Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM Review

If you have been following the blog for a while, you probably know that we have been writing more and more about camera gear. Today, we are looking at the Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM for Sony E. We had already started reviewing lenses with Alex as part of our collaboration, but until now, these were only lenses we personally owned. First, I tested my wide-angle lens, the Tamron 20mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2. Then we reviewed two other wide-angle lenses for full-frame cameras: the Tamron 24mm f/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 and the excellent Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G.

Since then, we have put together one page listing all the lenses for Sony full-frame cameras (FE), and another one dedicated to Sony APS-C lenses.

This article is a first for us, as it is our first partnership with a lens brand: Viltrox. They agreed to send us this Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM so we could test it and share our honest opinion. As I always say, our opinions and our writing remain entirely our own, and we keep full editorial independence.

All the pictures you will see in this article were taken with our Sony A6000, which we recently bought as a second camera, but also with our Sony A7III. Even though this lens is designed for Sony APS-C cameras, we also tested it on a full-frame sensor to see how it behaves.

All the images were processed in DxO PhotoLab 5 with standard color rendering. At the time of the test, the software did not yet offer a correction profile for this Viltrox 56mm. Unfortunately, in-camera optical corrections on the A6000 do not work with this Viltrox either. I will come back to this below.

Even though I do not use Lightroom, as far as I know, a profile for this lens has been available since December 2021.

Let’s start with the basics and go over the technical specifications of this Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM for Sony APS-C cameras.

In December 2020, Viltrox released three Sony APS-C lenses with very similar specifications, the main difference being the focal length:

• Viltrox 23mm f/1.4 STM
• Viltrox 33mm f/1.4 STM
• Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM

On an APS-C camera, these three lenses correspond to classic full-frame focal lengths: 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. They also share several features: similar size, the same filter diameter, a clickless aperture ring, a metal lens hood, autofocus, and EXIF transmission. At the time of writing this article, the lens can be found for around €320 on major online retailers (Amazon).

As for the focal length, 56mm on an APS-C sensor gives you the equivalent of 85mm on a full-frame camera. It is a very classic focal length for portrait photography, especially outdoors, because it requires a little more distance than a 35mm or 50mm. Indoors, depending on the size of the room, it can be a bit too long if you want to include some context around your subject. On APS-C, the 56mm focal length combined with a very wide f/1.4 aperture makes it fairly easy to create nice background blur.

The lens arrived in fairly simple packaging: a sturdy white box containing the lens, the lens hood, the front and rear caps, the user manual, and a fabric pouch for storage.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality. It is very good, with an all-metal construction. In the hand, the lens feels solid, despite the announced weight of 290g without the lens hood and 369g with it. The lens hood is also made of good-quality metal, fits the lens perfectly, and can be mounted in reverse when you are not using it or when storing the lens. The Viltrox name is also printed on it. In my opinion, mounted on an A6000 body, which is of course lighter than more recent APS-C bodies like the A6600, the combination remains well balanced and does not raise any concern.

In terms of specifications, the filter size is 56mm and the minimum focusing distance is 0.60m. The lens uses 9 elements in 10 groups, including one ED element and one HRI element, along with coatings designed to reduce chromatic aberrations. It is worth noting that the lens is not weather-sealed and does not include stabilization.

On the lens itself, there is a very large focus ring. It feels smooth enough to me, is well built, and is pleasant to use when focusing manually. There is also a clickless aperture ring, slightly firmer than the focus ring, which is ideal for video, although I do not shoot much video myself. I also find it pleasant to use. It is marked in 1/3-stop increments from f/1.4 to f/16, with an “A” position that lets you control the aperture from the camera when shooting stills. There is a slight stop between f/16 and the automatic position, which is enough, in my opinion, to notice the change.

On the mount side, there is a micro-USB port that allows you to update the firmware. That is honestly very practical, and it means some issues could potentially be corrected later. Of course, there are also electronic contacts for EXIF transmission, which works very well. Here is the link to download the latest firmware. I tested it by plugging in the lens and updating it. A small update was available, and everything worked perfectly.

To sum up the handling, I find the lens very satisfying: it feels solid, the weight seems right for an APS-C camera, and the focus ring is genuinely nice to use. I approve. By comparison, my Samyang 35mm AF FE for the A7 III feels quite “cheap” with its plastic construction. Both lenses are almost identical in height and diameter, by the way.

I first tested it on my A6000, and overall it works well. I found the autofocus more hesitant in low light, but that may also come from the camera body. I could not properly test Eye AF with my A6000, as that function does not exist on it, but I found a workaround and it worked decently. I then mounted the lens on my A7 III, and there the AF was genuinely responsive and fast, with Eye AF working perfectly.

In single-shot autofocus (AF-S), the lens performs very well, and I did not have any major issue with subject tracking either (AF-C). I also tried manual focus several times, and again, no problem there, especially thanks to the easy-to-use focus ring. Animal Eye AF also works very well.

In my opinion, the autofocus is good overall, even if it will certainly not match the best Sony lenses. But considering the low price of this lens, I think it is a success.

In terms of image quality, the lens is already very good in the center at full aperture, even if the edges lag a little behind while remaining perfectly acceptable. Stopping down to f/2 already improves things clearly and gives a sharper, more contrasted image. At f/2.8, the center reaches excellent quality without any real need to stop down further. For the edges, you will need to go to f/4 to get a very good result. Beyond that, the image becomes very good and very consistent across the frame.

