Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab Review

Introduction

Ease of Use

Weighing in at 970g and measuring 89.2mm in diameter and 123.5mm in length, the all-metal bodied Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab is about par for the course in terms of its size and weight for such a fast, 35mm full-frame lens.

Its overall dimensions and weight make it well-suited to a camera like the Nikon Z8 that we tested it with, as shown in the photos below, even with the supplied hood attached.

Compared to its main rival, the NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.2 S, the Viltrox 35mm Lab is lighter by 90g and smaller in length by 26.5mm.

The build quality is of this lens excellent, with the all-metal barrel construction and matte black finish adding to the premium feel.

It has a sealed dust and moisture resistant design, although Viltrox stops short of saying that it's 100% weather-proof, and the front element features a water and smudge-resistant coating.

It has a supposedly more durable brass-plated lens mount and it accepts 77mm filters via metal threads on the front of the lens.

This lens features a multi-function control ring that acts in exactly the same way as the one found on native Nikon lenses. Its function can be configured in the usual way via the camera body.

By default it acts as an aperture ring that has 1/3EV stops ranging from f/1.2 to f/16. There is no Auto setting, though, and the ring is unmarked and doesn't have an end point, which means you need to rely on the built-in LCD display or the camera's viewfinder/LCD screen to confirm the current aperture.

Also in the clicked mode it has clicks at at every 1/9th aperture stop rather than the standard typical 1/3rd aperture stops, which means that it takes far too long to move from f/1.2 to f/16.

The fact that the camera body registers the 1/9th aperture stops but the lens' own LCD screen doesn't further compounds the rather confusing user experience - you'd be better advised to use the camera's command dials to change the aperture.

There is a Click switch on the bottom-right of the lens barrel lets you select whether the multi-function control ring clicks into place at each aperture stop or rotates smoothly for silent operation during movie recording.

There are two adjoining round, clicky, customisable Function buttons which can be programmed to quickly access various functions using the Viltrox Lens app.

The built-in LCD screen displays the current aperture on a scale, focus distance, focus mode, startup animations (!) and other personalized data, all of which can be customised using the Viltrox Lens app.

The screen is small and not of very high resolution, but proved useful for quickly determining the current settings. It does shut itself off after an annoyingly short time, though, even if the camera body is still turned on. If you don't like the screen at all, it can be turned off in the app.

There is a generously wide, ridged focus ring. Manual focusing is possible by using the focus mode switch to toggle between AF and MF.

In the manual focus mode, the lens' built-in LCD screen very usefully displays a distance scale and even a depth-of-field scale, two features not commpnly found on many mirrorless lenses.

There are no hard stops at either end of the range, making it a little more difficult to set focus at infinity. Polariser users should be pleased that the 77mm filter thread doesn't rotate on focus.

The lens utilizes a Quad HyperVCM motor to provide quiet (but not silent), smooth auto-focusing, making it well-suited to shooting video.

When it comes to auto-focusing, the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab proved to be an almost silent, quick performer on the Nikon Z8 camera that we tested it with.

We didn't experience very much "hunting", either in good or bad light, with the lens accurately focusing almost all of the time, but it's not quite as quick to find and lock onto the focus point as rival Nikon lenses.

This lens does not feature optical image stabilisation, so it relies on the camera body's own built-in stabilisation system.

One other significant feature is the USB-C Firmware Upgrade Port which as the name suggests allows you to update the lens directly using the Viltrox Lens App, rather than via a camera body.

This lens is commendably supplied with both a soft case and a good quality plastic petal-shaped lens hood (PL-40A).

Focal Range

The 35mm focal length provides an angle of view of 64.2° on a 35mm full-frame camera.

Chromatic Aberrations

Chromatic aberrations, typically seen as blue or purple fringes along contrasty edges, were not readily apparent in our test shots, only appearing in very high contrast areas.

Vignetting

With the lens set to its maximum aperture of f/1.2, there is some obvious light fall-off in the corners, requiring you to stop down by at least 3 f-stops to completely prevent it.

Distortion

There's virtually no barrel distortion evident in either the RAW files or the JPG files, with near-identical results.

Sunstars and Flare

The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab is capable of producing nice sunstars when stopped-down to f/16, as shown below. Flare is well-controlled when shooting directly into the sun, even without the supplied lens hood fitted.

Macro

The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab isn't claimed to be a macro lens, but it does usefully offer a minimum focusing distance of 34cm with a maximum magnification of 0.17x. The following examples demonstrate how close you can get to your subject.

Bokeh

Bokeh is a word used for the out-of-focus areas of a photograph, and is usually described in qualitative terms, such as smooth / creamy / harsh etc.

In the AF 35mm F1.2 Lab lens, Viltrox have employed an iris diaphragm with 11 circular blades, which has resulted in very appealing bokeh for a moderately wide-angle prime lens.

We do realise, however, that bokeh evaluation is subjective, so we've included several examples below for your perusal.

Sharpness

In order to show you how sharp the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 Lab lens is, we are providing 100% crops on the following page.