‘Cheap’ Chinese lenses were everywhere in 2025 – but is there a sting in the tail?

Everybody loves a bargain. I particularly love the opportunity of being able to buy and use prime lenses that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. ‘First-party’ lenses are often too pricey for me, and sometimes they’re not even available. Case in point – I bought a Nikon Z fc back in 2021, which came with a kit zoom lens, but were all the Nikon Z DX prime lenses? Short answer: There weren’t any. Sure, you can use full-frame compatible lenses like the Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8 SE, which I duly did. It certainly looks the part with its matching retro styling, and it performs very well, but it’s not exactly fast.

The Nikon Z DX 24mm f/1.7 wasn’t launched until two years later and, like the 28mm, it has an all-plastic construction, right down to and including the mounting plate. Surely there must be a better way, and there was.

That’s when my love affair with Viltrox lenses began. Back in 2022, I spied a trilogy of APS-C format Viltrox AF 23mm f/1.4, AF 33mm f/1.4, and AF 56mm f/1.4 Z-mount lenses. They looked strongly built, with metal barrels and metal mounting plates, and even featured aperture control rings, fitting right in with the design ethos of my Z fc. And what’s more, the whole trio of lenses only costs about the same amount as I’d expect to pay for a single ‘own-brand’ lens.

Surely there must be a catch. As they say, “If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is.” Despite the low cost, I was pretty blown away by the lenses’ build quality, handling, image quality, and all-around performance.

I went on to review my purchases and have bought several Viltrox lenses since then. The company has gone on to make a growing range of very compact, lightweight, and inexpensive ‘Air’ lenses for both APS-C format and full-frame lenses, through to high-end ‘Lab’ and ‘Pro’ lenses, and an exciting new ‘Evo’ lens.

Here's another thing. I like shooting portraits but I’m not heavily into portraiture and don’t do it as a living. A lens like the Nikon Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena for my Nikon Z6 II would be firmly on my wish list but I just can’t justify the expense, and can’t afford it anyway, at a cost of around $2,597 / £2,349. That’s more than I paid for my camera complete with its (excellent) Nikon Z 24-70mm f/4 S kit zoom lens.

The alternative Viltrox AF 135mm f/1.8 Lab costs just $899 / £829, making it a much more viable proposition. The lens looks and feels like a ‘pro-grade’ prime, has superb build quality and a host of top-end features including voice-coil motor autofocus, extensive weather-seals, dual function buttons, an autofocus range limiter, a customizable aperture control ring with click/de-click switch, and even a color OLED display screen. And yes, performance and image quality are top-drawer.

So where’s the sting in the tail? I’ve tested and reviewed pretty much every Viltrox lens that’s been released over the last couple of years, and haven’t found any kind of downside yet. I’ve bought other money-saving lenses made by different Chinese manufacturers, including Laowa, Yongnuo and 7Artisans, and I’m equally delighted with those as well, especially my 7Artisans 10mm f/2.8 II Fish-Eye ED. Sure, it’s a fully manual lens but works a treat, is beautifully built and delivers fabulous image quality, all for the bargain price of just $278/£269.

My only real sniff of a problem was that I was contacted a while ago by a photographer who had bought a Yongnuo AF 85mm f/1.8 lens for his Nikon Z6 II. Everything worked fine until he traded up to a Nikon Z6 III, and the lens wouldn’t work with his new camera. Nikon couldn’t help and Yongnuo couldn’t offer a firmware fix, but they did refund him the cost of the lens despite him having bought it a couple of years previously.

And before we point the finger at Chinese lens manufacturers over compatibility issues, I also heard from a Nikon D800E owner who applied a firmware V1.11 update to his camera and then found that his Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 HSM APO DG OS wouldn’t autofocus anymore. Neither Nikon nor Sigma was able to offer a fix, and he ended up having to sell the lens and buy a newer version.

Following more recent problems, the likes of Viltrox and Tamron recommend that you only update the firmware in Nikon Z system cameras when an own-brand lens is mounted, rather than an independent third-party lens, to avoid potential issues. And let’s not forget that even some of Nikon’s more recent own-brand F-mount lenses for DSLRs don’t work on older camera bodies, especially lenses that feature electromagnetically controlled aperture diaphragms and/or AF-P (Pulse) stepping motor autofocus systems.

Money no object, there’s a case for only using camera manufacturers’ own lenses, but for most of us, money can be a real sticking point nowadays. If it comes down to a choice of being able to stretch my creativity with different types of relatively inexpensive Chinese lenses or not being able to buy those types of lenses at all, I’ll take the Chinese option every time.