difference between the Viltrox and Nikon 26mm in the same situation. You can clearly see a difference. When zooming in 100% you will also see that the sharpness of the Nikon lens is better than the Viltrox. But is it 5x better?
Image quality – Bokeh
With the wide 28mm focal length and fixed f/4.5 aperture there aren’t many options to blow out the background. If you get really close you will get some background blur and it looks fine. It’s not extremely smooth, but I wouldn’t have expected it to be. It is good enough to not draw any attention to itself as you can see in the image below.
How is the Viltrox AF 28mm f/2.8 to live with?
I had a lot of fun with this lens. It is so small that my Nikon Zf actually feels like a small and compact camera. The camera with this lens will even fit a coat pocket if you have bigger pockets.
Because of the low weight I’ve taken this lens with me every time I’ve gone out with my camera. There is always room in my bag or pocket for it so, there is no reason to leave it at home. The package is light and this makes it easy to keep my camera in hand when walking around. And the lack of a lens cap makes the lens ready to use at all time. This makes this a perfect walk around- or street photography lens. The small size will draw much less attention, so most people won’t even notice you. Of course the image quality isn’t as good as a higher end prime lens, but it is still plenty good for most applications. As long as you don’t plan to make wall sized prints or shoot for a glossy magazine the image quality will be more than good enough.
Conclusion
Compared to the Nikon Z 26mm f/2.8 lens the Viltrox AF 28mm f/2.8 holds it own. The AF is at least as fast or faster than the Nikon. The image quality is of course not as good. When looking at the images at 100% you will see the Nikon images are crispier and sharper. The contrast is also better than the Viltrox.
But that doesn’t mean the Viltrox AF 28mm f/2.8 image quality is bad. It has a classic look, softer and less serious. If you take in account the limitations of the fixed f/4.5 aperture and think about the angle of light you can take magnificent images with this lens. Is it perfect? No, its quite far from it. But it is a very capable and fun every day carry lens. It will make even the biggest camera’s feel small and nimble.
So is it the tiny wonder you are looking for? I think it might just be. The price is so low at just 109 euros that you can always give it a go and see if you like it. Because of the small size there’s no reason not to bring it when you go out. I’d say this lens is perfect for walking around, street photography and documenting every day life when you don’t need perfect, clinical images. Choose a fun creative filter, shoot in JPEG and just have fun – and fall in love with photography again.
