Review on 📷 VILTROX 23mm F1.4 Auto Focus APS-C Frame Lens for Fuji X Mount: High-quality STM Motor Internal Focus Portrait Lens for Fujifilm Camera X-A2 X-M1 X-A20 X-T3 X-T100 X-H1 X-Pro2 X-Pro3 by Sarah Bailey

I am a retired professional photographer. When I retired a few years ago, I wanted to keep shooting, but lugging around big, heavy gear was getting harder and less fun. So I ditched Nikon gear and switched to Fuji, not because I wasn't happy with the performance or image quality of my Nikons, but because I needed to reduce bulk and, more importantly, weight. With that in mind, I was intrigued when Viltrox announced their new 23mm f1.4. I already had a Viltrox 85mm f1.8 and while I'm very happy with the image and build quality as this lens is designed for both full frame and Aps-C, it was too big and heavy for me to love . Those 23mm are for cropped sensors only, so I was hoping they would be smaller and lighter. The 23mm focal length is one of my favorite lenses - great for landscapes, street photography, landscapes, kids and pets. When deciding on this review, I had to decide which lenses to compare it to. It wouldn't be fair to compare a $329 lens to my Fuji 23mm f1.4, which sells for around $900. Fair or not, I think this comparison will interest most photographers. So here it is: Build Quality: In a word, outstanding. The fit and finish of this lens is absolutely perfect. The body appears all metal, with a gorgeous black finish that rivals any lens at any price point. The lens mount is made of chrome-plated brass with a perfect mirror finish. The manual focus ring is oily. And best of all, even in this all-metal body, it's about 40g lighter than my Fuji 23mm. The size is about the same. The Viltrox has an aperture ring but no detent stops. Winner: Vitrox. Autofocus: Viltrox uses a stepper motor, which makes autofocus faster and much quieter than my Fuji. The accuracy is about the same. Winner: Viltrox Image Quality: When I received the lens I took about 100 shots just to evaluate the image quality. I'm very picky. Contrast and color were slightly different, but neither were noticeably "better". The sharpness is also very similar to Fuji. In general, my Viltrox is slightly sharper in the center than the Fuji, about 1/3 on the edge, and less sharp on the edges and corners. This was the case at all apertures from f1.4 to f4. (Apart from that, they were indistinguishable.) If you're shooting 3D objects at f1.4, the outer parts of your image are likely to be out of focus, so edge sharpness is a bit academic. Bokeh quality, which is usually important to f1.4 lens buyers, was amazing on both lenses. Only the most dedicated pixel watchers will be able to tell them apart. Winner, Fuji by a small margin. I find it incredible that any lens can compare so well to an established lens that costs almost three times as much. Quite an achievement. Highly recommended.