image quality at the maximum relative aperture leaves a bit to be desired,
resolution on the edge of the frame should have been higher,
a bit too high longitudinal chromatic aberration,
terrible appearance of out-of-focus images with a very accented onion-ring bokeh,
noticeable sphierical aberration,
weak performance against bright light,
distinct vignetting on full frame.
Sad but true, the performance of the Viltrox AF 50 mm f/1.8 in our test should be described as one big slip-up. Officially the lens offers everything a good quality, modern standad instrument should; in practice it fares equally well, or, in some areas, even a lot weaker than old double gauss constructions, with just 6-7 ordinary elements and a price tag of $125-$200. The Viltrox AF 50 mm f/1.8 Z costs $380 and, apart from good distortion correction and a bit lower vignetting, it isn't able to provide anything more when compared to older constructions. There is another very sad truth: in my opinion in this case engineers and optics specialists from Viltrox bite off more than they can chew. If you don't have either skills or technologies to produce good quality aspherical surfaces you shouldn't implement them just to have something to brag about in press releases and adds. Of course we understand the ambitions – if the cheap Samyang AF 45 mm f/1.8 could have two aspherical elements, the Nikkor Z 50 mm f/1.8 S two of them, and the Panasonic Lumix S 50 mm f/1.8 even three such elements, they probably felt compelled to boast them too just not to lag behind in such a company. On the other hand, if they don't know how to produce them smart engineers should have opposed marketing specialists in order to avoid impending disgrace.
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I haven't written such a bitter summary for a very long time but I feel the Viltrox AF 50 mm f/1.8 Z earned it with its performance. I do not recommend buying this lens – it's not worth it.