Personally, I find the result more than good enough, especially considering that this is a portrait lens. In real use, I will rarely place my subject on the far edge of the frame. So, as far as I am concerned, the quality is perfectly fine.

And here is another 100% crop, still on the A6000, this time at the far edge of the frame.

Here are a few pictures taken with the Viltrox 56mm to give you a better idea of what you can do with it.

The Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM creates very nice subject separation, with a sharp subject standing out clearly from the background. Just be careful: even on an APS-C sensor, at full aperture (f/1.4), depth of field is very shallow, and you can quickly end up with the nose or one eye out of focus.

Based on my tests and daily use, I find that the background bokeh is very soft and works really well, especially for a lens at this price.

See for yourself how the bokeh looks on a subject, and how it changes between f/1.4 and f/7.1.

I also tested the quality of the bokeh balls. Their shape is very good at full aperture. They are nicely rounded in the center and become cat-eye shaped toward the edges, as is often the case when shooting wide open. From f/2 onward, the 9 aperture blades start to become visible.

When zooming in to 100% on the bokeh balls, you can see traces of chromatic aberration along the edges up to f/2.8. They then disappear. I was able to remove them easily in post-processing, so I do not see this as a real issue.

Here is how the bokeh balls evolve as you stop down.

And here is a 100% crop of a bokeh ball in the center of the image, to show how chromatic aberrations evolve.

Diffraction starts to appear from f/8, where you can see some loss of image quality. In practice, this does not really bother me, as I mainly use this lens for portraits, most often between full aperture and f/2.8.

Distortion remains very low on this Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM. It is slight and pincushion-shaped. I could not correct it in DxO, as the software does not offer a profile for this Viltrox, but from what I can see, distortion should not be a concern for the way this lens is meant to be used.

Chromatic aberration is often one of the recurring issues with Viltrox lenses. Once again, in my opinion, it is not a major problem here. In backlit scenes or with strong contrast, you can clearly see these optical defects. They are visible, as on the edges of the bokeh balls mentioned above, up to f/2.8, where they disappear.

In post-processing, they are easy to remove without any particular difficulty.

There is not much to say about vignetting. It is slight at f/1.4, fades at f/2, and becomes very weak by f/2.8. For portrait photography, it is even something I would tend to leave in the image, as it is not particularly distracting.

Here is how vignetting evolves from full aperture to f/2.8. I could not show you a corrected version because, once again, DxO does not have the right profile for this lens.

In normal everyday use, whether for family photos, walks in the forest here in Guadeloupe, or similar situations, I honestly never noticed any real flare problem. However, if you shoot directly into the sun or with strong light coming from the side, the lens shows only average flare resistance. This can lead to a loss of contrast, some artifacts, and a slight hazy effect in the image.

Again, I know I am repeating myself, but it is something you can manage by paying attention while shooting. Apart from my test shots, where I was deliberately trying to push the lens and check its flare resistance, I never really had a problem with it.

Clearly, this is not an ideal lens if you want well-defined sun stars. Even at f/16, the star effect is not very clean, and the lens is also prone to quite a bit of flare, as we saw in the previous paragraph.

When I first wrote this review, there were not many serious alternatives to this Viltrox. The most direct option was the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary. It is still one of the most relevant competitors today, especially if you want a compact APS-C portrait lens with very good image quality.

Both lenses offer the same f/1.4 maximum aperture and a fairly similar weight, with the Sigma being a little shorter. The Sigma also focuses a bit closer, at 50cm, which can help slightly with background blur. On the other hand, it does not have an aperture ring, and its build is generally considered less premium, with more plastic. Autofocus performance seems fairly close between the two. The Sigma does have weather sealing, while its filter diameter is slightly larger at 55mm.

Since this review was first published, the choice has also expanded within Viltrox itself. The Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.7 Air is now a lighter and more affordable option, but it is less bright and less ambitious than this f/1.4 version. At the other end of the range, the Viltrox AF 56mm f/1.2 Pro is a much more premium portrait lens, with a brighter aperture and more advanced handling, but it is also larger, heavier, and more expensive. So the f/1.4 version still makes sense if you want a balanced option between price, build quality, brightness, and size.

I would still place the Sony E 50mm f/1.8 OSS in a separate category. Its stabilization can be useful on older APS-C bodies without IBIS, but in terms of aperture, build quality, and overall rendering, it does not really compete with the Viltrox 56mm f/1.4.

The table below summarizes the main points to keep in mind.

I am coming to the end of this field test of the Viltrox 56mm f/1.4 STM. Personally, I find it to be a very good prime lens for outdoor portrait photography on an APS-C camera, especially considering its price. Center sharpness is very good from full aperture, and stopping down a little improves the image further. The AF is more than decent, and the aperture ring should also be pleasant to use for video.

You can also consider the 23mm f/1.4 and 33mm f/1.4 from the same series, which, from what I have heard, offer a similarly good level of quality at a very reasonable price. I may have the opportunity to test them, and I will tell you more if I do.

For a price around €350, I can still recommend this lens, especially if you want to shoot portraits with your Sony APS-C camera.

See you soon for a new test!

Sylvain

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Written by Sylvain PONS

I've been passionate about photography since 2010, learning as I went along. Today, I dedicate myself to guiding others in their choice of camera gear and sharing a variety of tips to improve their photography skills.

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