The latest Random Lens Generator was a good one in the sense that is a lens that doesn’t see a lot of use – the Viltrox 16mm f/1.8 paired with Sony A6700, meaning that it had an effective focal length of c. 24mm with a f/2.8 maximum aperture.

Purchased on a sale back in June 2024 for $466 it is definitely one of the most expensive lenses I have purchased. It has to be said that arguably I have not yet used it enough to justify its purchase. As the images below will show it is a very capable lens, impressively sharp from corner to corner, more impressive on a full frame sensor, but arguably more useable in the street photography guise it was used for here in the APSC crop format.

My main usage vision for the lens was taking photographs of large groups of people, at family gatherings in particular. I have had a small number of these gatherings but invariably this lens does not travel with me. The reason for this is that it is a big and quite heavy lens, and when I am travelling with limited storage, I have smaller alternatives that can do a comparable job, namely the APS-C Viltrox 9mm f/2.8 (14mm full frame equivalent) and the Viltrox 20mm f/2.8. Both are very sharp lenses, especially considering the low price and light weight of the lenses. If I had an important group photo to take I would use the 16mm f/1.8, but as it has been currently the smaller lenses have proven more convenient.

The lens was taken out twice: once on a sunny late afternoon on a short walk around Manthorpe, visiting again the footpath on the Manthorpe housing development, and a late morning walk into town where I was getting a long overdue hair cut.

Combined with the A6700 the lens focused quickly and accurately and the images were all pleasingly rendered, whether it be in black and white or the developed raw images. As mentioned earlier the full frame equivalent of 24mm wasn’t playing to the lens’ strengths as an ultra wide angle lens, but it did at least make composition a little easier.

Although the lens is capable of a little bokeh when close focusing, like other wide angle lenses this is not its strength and its forte is to produce sharp images with good colours and minimal unpleasant distortions. To this end the lens is very good, although it will lack the wow factor of f/1.8 or faster lenses with longer focal reach. That said, as the pictures below show it is possible to get some pleasant out of focus images, and these weren’t even shot at f/1.8.

Although I wasn’t particularly excited about the lens when using it, the benefit of a week before revisiting the pictures makes me value the lens more highly than I perhaps did when using it. There are quite a few images I am pleased with and had I spent a little more time with it on both walks, I think I could have done even better. The real challenge will be to use it on the full frame camera where I suspect composition will be more challenging, but more likely to show the undoubted strengths of the lens.

So to conclude, a lens that I can definitely recommend and one that I should use more often but due to its size and weight is one that often gets overlooked as I have smaller and lighter equivalents, and that is important when I am limited for space when packing my camera bag. It is though a lens that I will keep hold of because when the occasion merits it, it is the best wide angle lens I own.