The tradeoff with the Pro line up to this point was that we got larger lenses than the wider market offerings with mostly better IQ and a discount price. That calculus has changed somewhat with the 35 Pro.
While the 50 Pro is $550 and the 85 Pro is $599, the MSRP of the 35 Pro is $829. Bluntly, this is insane.
Viltrox is actually launching the lens with a 20% discount, bringing the price more in line with the 85 Pro, but that price ends at the end of November. If you have an interest in rounding out your Pro trio, or just adding a good 35/1.4 to the gear cabinet, my personal opinion is that it's worth the launch price but not the MSRP. Just my 2 cents.
Overall, the IQ is the best of any Viltrox lens I've shot yet. Thinking about it in terms of the 35 EVO, the 35 Pro has more/better bokeh at the same apertures, a more even exposure across the frame, less biting sharpness (a good thing), better color rendering, and less flare. Overall, optically, it's a good step up from the EVO. There is nearly no chromatic aberration, though the coma is quite bad...bad enough to be disqualifying for astro work in my opinion.
Autofocus continues to be a real mess on Nikon at least. AF-S performance is 2-3x times slower than AF-C, which is a trend that continues on all Z lenses that I've tested. AF-C performance is very good as you'd expect from the voice coil motors. The clunky floating element from the 50 and 85 is here too and LOUD when moving the lens around while powered down.
There is so much competition in this 35/1.4 space, and yet no one has delivered a lens that checks every box, including Viltrox. The 35 Pro is large/heavy/expensive, the Sirui could be sharper, the Nikon has a ton of LoCA and bizarre bokeh, and the Sony GM has more CA than you'd want from a GM at its price.
The 35 Pro is a lens that has great build quality and produces great images. There's just a lot of "yes, but" going on here preventing a slam dunk recommendation.
How does this lens compare to the 35mm lab? At $829, doesn't it make sense to just get the lab, deal with the weight and call it a day? Any comparison with the Sigma 35mm 1.4? Thanks for the review.
Looks like using my coupon code takes another 10% off at checkout, actually making it $596 through the end of November. Viltrox said this wouldn't work, but it definitely does
focusback wrote:
How does this lens compare to the 35mm lab? At $829, doesn't it make sense to just get the lab, deal with the weight and call it a day? Any comparison with the Sigma 35mm 1.4? Thanks for the review.
I shoot on Z and haven't used the Sigma. If you get the Pro at its launch price, it makes a lot more sense. If you were going to pay retail for the Pro, then Lab makes more sense. The Lab is still 20% heavier, though, and that adds up over the course of a day.
I own a viltrox 50mm Pro and I do like it, great price for what it is but theres one thing I can NOT get past and thats the floating elements when its off and the janky auto focus if an object is close. Reading reviews about the floating elements is really offputting, not that I was going to buy the 35mm but for any lens using the same floating elements from the company. I personally am not going to buy another viltrox lens because their support is bad but its also the floating elements. I may be tempted if they ever release a 24mm 1.4 Pro.
Personally if youre not chasing perfect sharpness at low apertures then the older sigmas are great, I used the 35mm 1.4 hsm and 35mm 1.2 dg dn. I love the 35mm 1.2 and the sharpness is perfect and it being 600-750 used is even better. Even the 35mm 1.4 dg dn is going for a great price and is still a great lens and being lighter than the viltrox. The 35mm hsm lens going for 375-475 used is really a strong option
Bradikan wrote:
I own a viltrox 50mm Pro and I do like it, great price for what it is but theres one thing I can NOT get past and thats the floating elements when its off and the janky auto focus if an object is close. Reading reviews about the floating elements is really offputting, not that I was going to buy the 35mm but for any lens using the same floating elements from the company. I personally am not going to buy another viltrox lens because their support is bad but its also the floating elements. I may be tempted if they ever release a 24mm 1.4 Pro.
Personally if youre not chasing perfect sharpness at low apertures then the older sigmas are great, I used the 35mm 1.4 hsm and 35mm 1.2 dg dn. I love the 35mm 1.2 and the sharpness is perfect and it being 600-750 used is even better. Even the 35mm 1.4 dg dn is going for a great price and is still a great lens and being lighter than the viltrox. The 35mm hsm lens going for 375-475 used is really a strong option...Show more →
YES, the floating elements are SO offputting. I have some other lenses with them and none of them sound like the lens is actively breaking more than the Viltrox Pro line.
I didn't have close focus AF issues during the review, though.
I did, prevented me from focusing on my moms face when I was testing the lens out and was not confident in paid shoots to nail focus.
TO BE FAIR I did a event with the 50mm and my sigma 35mm 1.2 and the 50mm did hang on and get good shots with great focus and minimal hunting, however... it surprisingly did not perform as well as the sigma 35mm 1.2 which is a lens from 2019 not utilizing HLA motors but large HSM motors and nailed more in focus shots in the dark... that was really the 2nd off putting factor which really baffled me
Not to rip on Viltrox cause this could be a isolated situation of mine but i went on the official viltrox reddit page and discussed my problem of the focusing issues, they wanted a video of the problem happening. thing is its random and i cant really predict when it will happen and im not gonna wait 30 minutes using my camera to try and capture it. Went on about my day and 2 months later there was another guy complaining about the same problem under my thread and the viltrox admin said he would help him with an RMA / Fix.
I was livid cause I was ignored and was asked to provide proof before going forward with anything and it happened after my amazon return window closed, but this guy gets his issue solved while support is just taking his word for it. With that being said I am not interested in buying anymore expensive viltrox lenses for 1 the long term reliability of the lens and its support down the road and what happened. Unless viltrox releases a 24mm 1.4 pro thats sub 500 on a sale or if their 16mm 1.8 goes on a crazy sale I wont be interested in giving them my money. Viltrox has made great products and continues to be a disruptor in the 3rd party lens providers but im just put off from that.
Think that may have been a glitch or something earlier, coupon codes seem to no longer be working as far as I can tell.
RoamingScott wrote:
Looks like using my coupon code takes another 10% off at checkout, actually making it $596 through the end of November. Viltrox said this wouldn't work, but it definitely does
Thanks for the write-up. It’s an interesting lens though I’m iffy about the AF issues that are described. Perils of a 3rd party lens, I guess.
I’m really interested in understanding how Viltrox imagines customers will make their purchasing decisions between this and the 1.2 Lab lens, as the difference between them doesn’t seem to be great and I imagine that they’re aiming at a similar demographic.
