Viltrox vs Sirui vs TTArtisan – Which 23mm Prime Wins?

[0:00]23 mil is one of my absolute favorite focal lengths for APSC, and today we're comparing four affordable 23 millimeter primes for APSC. Hi there. So, whether you're a stills, video, or hybrid shooter, 23 mil is one of those focal lengths that basically allows you to do almost anything. And in this lineup, we got the SUI Sniper F1.2, we got the Viltrox 23 mil F1.4, and we got the new 25 mil F1.7, also from Viltrox. And the most affordable one in the bunch is going to be the TT artisan 23 mil F1.8. Now, just want to say that all of these lenses comes with a lens hood. They all have autofocus and they're available for a whole bunch of different mounts, which I will link down in the description. These lenses are pretty small and compact with Viltrox 25 mil being the absolute smallest and lightest of the bunch. It's also the only one made entirely out of plastic, which kind of explains the low weight. The other ones here have full metal construction, well, except for the Sri, which have this little nice ring here made out of carbon fiber. So, maybe an obvious choice if you're a car enthusiast, that sort of stuff. None of them, by the way, have any built-in buttons or switches on the lens barrel. But we do get a nice D-clicked aperture ring on the Viltrox 23 mil, something that I personally like. Final note, all of these lenses will allow you to update the firmware on the lens. The Viltrox and the Sri does this with a USB port on the mount, while the TT artisan comes with a lens cap that also kind of doubles as a lens dock. Now, let's start with autofocus. The TT artisan and the Viltrox 23 mil F1.4 will be tested on the Fujifilm XT4, which don't have the same phenomenal autofocus performance as Sony cameras. So, keep this in mind when you watch these results, okay?

