Evolving Review – The Viltrox 33mm f1.4 STM for Fujifilm

By gunpowdervideo May 26, 2020 / 24 Comments

This is the new 33mm f1.4 from Viltrox available for Fuji X-mount with all working AF and an aperture ring. I was vey pleased with their 85mm f1.8 and so far Im equals pleased with this one.

If you where planing on buying the lens at B&H you can support by using this link, Viltorx 33mm f1.4
You can also support my site and Youtube channel by becoming a member here!
Or buying a print here!

Tracking galloping horses was no match for the autofocus.

Viltrox 33mm f1.4 for Fuji Review – First impressions

The very first day I immediately threw it in the deep end with some equestrian sports shooting. The light was super bright so it wasn’t that much of a challenge. But with that said, the autofocus was excellent. Way better than the Fuji 35mm f1.4 in my experience. The tracking AF didn’t miss one single shot when bursting away using the Fuji X-H1.

Viltrox 33mm f1.4 – Review Samples

These images are uploaded at 2mb, full resolution test shots can be found further down. More interesting images will be in the videos and on my Instagram.

Viltrox 33mm f1.4 Close Focus
The close focus isn’t great.
Viltrox 33mm f1.4 Bokeh
Bokeh looks nice and fringing is not over powering.
Viltrox 33mm f1.4 Sharpness
Sharp enough

Viltrox 33mm f1.4 – Full Resolution Samples

These are full resolution test shots for you to pixel peep (click on them to access the file).

Summer night captured with the Viltrox 33mm f1.4 Fuji lens.
Flares isat always a bad thing.
Bokehlicious
Bokeh
Viltrox 33mm Review Full Resolution Sample
This was shot at f2.8 ISO200 on the Fuji X-H1
Viltrox 33mm Review Full Resolution Sample
This was shot at f1.4 ISO 200 on the Fuji X-H1

Viltrox 33mm f1.4 vs Fujinon XF 35mm f1.4

This was captured outside the store with the 33mm @ f5.6.

Eggeborns in Västerås was kind I enough to let me do a quick and dirty lens comparison in their store using a XF 35mm f1.4. I didn’t need to pixel-peep long to see the difference. The Viltrox is sharper wide open and on semi fast apertures. Purple fringing is pretty equal, bokeh is close enough and the AF speed was similar but the Viltrox felt snappier and is quieter.
(Click the samples bellow to view full resolution.)

  • At f1.4 the Viltrox is sharper across the entire frame. No peeping needed to see it.
  • At f2.8 the Viltrox is sharper at the edges but otherwise they are pretty equal.
  • At f5.6 The Fuji is slightly sharper in the corners.
Viltrox 33mm @ f1.4
Fujinon 35mm @ f1.4
Bokeh on the 33mm @ f1.4
Bokeh on the 35mm @ f1.4

Thats it for now, more videos and samples will be posted after she more usage of the lens.
/Mattias

  • Damian Brown

    Yesssss. This is gonna be another fun one.

  • Faisal Harsa Latif

    wow great sir, do you mind compare with the fujinon 35mm 1.4 ?

    • Mattias.B

      I will try to do that. So far would say they preform similarly but the Viltrox is faster.

  • Carsten Pauer

    A few RAW examples to download would have been nice…

    • Mattias.B

      I will see what I can do.

      • Carsten Pauer

        Yes that would be nice, the JPEGs unfortunately look horrible muddy and noisy.

        • Mattias.B

          Not on my end.

          • Carsten Pauer

            Yes, if you look at the photos on a mobile phone display with over 500ppi, you will no longer see the muddy noise, as the resolution of the mobile phone display exceeds that of the human eye. If you look at the same photo on a 28″ 4K monitor with less than 160ppi, you can see it clearly. Even better you can see it on a 65″ full HD TV. Hence the request for unedited RAW photos.

          • Mattias.B

            Im not using a phone, still don’t see what you describe.

          • Carsten Pauer

            The RAW photos would help to show what I mean.

          • Mattias.B

            I don’t see how they could. If they don’t look “horrible muddy and noisy” in jpeg they wont in raw either.

          • Carsten Pauer

            I don’t want to be rude. But it really doesn’t make any sense to talk to you any longer. Then I look for another source that hasn’t dried up yet…

          • Mattias.B

            Good, because I was starting to think you where trolling or something. Either way we where getting no where fast. Good Luck!

    • Mattias.B

      In the mean time the two test shots above can be viewed and downloaded in full resolution by clicking them.

      • Carsten Pauer

        Thank you, it didn’t work out before.

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  • Christian Hau

    The BW shelf shots comparing the XF35 and the Viltrox 33mm. The XF35 pic is not sharp at all. I have the XF, and that is not a representative image, sharpness-wise.

    • Mattias Burling

      Sorry but it is what it is. The XF35 is a soft lens wide open. And next to a sharper lens it will be very obvious.

      • Christian Hau

        Well, I’ll wait for a more systematic test before I conclude ,) Anyway, the Viltrox looks to be a winner, only downside seems to be the size.

        • Mattias Burling

          No rush since it’s hardly out yet. Personally I prefer real world tests.

  • Is there anything that you’ve noticed yet that may be a massive drawback to buying this vs a native fuji lens? The haze is something i think I can manage but have you noticed any other big issues?

    Very much thinking of preordering this. Also I was unable to find minimum focus distance info, but that flower shot looks REALLY close and very sharp.

    • Mattias.B

      No, it works great so far.

      • How close can you focus? Haven’t seen that info on any of Viltrox’ literature.

  • jgbbxl

    The image of the store vitrine, the one made with the Fujifilm, did you make it unsharp on purpose? It looks as if you made it at shutterspeed 1/10sec while immitating a muscular defect. Either that or you are using a defective 35mm f1.4.
    You can see why that image is nonsense, if you would look at the image of the camera pouches, also at f1.4, there you can see the Fuji is both sharper and resolves higher resolution than the Viltrox.