Viltrox Will Launch 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.2 LAB Lenses This Year
Viltrox has again taken to Reddit to discuss some of its future lenses, this time revealing that its promised 50mm f/1.2 LAB and 85mm f/1.2 LAB lenses will arrive this year.
As spotted by Sony Alpha Rumors, over the holidays, a Reddit user, u/EnricoTanz, posted about what they hoped Viltrox would release. The Redditor wished for the new Viltrox 2x E-mount teleconverter to work with Sony’s recent 100mm f/2.8 Macro G Master lens, a Viltrox 1.4x teleconverter, and new 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.2 LAB series lenses.
Viltrox’s official Reddit account, which stays active on social media, chimed in, responding to Enrico’s requests.
Viltrox says it is working on compatibility now between its new 2x teleconverter and the Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro GM lens. As for a 1.4x teleconverter, though, Viltrox says it has nothing to share on such a product.
Most exciting of all is that the requested 50mm f/1.2 LAB and 85mm f/1.2 LAB lenses are on Viltrox’s roadmap, and the company expects to release them in 2026.
Assuming Viltrox delivers, new 50mm f/1.2 and 85mm f/1.2 primes would join the company’s two existing LAB-series lenses, the AF 135mm f/1.8 LAB and AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB, both of which are available for Sony E and Nikon Z mount. In each case, the E-mount version arrived first, followed shortly thereafter by the Nikon Z variant. It is a safe bet that will also be the case for the two upcoming LAB primes.
Viltrox’s two LAB lenses have thus far proven extremely impressive.
“Viltrox has managed to make a lens that easily competes against the best in the business for an impressively low price,” Chris Niccolls wrote of the Viltrox AF 135mm f/1.8 LAB.
He echoed similar sentiments a few months later when reviewing the 35mm f/1.2 LAB.
“Still, apart from the sub-par aperture ring design, the Viltrox 35mm f/1.2 gives the unique look that I loved in the Nikkor 35mm f/1.2 and doesn’t skip enjoyable handling characteristics,” Niccolls wrote.
If the upcoming 50mm f/1.2 LAB and 85mm f/1.2 LAB deliver the same outstanding performance as Viltrox’s two current LAB lenses with the same sort of value, Sony and Nikon photographers are in for a treat. Both Sony and Nikon already have 50mm f/1.2 lenses, but they are $2,300 and $2,000. Nikon also has an 85mm f/1.2 lens, the Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.2 S, and that is discounted now to $2,800. If Viltrox can deliver anywhere near the same performance as those first-party lenses for much less money, that’s a big win. And Viltrox is absolutely capable of delivering on that optimism.
Image credits: Viltrox unless otherwise noted
