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Sony ZV-E10 & Viltrox 28mm f/4.5 pancake lens Photowalk

In this article, I'm going over my experiences with this setup. It's a Sony ZV-E10, which is video-focused, but I used it for mostly photography with a Viltrox 28mm f4.5 "pancake" lens. It's a very compact setup, which is great. But considering this is a video-focused camera, there are some quirks. And this lens itself is very unique. So, let's check it out. 

Check out the video on YouTube for more visuals of the lens and results: 

Viltrox AF 28mm f/4.5 FE Lens (Sony E): 

Sony ZV-E10 Camera: 

As an affiliate of these shops, I earn from qualifying purchases! It's more about time from the click rather than what you buy. Usually anything within 24 hours of the visit. 

Holding the Sony ZV-E10 with the Viltrox 28mm f/4.5 lens attached.

I went to a beautiful Japanese-style garden in my area to take photos. It's a nice spot for casual photography. Considering that, I wanted to go as simple as possible with settings, so I was mostly using program mode with this setup.

In photography, Program Mode, often indicated by a 'P' on the camera's mode dial, is an automatic shooting mode. In this mode, the camera automatically sets the aperture, shutter speed, and usually the ISO to achieve a correct exposure based on whatever metering mode it is in. However, the photographer can often adjust these settings using a feature called Program Shift, allowing for some creative control while still benefiting from the camera's automatic exposure calculation.


You're letting the camera decide shutter speed and ISO. It's not always going to work properly, but it turned out okay most of the time.

A view of the Sony ZV-E10's shooting mode selection screen, with "Program Auto" highlighted.

The lens is a very unique mix of physical properties and function, and it's certainly novel, and I do like the lens, but there's a lot you need to consider if you're interested in it. With this lens, it has that fixed f4.5 aperture. I didn't really notice any issues in bright conditions at that aperture, so you shouldn't have any serious problems in bright sunlight. Though, keep in mind that the lens does not have a filter thread, so you'd have to DIY a solution if you end up needing that. 

I did update the firmware on both for this photo outing. The Sony has firmware 2.02 on it and the Viltrox lens has 1.0.7.

A screenshot of the Viltrox website showing the firmware version 1.0.7 for the 28mm F4.5 FE lens.

The main downside of this lens is it does not have a manual focus ring. That means you rely on the camera to have all the functions and functionality you would need with autofocus to make it work how you want. I have used this with the Sony a6000 and the Sony a7S as well back in October 2024. 

My original website article and video on the Viltrox 28mm lens.  

The original website article.

When I made the pre-release video, they did function decently well in single shot photography, but there were quirks related to video, especially with continuous autofocus or just getting some type of focus and adjusting it (I did find a work-around for the A7S mentioned in my older article). So, it would have been really nice if it had a focus ring, but sadly not the case. You can get around it in many situations.

I quickly tried the two cameras with current firmware in continuous focus video mode. They seemed the same as those combinations were originally. Basically unusable. However the ZV-E10 did work. 

For the photo walk, with Program mode I was letting the camera decide shutter speed and ISO. I did use exposure compensation as needed. Photography outdoors in broad daylight was relatively challenging at times on this camera considering it doesn't have a viewfinder. 

Exposure compensation is a feature on cameras that allows the photographer to manually adjust the brightness of an image from the camera's automatically determined exposure. It's particularly useful in situations where the camera's light meter and given metering mode might be fooled by unusually light or dark scenes, helping to achieve the desired brightness in the final photo.

I did use the sunny weather mode on the screen. That helped me at least see what was being composed with the camera, but it does have its downsides. There were a number of photos that I did use exposure compensation for. Obviously, you can just use full manual in that case. You'll have your fixed aperture based on the lens. And then you can adjust shutter speed and ISO as needed. It's not a lot more difficult than using program mode plus exposure compensation. So, use what you feel comfortable with in that case. 

The Sony ZV-E10's screen brightness settings, showing the "Sunny Weather" option.

