Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB Z lens: astonishing resolution and dreamy bokeh

Viltrox’s AF 135mm F1.8 LAB Z lens redefines professional-grade optics, offering exceptional edge-to-edge sharpness, ensuring consistent image quality across the frame, even wide open.

The Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB Z lens, first made available for Sony E-mount, is now introduced for Nikon Z-mount, redefining, according to Viltrox, “Z-Mount Flagship-Level Resolution”, delivering peak performance from optical excellence to operational design. The lens achieves, the company says, “astonishing resolution at F1.8 full aperture to faithfully capture sharp, true-to-life detail, with the option of dreamy bokeh – creating stunning portrait photos. Ergonomic lens control buttons and customizable LCD startup animations enhance efficient control and visual personalization.”

Viltrox’s self-developed and patented Quad HyperVCM motor technology ensures rapid, precise focusing and significantly enhances thrust conversion efficiency, enabling faster, quieter and more stable autofocus in video and photo shooting. Compared to traditional STM autofocus motors, HyperVCM focuses 150% faster, and with micron-precision positioning – enabling 100ms switching between the closest and farthest focus points, for professional-grade performance. This lens is also equipped with a dual floating focus system, optimizes sharpness, and captures stunning close-ups at 0.72 meters with 0.25x magnification, for versatile close-up shooting.

Eleven aperture blades

The company says that “even at maximum aperture, the Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB Z maintains exceptional edge-to-edge sharpness, ensuring consistent image quality across the frame. This guarantees remarkable detail retention for post-cropping flexibility, offering an unparalleled shooting experience and creative freedom.”

The “superior optical design”, Viltrox adds, “significantly reduces chromatic aberration in bokeh, eliminating onion ring bokeh, and creating a soft, delicate effect beyond the sharp and clear focal plane. The bokeh of this lens is beautiful and there is a smooth transition between in focus and out of focus. The eleven aperture blades ensure bokeh effects are smooth at the center, with minimal optical vignetting and without noticeable swirly bokeh. Even at wide-open F1.8 aperture, it produces creamy, professional-grade bokeh ideal for portraits, backed by efficient light transmission for crystal-clear low-light images. Even at maximum aperture, this lens creates exquisitely beautiful bokeh for portraiture and other photography. Efficient light transmission ensures clear, pure, and noise-free images, even in low-light shooting environments.”

The Viltrox AF 135mm F1.8 LAB Z lens offers intuitive on-the-fly parameter adjustments for instant, hassle-free shots. Features include a three-stage focus limiter, dual VCM motors for fast, silent focusing, customizable dual Fn buttons, A-B focus switching, remote app control, a multifunction ring/click switch (FE/Z), and seamless auto/manual focus (AF/MF) switching for versatile shooting.

The lens has a price of $899 and is available from Viltrox Official Store or Viltrox Amazon store.