Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.8 FE (for Sony) lens review with samples

[@JamesClark1991]

So glad to see you add an AF-C test in, this is so much more useful!! Please add them in future as well.

[@mikkohelin529]

At 2:29 it seems the focusing in AF-C test stops for a moment.

[@networm64]

To my eyes the AF in continous mode was not only a "little faster" honestly, it was drastically faster even though A7riii is kindda aged now and it was not a native lens too. I hope we see both modes in future reviews, cause it's really a matter of lens choice IMO. BTW that poor corner sharpness on apsc probably means lens is not sharp in mid section on fullframe too. It's always nice to see a fullframe lens being tested on an apsc sensor!

[@BoxxyFan]

AFC is always faster, you dont need to test this. This is a lens review, not a body review.

[@EXkurogane]

The nikon Z version of the same lens is slightly better? Because larger mount. 😏😏😜

[@matteosvlog1035]

Hi Chris I got this lens recently and updated the latest firmware and it performs almost the same as my 35MM 1.8 Sony,

[@QuietOC]

Viltrox's first lens back in 2016 was a manual full-frame 35mm F2 for E-mount.

[@SONYAdicto]

Much faster with AF-C. Also if you want speed, you have to set up the focus speed within the menus. It’s not going to be as fast if it’s set up to normal or medium

[@RealRaynedance]

So basically, get either the Samyang AF 35mm f/1.8 for the same price (or $70 less right now at B&H) or the Samyang AF 35mm f/1.4 for $100-$150 more if you don't mind the size of the thing.

[@mikhail5647]

It's actually a pretty good question which lens to chose between these two. Don't you think the Samyang is a slightly better lens in terms of image quality?

[@RealRaynedance]

@@mikhail5647 Both are, and the one doesn't cost much more for the extra light you get. It's just the size trade-off. Personally doesn't bother me any, but I know it bothers others.

[@maarrcc_travel]

@@mikhail5647 you would have to buy the Samyang lens station too for firmware updates if you haven't it already

[@br2v]

Hi Christopher, great review again, Explanation why the Nikon version is better has to do with the larger filter stack on the Sony bodies. Especially on wide angle lenses with a wide apertures ( > f4) lead to field curvature = worse image quality. Especially when you use older compact wide-angles that are not telecentric. Sony compensates for it in their lensdesign.

[@TechAddict8642]

explain the filter stack more please so i can understand. thanks

[@br2v]

@@TechAddict8642 For some reason Sony chosed a thicker filterstack in front of their sensor to absorb infrared and UV. In the film days the light rays bended by the lenselements only had to pass a tiny bit of the coating of a roll of film before hitting the image forming emulsion. The tick filterstack of Sony has quite some influence on the angle of propagation of the rays. This is no problem in the middle of the image but the rays coming into the corner have quite some angle when hitting the thick filter, and this filter will refract the light and basically shift the focal point in the corners which introduces field curvature. It also comes with some colorshift. Especially compact wide-angles calculated for film cameras are affected. So this is a reason why a company producing for Sony, Nikon, Canon should always make some adjustments in the optical optimisation for each brand. It seems over here Viltrox optimized for a thinner Nikon filter stack and (maybe) just swapped the electronics and mount to Sony.

[@Koda.1312]

Early again! It's always a good day when Chris uploads.

[@Donbros]

35mm is super nice for outside wide photoshoot. Though for inside 16-20 is the way

[@JeanV1986]

Thanks for the review. Seems about on par with the Yongnuo 35 F2, but it's more expensive.

[@montazownianr1]

no :)

[@JeanV1986]

@@montazownianr1 care to clarify?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

Youngnu and viltrox are the life savers of poor man like us.without that we will be nipped into bud along with our cameras😢

[@sarikaravibadisa1356]

sir, while shooting videos, the blur comes, what is the solution..?

[@FrancescoMariaCultrera]

What about the Sony FE Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm F2.8 ZA? It is on the market from some time... It would be interesting to see it also on a APS-C sensor due to its small size.

