First announced back in July, this week Viltrox confirmed preorders are now available for its new Full-Frame Wide-Angle 20mm f/1.8 lens which should start shipping in October of 2019.
[Related Reading: Cinema Lenses Are Coming For The Nikon Z Mount (Maybe)]
Initially announced for Sony and Fuji systems, the addition of the Z mount was confirmed by Viltrox and will be priced around the $399 mark according to the links via Adorama and Amazon. While it’s just a manual lens, it’ll be interesting to see how it performs for the video-files out there, as well as the night/astro photographers.
The MTF chart breakdown appears to be a little “wonky” but until it’s tested in the wild it’s hard to confirm anything as good or bad.
Check Pricing and Availability Here
Technical details
- Focal Length 20mm
- Maximum Aperture f/1.8
- Minimum Aperture f/16
- Focus Distance 9.84″ (25cm)
- Optical Design 12 Elements in 9 Groups
- Diaphragm Blades 14
- Focus Type Manual Focus
- Filter Size 82 mm (via Adapter)
- Weight 1.7 lb (775g)*
What does this mean for Nikon?
Are all these new off-brand lenses hitting the market helping or hurting Nikon? Well in my opinion, it seems now that 3rd party brands are hitting the market with new lenses and designs faster than Nikon is able to do. While it’s great to have a wide selection of lenses available to you at a variety of price points to suit your needs, I think Nikon has to step their game up on the production side to at least get the baseline selection of “Best of” type lenses on the market for its mirrorless users. I guess the one thing to keep in mind in Nikon’s defense is the fact that most of these new off-brand lenses are coming out as manual focus only, which leaves Nikon with the Leg up there, but that can change quickly.
Again, I absolutely love that there are so many 3rd party brands coming to market this year, as I want to have as many options for my own Z kit as possible. But I’d also prefer to fill out those empty lens slots with something official from Nikon directly.
What about you? Are you interested in these manual and 3rd party lenses? Have you used any of Viltrox’s accessories before and have some input on their quality? Let us know in the comments below.