[1:56]The E-mount lenses behaves quite well, well at least initially, but I did notice some weird issues, especially with the Viltrox 25 mil that actually performed flawlessly in one of my previous videos. I've gotten some weird results on the Sri lens too when I used it a couple of days ago here in the studio, and it decided to track a subject instead of my face. Then the only thing I could think of was that I shot my initial test of the Viltrox 25 mil on my E74 using the latest firmware on that camera, while these tests were done on my FX30, which is still using the old 2.0 firmware. I believe the most current one is 5.02. So, I did a quick little reshoot on my A74, which kind of confirms the fact that the camera firmare was in fact affecting the autofocus performance in these tests. And I believe at firmware 3.0, they made some significant updates to tracking and and that sort of stuff. But the TT artisan and the Viltrox 23 mil, they both do a decent job here on the old FujifX T4. The Viltrox feels a bit more snappy. The TT artisan is a bit slower but maybe a tad bit smoother, but we do see a lot of these little hunts or indecision before settling down and grabbing focus. So, after this round, the TT artisan would be my fourth pick in terms of continuous autofocus for video. They all do a pretty good job at stills, by the way. The Viltrox 25 mil would be my top pick in terms of autofocus performance with Viltrox 23 mil and the Siri coming in at a tied second place. The autofocus on the TT artisan, like I said, isn't bad for stills, but when it comes to continuous autofocus for video, it's not quite able to keep up with these lenses. But it might be improvements down the road with firmware, who knows. But as of now, it comes in at fourth place. Now, just a quick side note for all of you video shooters out there, focus breathing is something that most of us video shooters are a bit concerned with and it can be a deciding factor. So, if we were to rank these from best to worst, we will have the Viltrox 23 and 25 mil on top with the Siri at third place. Sadly, the TT artisan shows a fair amount of focus breathing, which is why it once again ends up in fourth place. Now, let's look at Bokeh and background separation. So, even if these are relatively wide angle lenses, you can still get some pretty blurry backgrounds and decent subject separation. With the Siri giving us the most blur for your buck. Closely followed by the Viltrox 23 mil F1.4 and the Viltrox 25 mil F1.7, which do offer a bit more compression, which I think might be able to help in these situations. But the TT artisan is no slouch either and what's more interesting is the quality, or the look of those out of focus areas, and this is often a matter of personal taste. I haven't to like a bit of character, so I personally enjoy the TT artisan the most, and the Viltrox 23 mil comes in at second place. Especially if there's a bit of texture like in this shot, we got some nice micro contrast and some texture here in these areas, while the Siri and the 25 mil look smoother and more neutral. We can also see a tiny bit of color fringing on the Siri right here and also, if we look at this area right here in these specular highlights. And the Viltrox 23 mil also shows just some tiny signs of chromatic aberration too, but not as much as the Siri. The Siri and the TT artisan would be the worst performance in backlit scenarios. While the Viltrox 25 mil also veils quite a bit, but I think it holds the image together a lot better. The Viltrox 23 mil with this tiny little red flare in the corner would be my second pick in this scenario in terms of handling backlit scenarios. All of these lenses have a minimum focus distance of about 30 centimeters or 11.8 inches. And if we take a look at these shots, shot wide open at each lens, and then stopped down to F2.8, it's hard to give anyone a landslide victory in terms of subject separation or blurriness. Even if we can see a bit more blur on the faster 1.2 and 1.4 lenses. But they all hold up fairly well in terms of contrast and saturation and that sort of stuff. Now, let's look at sharpness using this little nifty chart back here. So first out, it's going to be the Siri Sniper 1.2. The Siri is reasonably sharp here at the center with some light fringing wide open. The corners remains a bit soft even if we stop it down to F8. And we can still see some small amounts of color fringing here and there along with some mild barrel distortion. The TT artisan is pretty interesting, we got a decent sharpness right here in the center with the corners looking quite soft, and they remain soft even when stopped down to F8. The good news is, there's no color fringing thanks to those ED elements. We also see a tiny amount of pincushion distortion on the TT artisan. Next up, we got the Viltrox 23 mm F1.4. We get nice contrast and sharpness here in the center, while the corners are a bit soft wide open. But compared to both the TT artisan and the Siri, corners actually looks a lot sharper. I can't see much in the way of color fringing as suspected, the corner sharpness improves as we stop down and at F8, it's actually pretty good. So overall, not that bad for an F1.4 lens. Now for the odd one out, the Viltrox 25 mm F1.7. And right off the bat, it's by far the best performer in this lineup. We got nice sharpness, we got nice contrast across the entire frame, basically. And if we stop it down, we can see some slight improvements here, but it was still sharper wide open than most of the other ones, even stopped down. We also see a small amount of barrel distortion, but nothing I would worry about too much. In fact, none of these lenses shows any dramatic amounts of distortion, but there is small amounts of vignetting, which is pretty normal on these more affordable lenses. Well, it's significant, small, large, whatever, and just to show you this real quick, I've compiled these side by side, so we can kind of knock them out quickly. Each one is going to be from their respective widest aperture down to F8. But luckily, vignetting is something that's super duper easy to fix in post if needed. So, after all this testing and comparing, let's see if we can break it down and see which one of these lens that will fit you the best. And if we start with the TT artisan, I must say that I really love the image coming out of this lens. It's got a bit of character without being too distracting or too dramatic. The autofocus works really well when it comes to still, while video shooters might be less enthusiastic about the current autofocus performance of this lens and the bit of focus breathing that we also see. I can see autofocus being fixed with firmware, but sadly, focus breathing is something that has to do with the optical design of the lens. But I wouldn't say don't use it for video, just be mindful of the amount of focus breathing. I do think it's a solid pick for steel shooters out there on a budget. Next up is going to be the Siri Sniper F1.2, which I do have some pretty mixed feelings about. I do like the image, especially for video and for hybrid shooters, I think this could be a great pick, especially if you prefer a more artistic or a more cinematic look. And it should match nicely with Siri's other cine lenses in the Nightwalking series. I do hear rumors about the glass design being virtually identical to those. It's also going to be the obvious pick if you're a boke junkie or if you're shooting a lot in low light scenarios. Third one is going to be the Viltrox 23 mil F1.4, which isn't far behind the Siri in terms of boke and subject separation. The autofocus is smooth and the lack of any noticeable focus breathing makes this a great hybrid lens. It's been my daily driver for the last four years or so on my Fujifilm XT4 and I've used it for travel, for YouTube videos and even for some commercial projects here and there. Both the Viltrox F1.4 and the Siri show small amounts of color fringing here and there, which is then again in my experience when it comes to real world use, isn't usually much of a problem.

[10:51]Unless you have some weird interest in shooting, I don't know, backlit telephone wires. If that's your jam, then yeah, maybe at least consider stopping down a bit. The fourth one is going to be the odd one out and the newest of the bunch, the Viltrox 25 mm F1.7. As far as I'm concerned, this one takes the cake in pretty much all the different categories. Both in terms of focus performance and optical performance when it comes to sharpness and contrast and edge-to-edge sharpness and that sort of stuff. I really think this is a great pick. It's not one of the most expensive ones of the bunch either. So, whether you're a still shooter or video or hybrid shooter and you're looking for a crisp, sharp, 35 mm equivalent, it's hard to go wrong with the 25 mil F1.7. All of these lenses are going to be linked below so you can check out and see which one is available for your camera mount. And if this video was helpful for you, then using those links down below will help you, help me, or at least support this channel. And don't hesitate to drop me a line down below in the comment section and I will do my best to help you along to find the lens that's going to be perfect for you. But with that said, I want to thank you for watching and I hope I'll see you here in the next one. Good buys.