[@maenkarchipay1722]

😂 dont compare central bank to local agent online banking😂😂.You know what i mean

[@benjamindover4337]

Thanks for testing these lenses on apsc too.

[@christophfischer972]

I like your test very much. But in all of your test of FE-Lenses the corners on APS-C are bad. I think the sensor of your Sony 5100 is not right alligned. I have some of the testet lenses (Samyang AF 75mm f/1.8 FE , Tamron 28-75mm) and compared them on a Sony A6600 and they are sharp in the corners, where they are not in your tests.

[@yurym4385]

Yeah. This softness should be visible on a full frame sensor as well.

[@christophfischer972]

@@yurym4385 Yes. If it is shap on 42MP FF, then it must be sharp on 24MP APS-C

[@bishwajit8]

can you please suggest a budget 35mm lens? my workflow is 70% video and 30% photo.

[@maenkarchipay1722]

Samyang 35mm f1.8 or the mighty prince 35mm 1.4Art Sigma lens

[@TidusGoh]

How does this compare to samyangs 35 1.8?

[@DigiDriftZone]

Is this a good lens for talking head video on full frame? - is there much breathing or any autofocus issues?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

I will make a video on my second channel stay tuned

[@airdailyx]

They really did aim for the Sony Zeiss knock off appearance however. Would be nice if they had their own unique design like Viltrox.

[@mikhail5647]

What would you chose for portraits: this one on full frame or Viltrox 23mm f1.4 on APSC? Theoretically, full frame should give a slightly better background separation even on f1.8, though I feel like Viltrox 23 is a bit better lens overall compared to this one...

[@PraiseYeezus]

Personally, I find full frame just renders people better especially in terms of Dof (like you said) but also things like highlight rolloff.

[@selormey]

How does this lens compare to the Samyang 35 F1.8 Sony? Which would be a better choice?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

Samyang is the sharpest then sony then viltrox

[@stevespencer9001]

Christopher, just an idea, but could you create playlists for highly recommended, recommended, and avoid?

[@karlomihalusdianovski5275]

Can we expect a review of viltrox 13mm ?

[@beatzzc1t]

Good Morning boys! Let’s get this day going! 💪🏾

[@mexmax1657]

Great review, as always. Yeah, no, thanks, I will skip this one. 35mm isn't for me anyways.

[@GaryJahman]

Interesting stuff

[@wakethegiant9705]

Thanks 🙂

[@spencerfr1]

How does this compare to the 35 1.4 from Samyang?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

80/20

[@bananabear009]

After seeing a number of lenses from Viltrox, it is highly likely that Tokina sells it’s technologies to a Chinese manufacturer, which in turn sells the lenses to Viltrox. Given the fact that Tokina itself has very similar lens designs as Viltrox’s, and that Viltrox lenses also have the typical Tokina greenish lens coatings, and Tokina denies any direct connection with Viltrox, it is not hard to imagine that.

[@BoxxyFan]

Viltrox makes them. Tokina is the one copy and rebadging these Viltrox designs.

[@bananabear009]

I was also suspecting that at the beginning. However, it simply doesn’t make sense for an experience lens maker to license and rebadge lenses from a company without any track experience in camera lens business. So I did a little research. Tokina issued statement clearly deny any direct business relationship with Viltrox. And that unique greenish signature Tokina coating is very obvious. And the Tokina lenses, though very similar in their designs, offer slightly different optical performance than the Viltrox offerings, plus better focusing motor implementations. Clearly Viltrox lenses are made by Chinese Manufacturer with Tokina optics.

[@cameraprepper7938]

Before you decide, take a look around, there are at least 26 different 35mm Lenses for Sony E-mount !

[@claubertdrone]

Parabéns.. muito bom eu aprendi seu vídeo como máquina zoom

[@mikkohelin529]

How is the sharpness @F2 compared to F1.8?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

Suppose you have the threshold ISO on about 12800 on A51000 but you still not see any thing inside dark but with light and little bit 10% light can show the face.In that case f1.8 will help you cause there is a slight difference between those gap (.02)

[@cryingpoetic]

I got mine for my a6400 and after attaching it the camera and trying to switch to autofocus I get a message saying it’s not supported. Any advice?

