Viltrox Teases New APO EVO Prime Lenses Ahead of Birmingham Photo Show

Viltrox dropped a cryptic Instagram teaser showing two silhouetted compact lenses ahead of The Photography & Video Show, and the shapes tell a familiar story to anyone who followed the brand's CP+ announcements earlier this year: the expected 35mm and 50mm f/1.8 APO primes for the EVO series.

The teaser, posted by the @viltrox.official account, revealed little beyond the silhouettes themselves. But multiple outlets covering the show interpreted the compact builds as consistent with the EVO APO primes Viltrox had been hinting at since CP+ 2026 in Japan, where the brand first unveiled the EVO line publicly.

The EVO series sits between Viltrox's budget-oriented Air range and its higher-end PRO lenses. Launched late last year with the AF 85mm f/2 EVO for Nikon Z-mount and Sony E-mount, the line combines a lightweight metal build, USB-C connectivity, and clickable aperture rings while keeping pricing toward the lower end of the market. The addition of APO technology is the headline upgrade Viltrox is pushing hardest right now.

APO optics use specialized, low-dispersion glass elements to correct both chromatic and spherical aberrations, aligning red, green, and blue light waves on the same focal plane. The result, in principle, is sharper images with minimal color fringing, which is the kind of optical quality historically associated with significantly more expensive glass.

What made Viltrox's CP+ messaging particularly pointed was the language its engineers chose. Rather than simply claiming APO compliance, they used the phrase "hyper APO" and stated plainly that "APO" has become a buzzword among lens manufacturers, often applied to technology that doesn't truly meet the standard. That positioning drew note from Photo Rumors, which described it as "fighting talk from Viltrox."

The full reveal was set for The Photography & Video Show 2026, held at the NEC in Birmingham. Viltrox was exhibiting at stand F72 at the show, which kicked off on Saturday, March 14. No official specs, pricing, or confirmed product names had been released prior to the event, meaning the NEC appearance was the first real opportunity to assess whether the "hyper APO" label holds up under scrutiny.

Given that the AF 85mm f/2 EVO has already established the series' credentials, and with the 35mm and 50mm focal lengths covering two of the most-used primes in any shooter's kit, the stakes for the APO performance claims are considerable.