Hands on: Viltrox 23mm! Pro photographer Frank Fischer shares his thoughts on the lens

In his brand-new YouTube video, professional photographer and photography coach Frank Fischer presents the new Viltrox 23mm lens with an aperture of 1.4, a particularly fast and wide-aperture lens that we are presenting at Rollei in collaboration with Viltrox.

"It feels very nice and high-quality."

The photo professional explains that he had been using the lens for several weeks and months when he was on the go, together with a Fuji X-T20.

"What I can say is that the haptics are incredibly cool. It's milled aluminum, which feels very nice and high-quality. A lens hood made of aluminum is also included, which makes a very solid and good impression. And the focus and aperture rings run smoothly. The aperture ring has no click stops, but is stepless, which I particularly like." Especially for video, it is particularly advantageous to be able to adjust the aperture steplessly, for example, when filming from a bright area to a dark one or vice versa, and the lighting conditions change.

Used in urban and landscape photography: "incredibly sharp."

Frank Fischer also explains that "the lens is incredibly sharp, I mainly used it for urban and landscape photography. Among other places, in Iceland and Italy." He discovered that this focal length, a light wide-angle lens with a 35mm full-frame equivalent, is very well suited for what he usually photographs. He also took various panoramas, for which the lens was not even wide enough for him.

Fischer also explains a special feature of the lenses very clearly in the video. He says: "The special thing about the Viltrox lenses is that they have electronic contacts. This means they are not fully manual lenses, but lenses that also transmit image data. So, in the EXIF data, you will always find the set aperture, shutter speed, etc."

And the bokeh? "Very nicely soft and smooth, I think that's really well done."

He finds the sharpness of the lens to be "absolutely good." Accordingly, he was able to use the wide aperture very well when it came to isolating subjects and creating a beautiful bokeh in the background. "The bokeh, by the way, is very nicely soft and smooth, I think that's really well done," he says. At the same time, the continuous sharpness with a slightly closed aperture is "simply phenomenal and just incredibly sharp – especially when we consider the price. Because the price of the Viltrox lens is approximately one-third of the original lens." Frank Fischer reports that he really enjoyed photographing with it, as he shows some of his fantastic photos. "I really enjoyed using it and in the most diverse situations."

He also answers in the video the question of who needs the product and what it can be used for. "Anyone who is out in reportage photography can use it wonderfully. The lens is also very interesting for users who are into landscape and urban photography." But it is also excellent for portraits. Photo professional Frank Fischer therefore calls the lens an "all-rounder" and is enthusiastic.

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