This is my full review of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro lens for Nikon Z-Mount. I have been using this lens on my Nikon Z f for about six weeks now and will share my experience in this review. The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro is a high-end lens that is available in both Sony FE and Nikon Z-mount. The lens is competitively priced and costs 859 Euro or 829 USD in the Viltrox store. In this review I’ll try to answer whether this lens is worth the money and if it can compete with high-end lenses from Nikon and Sony.
Rick’s Reviews verdict
Pros
- Magnificent sharpness
- Very nice bokeh
- Very few image defects
- Great build quality with metal body and weather sealing
- Nice and professional-looking design
- Fast and quiet autofocus
- Great controls with manual aperture ring
Cons
- Quite large
- Heavy compared to smaller aperture options
Best for:
A great lens for documentary photography, weddings and storytelling even in low light. Also a great one-lens travel option with a moderately wide focal length and fast maximum aperture and weather sealing.
Not ideal for:
Situations where size and weight are of the highest priority.
Would I buy it again?
Yes, at this price this lens offers incredible image quality and build quality that can compete with Sony G-Master and Nikon S-lenses. Impressive.
Interested in buying one? You can get one in the Viltrox shop, and if you use my promo code RICKSREVIEWS you’ll even get a 10% discount!
Quick Specs of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro
- 35mm focal length – 62.2 degree angle of view
- F1.4-16 aperture
- Voice Coil Motor for focusing
- 16 elements in 12 groups with 2 UA, 3 ED and 4 HR elements
- Closest focusing distance 0.3 m
- Maximum magnification 0.18x
- 11 aperture blades
- Weight 780 g (Nikon Z) or 760 g (Sony E)
- 84.5 mm diameter and 111 mm (Sony E) or 112.5 mm long (Nikon Z)
- Price €859/ $829
Viltrox Pro series
The new Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 is part of Viltrox’s Pro series. Viltrox divides its line-up into different ranges, all with their own strengths and target audience.
Air
Air being the most affordable and lightweight lenses, like to 40mm F2.5 and 50mm F2 I’ve reviewed before.
Evo
Above Air, you’ll find the EVO lenses. These are designed for prosumer use with a good balance between price, weight and performance. An example is the Viltrox AF 26mm F2.8, which I covered in this review.
Lab
At the top of the food chain you’ll find the Lab lenses. These offer the highest brightness or special applications. For now the Lab series only consists of the 35mm F1.2 and 135mm F1.8.
Pro
The Pro series is made up of lenses that will appeal to professionals and serious prosumers that demand high-quality optics and reliability. They offer large maximum apertures and standard focal lengths like 35, 50 and 85mm.
Build of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro impresses with its great build quality. The design has some similarities with Nikons S-line lenses and the lens is built like a tank. The metal body has a matte black finish. It has an understated design that I really appreciate. The markings have a clear and professional-looking font and the Viltrox logo is printed on the side and very subtle.
There is a small silver badge with the ‘Pro’ label. Of course the lens has a metal mount with a USB-C port for firmware updates.
Controls
The lens has a metal aperture ring that can be ‘de-clicked’ with a switch on the lens for video work. When in normal mode the clicks between the different aperture stops feel great with enough feedback to operate it by feel. When you want to move the aperture ring to A (auto) mode you feel some extra resistance and a longer throw, so you can easily feel it.
On the side you’ll find an AF/MF switch and a programmable button. The focus ring is big, made of ribbed metal and provides good grip. It is wide enough to easily use when wearing gloves. It has a light damping for easy operation.
The lens hood is made of high-quality plastics and clicks in place with a reassuring click. I’m almost ashamed to confess that the lens hood feels better and clicks in place with a nicer click than the one on my much more expensive Nikon Z 24-70 F2.8 S lens.
Weather sealing of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro lens has extensive weather sealing. Viltrox has included high-grade internal rubber seals making sure water and dust don’t get into the lens. I had no problem using the lens in light rain. The metal mount has a rubber gasket making sure no water or dust can come in between the lens and the camera body.
The front lens element has a water- and smudge-resistant coating. This makes sure water runs off the glass and you can easily clean off any fingerprints or stains.
Autofocus – Voice Coil Motor
Viltrox uses a high-end focusing system in the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro, called HyperVCM Focus System. VCM stands for Voice Coil Motor, a technology Canon also uses in their newest high-end lenses. This system uses a magnetic forces to move the focusing group in a way similar to the magnets in a speaker. The focus group floats on a magnetic field instead of using fixed gears to move. The magnetic system offers rapid response and high torque for moving the heavy elements inside a bright lens like this F1.4. Ultimately this makes focusing faster and quieter.
When you first pick up the lens, you’ll immediately notice that the lens uses the VCM system. When the camera is off, the lens rattles a little when you shake it. This is caused by the focus group not being held in place by fixed gears and isn’t a defect and it doesn’t harm the lens. When you turn the camera on, the focus motor gets powered and the rattle is gone.