Looking up close at the photos, I did see quite a few with a really nice amount of detail in them. Given the lens is f4.5, that's really not a bad result in my opinion. On the corners of the images, it's not going to be great with this lens. And you get an idea of that from the large amount of focus breathing. 





Even with this newer Sony camera, the lens does often rack focus back and forth a little bit trying to get critical focus. I think it's just how it works. The Sony ZV-E10 does have phase detect on the sensor. So, I'm not really sure why that's the case. It's just how it's going to work but there is always the chance things could improve with firmware updates. 

Phase detect autofocus is a system used in cameras where the sensor has dedicated pixels that can determine both the direction and the amount of focus adjustment needed. By comparing the light from two different angles, the camera can quickly calculate how far to move the lens to achieve sharp focus. This method is generally faster and more decisive than contrast-based autofocus systems. 

A demonstration of the camera's phase detect autofocus points on the screen.

Another downside of this lens is the minimum focus. I really wish I could get closer with this lens, but then that would likely make it physically larger. So, it partly defeats the purpose of a really compact lens like this. I'm stricken on whether it would have made sense to get closer minimum focus. I would have preferred a little bit thicker of a lens, but I understand the appeal of this. It's officially 1.05 ft or 0.32 m for that minimum. And I just really wanted more a lot of the time. It's not terrible by any means at 0.11x magnification. I do like to get closer with these nature situations.

A photo of orange flowers, illustrating the approximate minimum focus distance of the lens.

That being said, I don't think this lens is especially great at longer distance landscape-style photos either. Obviously, on the edges of the frame, it's not going to be amazing. 

It was broad daylight, so keep that in mind at least...

Specifically to the Sony ZV-E10, there are a lot of quirks with it for photography. I had the camera set to RAW mode and this jog dial next to the shutter is a zoom feature. I don't know if you can turn it off, but it was really frustrating because whenever I touched it, it accidentally pops up a message on the screen, and you have to press the shutter or something else to cancel it out. A "frustration feature", as I would call it.

And in general, it's very video-focused. There is a toggle switch to turn it on, which is nice and simple, but then you have to press a button to cycle through the modes. You don't have a viewfinder. The fully articulating screen does have its benefits for photography but takes more effort to use compared to a simple as a standard tilt screen. 

It does have the sunny weather mode for the screen, which makes it serviceable. It's very compact, which is also nice. The grip is decent. Control layout isn't terrible. I don't know if this camera has a minimum shutter speed setting when you're in something like program mode. I couldn't find that setting. Maybe it's in there somewhere. But obviously, you can use full manual that solves the issue. Like I said, I was using program mode most of the time, and there were quite a few photos that were around 1/50th of a second that appeared to have motion blur, which is odd to me. 

This photo turned out a bit blurry up close at 1/50th of second.

I did use this a little bit for video. I had Active SteadyShot on, which you pretty much need in this case considering the lens does not have stabilization and the camera doesn't have IBIS.

Active SteadyShot is Sony's term for its advanced image stabilization technology. It combines optical stabilization within the lens (if available) with electronic stabilization in the camera body. The electronic part works by slightly cropping the image and then using the extra area to digitally shift the frame to counteract camera shake, resulting in smoother video footage. In this case the ZV-E10 does not have sensor based stabilization so you only get digital stabilization and it's only in video mode. 

In use, this camera is pretty nice for video. When you're using this combination for video, the screen is a nice benefit. You can adjust it and position yourself, so you don't have to stand like a photographer. You can stand however makes most sense for video.

The articulating screen pulled out. Sorry for the blurry image, I had an AI script select a frame from my video... 

Overall, a pleasant photo walk with this combination. I'll probably use it again at some point.

The compact nature of this setup is its main benefit. Image quality isn't terrible, and it does take some effort finding the best distance from your subject and a composition that makes it interesting. That's definitely a challenge, but that's not really a bad thing. You can kind of learn and grow with the lens and try to get the most out of it, which can be pretty fun.


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