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.
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.
Oct 29, 2026 at 08:30 AM
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