[@BITE_MECHANISM]

So you're still not testing the TAMRON 35MM F/2.8 DI III FE? 😔I think it is one of the best low budget 35mm for sony

[@jiayuesun7049]

This lens performs exactly like the Viltrox 24 1.8.

[@maenkarchipay1722]

They are brothers

[@DerExperiminator]

Hey Chis, nice Video as always. I have one question in mind: Doesn't meen warping, when changing focus, that there has to be a different kind of distortion, depending on the focus distance. If so, perhapps You could show this by printing your distortion test grid to different sizes. I mean, it could be, that some lenses have much more (or less) distortion, but just at a different focus distance. Or am i totally wrong with this? I also always wondered, when APS-C results are worse, compared to the results of the Full Frame 42 MPixel, the pixel density is not so much higher with 24 MPixels at APS-C size, but the lens should be sharper in the middle. Like you said in this video, it shouldn't be worse, right? Greetings, Jörg.

[@DerExperiminator]

Another question, this time about Your chromatic aberration test: Surely it goes away by stopping down, i experienced this effect on my own, but doesn't also stopping down mean to increase the field of sharpness and thus, reducing the out of focus area, and thus, on it's own reducing chromatic aberration in Your test?

[@tuantai6019]

Should I change my Zeiss 35 f2.8 to this lens?

[@maenkarchipay1722]

No buddy zeiss is the superior even though its 2.8 but viltrox is softer, if you need the fake mist look dont use mist filter use viltrox instead.no need to replace with zeiss

[@artistjoh]

The Viltrox FE 24mm f1.8 AF seems to be a better lens than this 35.

[@DanielMaquiling]

I was anticipatin this, but im fairly disappointed, thanks for the review!

[@mariuszkedzior1541]

Samyang, Sigma, Tamron and Sony will be better choice.

[@tykimikk8605]

samyang 35mm 1.8 feels plastic and just doesnt perform well for the price though. sigma is heavy tamron is better and sony but sony is expensive

[@Athiril]

Guess the take away is get the Samyang 35 instead

[@DarkPa1adin]

Are you a theologian? With the Greek NT turned to John 1

[@dieutran9066]

Thank you. I am about to make mistake buying this lens. This lens is very soft and unusable at f1.8

[@alchemist_x79]

Meh. I was interested in picking up a 35 to fill the gap between my 24GM and 50 2.5 G whne I don't feel like lugging the Sigma 24-70 around, but lord that's atrocious, even for a budget lens. I think I'll pass on this one. Budget isn't my main concern (I just don't shoot 35 enough to justify spending GM money,) but if it were I'd consider buying a vintage manual lens since I'd already have to stop Viltrox down to at least 2.8 right off the hop to get any real benefit from it.

[@ThisMoose]

Sigma 35 2.0 sounds like it might be perfect for you.

[@AndreasRavnestad]

@@ThisMoose You may want to consider the Samyang 35mm F/1.8, it's fairly priced and performs much better than this lens. Christopher has several videos on it, including a comparison with the Sony 35mm F/1.8.

[@RealRaynedance]

Adding to what Andreas said, there's also the Samyang AF 35mm f/1.4 for $500-$550 if size and weight don't bother you. (Chris has a review of that lens up, too. And that $800 off-sale price has basically never happened.)

[@maenkarchipay1722]

You are the rich man. Donate some lens buddy.

[@МаксимКрасавцев-н7м]

Perviy nah

[@СергейГалатин]

Viltrox AF 35mm f/2.8 FE )

[@marknathan7744]

no point in a lens which is f1.8 and is only good from f2.8 onwards . Just buy the tammy f2.8 which has superior image quality and is cheaper and fully weather sealed this ones s duffer from viltrox.