Hands-On First Impressions of the Viltrox 33mm f/1.4 STM

A good prime lens will become a prized possession of any photographer. Could this be a staple of your camera bag?

Viltrox are a fairly low-key camera gear manufacturer. In fact, the first time I heard of them was with their well received 85mm for Fujifilm and Sony full frame cameras. 85mm is one of my favorite prime lengths and I have used it extensively on full frame bodies for many years now. As I already have one I'm happy with, and a 90mm macro which is close enough that it already feels like doubling up a times, I wasn't looking to make a purchase. 

Now, however, Viltrox have released an off-kilter focal length prime: the 33mm f/1.4 for APS-C. I must admit, it's interesting. Currently it's only for Fuji X-mount mirrorless cameras, though I hope to see them add Sony mounts to that soon. It's certainly a quick lens with an impressive widest aperture of f/1.4, but what shocked me most about that is the price that accompanied it: $279. An f/1.4 prime is usually a sizable investment, even for crop bodies. What's more, it appears to be faring very nicely against similar lenses in a number of key benchmarks. What do you think?