Viltrox, the most recent company to join the L-Mount Alliance, today announced release of the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 for L-Mount cameras. The lens represents a compelling option for photographers interested in low-light landscape, architecture, and astrophotography.
Viltrox, a brand of the Shenzhen Jueying Technology Company Ltd, joined the L-Mount Alliance on September 1st 2025, becoming its tenth member. The Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 AF lens is the first of several planned releases from the company, and represents a strong opening move.
The lens weighs 552.8 grams, is 85.2mm in diameter, and 103mm long. It has an all-metal construction. The front element does not protrude beyond the front of the lens, which has a 77mm filter thread. It comes with a twist-on petal-shaped hood.
Control features
Viltrox has equipped the lens with several switches and function buttons, easily accessible on the lens barrel. These include an AF/MF switch, an aperture de-click switch, as well as Fn1 and Fn2 buttons.
Fn1 is a customizable ‘focus hold’ button. Fn2 operates in manual mode, allowing two focal lengths to be stored and recalled — very handy for astrophotographers focus-stacking between a foreground subject and infinity.
The de-clickable aperture ring enables use of the lens for both stills photography and video recording. Aperture can therefore be set manually via the lens. Alternatively, rotating the aperture ring to the ‘A’ setting enables full camera control of PASM selection.
The lens also has an unusual, integrated 160×80 pixel real-time display. It provides focus mode, focus distance, depth-of-field, and Fn-button-status information. This feature has been applied previously by Zeiss.
Viltrox also installed a USB-C port in the mount to enable future firmware updates to this feature.
Lens design
The Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 lens incorporates 15 elements in 12 groups. These include three aspherical and four ED (extra dispersion) elements. It has a viewing angle of 105.6°.
The company claims they have optimized the lens for video use, incorporating a fast, near-silent focus motor, and minimizing focus breathing. The lens offers an aperture range from f/1.8 to f/22 with a minimum focusing distance of 0.27m.
The Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 joins a small group of fast, super-wide angle lenses for L-Mount. This includes the Panasonic Lumix 18mm f/1.8 and the Sigma 14mm f/1.4, both of which are considerably more expensive.
The lens will retail for £530 l $580 l €599.
Anyone tempted to purchase one via the Viltrox online store will receive a 5% discount for the next five days.
Viltrox has been kind enough to loan Macfilos one of these lenses, so we will be posting a follow-up article sharing our impressions and sample images.
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In their dealings with us so far, Viltrox have been very professional. We were advised over a month ago about the launch, and they supplied pre-release press material, including photographs, several days before the today’s announcement. Just like Leica and Sigma (to name two other LMA members) who are also very supportive.
Panasonic, by contrast, give us no advance notice or press releases, despite frequent requests. As a team, we have had to buy any Panasonic equipment we wished to review, and never have we been offered loan equipment.
As editor of Macfilos, I was impressed by our contact with Viltrox, and by the speed in which they sent a test lens to Keith James in San Diego. It all bodes well for the company’s future in the L-Mount Alliance.
As far as the lens goes, it looks particularly interesting to me and I could well be in the market. I look forward to reading Keith’s impartial review when he’s ready to publish.