Autofocus – Speed and reliability
The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro focusses quickly with its HyperVCM system. The lens reacts quickly when shifting from near to far, especially for a fast prime. And as we have come to expect from Viltrox, all advanced AF functions on the Nikon Z cameras work like a charm. I had no problems using Eye-AF or 3D tracking with the same confidence as I use my Nikon lenses and the lens easily keeps up with the most demanding subjects. I didn’t experience any more missed-focus shots than I do with my native Nikon lenses
Focus – minimum focusing distance and breathing
With a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 m the lens is great for capturing details. At the smallest focusing distance the lens has a 0.18 x maximum magnification. That is by no means macro, but more than enough for a close-up – for instance of a pair of wedding rings. Combined with the bright maximum aperture you’ll be able to create great subject separation.
For videographers, it is worth noting that the lens has very little focus breathing. When focusing from close to infinity the field of view stays virtually the same. This is also a great feature for photographers that use focus stacking.
Image quality
When you call a lens ‘Pro’ and aim it at professional and demanding users, you’d better deliver outstanding image quality. And with the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro, they have delivered!
Sharpness of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro
Most of the time a bright prime will offer great sharpness when stopping down. That is why, even when you don’t always need the F1.4 maximum aperture, you can’t really go wrong with a modern bright prime. But many of those lenses lose quite some sharpness wide open, especially out of the centre of the image. This isn’t always a problem, because when you use the wide aperture to separate your subject from the background most of the outer sides of the image will be out of focus anyway. It becomes more of a problem when you don’t want your subject ‘slap-bang in the middle’. That’s where mid-frame and corner sharpness comes in to play. And where the really great lenses separate themselves from the rest.
Center sharpness
Based on my experiences with Viltrox I expected no less than that the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro would offer great sharpness in the middle of the frame. And it really does. Even wide open the center of the image is tack-sharp! Even at F1.4, the lens appears to out resolve my 24-megapixel sensor, delivering more detail than my camera can fully capture.
Corners and off-centre
With a price tag of 859 EUR I’d expect mid-frame and corners to be acceptable, but no more. But I was blown away when I checked my images! At F1.4 mid-frame and even the extremes of the corners look very good. Yes, the corners are less sharp than the middle, but performance is still much better than I’d expected. Especially at this price point.
I used the Liege skyline above to check my findings. At F1.4 corners look very good, even in the extremes. At normal viewing size the corners are already so sharp at F1.4 you don’t even really notice the difference when stopping down further. When viewing the image at 100% you do see that stopping down to F2.8-F4 increases sharpness from very good to excellent. You don’t need to stop down any further to get better corner performance in my opinion.
Vignetting, distortion and aberrations
Well, there is not too much to talk about in this section. The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 has limited vignetting wide open at F1.4. If I have to estimate I would say it is about 1,5 stops in the extreme of the images. When stopping down to about F2-2.8 most of the vignetting has cleared up.
Longitudinal chromatic aberration (LoCA) is also very well controlled. Even in very high-contrast situations I can’t detect any colour fringing at a normal viewing size. When pixel-peeping I can see the tiniest amount of fringing, but this is so limited it will not noticeably impact your images.
And to round things up, distortion is also very low. There is a limited amount of barrel-type distortion in the images. At the time of testing there isn’t a profile available for DXO Photolab 10 yet, so I manually dialled in some correction. I was satisfied with a 6 out of 100 setting.
Coatings, flares and sun stars
Good coatings can make or break a (modern) lens. Coatings can protect the front element of your lens and minimise internal reflections that cause flares and unwanted effects. For this new Pro lens it looks like Viltrox has used their best coatings. Even when shooting right into the sun flares are kept to a minimum. You can see some very limited veiling flare wide open, with some loss of contrast and detail but only right around the bright light source. The rest of the image stays clean and free of artefacts. When stopping down veiling is reduced/ cleared, with some limited, non-obtrusive, ghosting in some situations above F11-F13. This depends on the position of the light source. This performance is on par with my S-line Nikon lenses.
When stopping down the aperture you can get nice looking 11-pointed sun stars (thanks to the 11-blade aperture) sun stars with nicely defined points.
Bokeh of the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro
There is something special about shooting a very bright wide(r) angle lens. You can both include the background, but also make perfectly clear what your subject is with pleasing separation. To do so you don’t just need a smaller depth of field, but you also need the quality of the out-of-focus area to be good. Bokeh isn’t about the amount of blur, but rather about the quality. Viltrox realises that and has invested to create a smooth and natural bokeh in the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro. They have done so by using 11 rounded aperture blades and two UA elements: ultra-precision aspherical elements. These should prevent the onion-ring effect that can plague lenses with regular aspherical elements.
At medium to long focusing distances the background looks very nice at F1.4. There is a smooth transition from in-focus to out-of-focus areas. Highlights in the distance are smooth and nicely rounded.
When moving closer to your subject you will be able to throw the background completely out of focus. The background blur is very smooth and highlights seem to be free from onions rings. The investment in the special UA elements has definitely paid off. In the center of the image highlights are rendered completely round and without any bright edging. To the edges of the frame you will get some cat’s-eye effect caused by internal shading, which is common in bright lenses. This all leads to very pleasing and smooth bokeh, just what you need from a fast prime.
Some sample images
Conclusion
Viltrox has put the new Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro lens in their Pro line. This means the lens has to be compelling enough to convince Sony G-Master, Nikon S-line and even Sigma Art users to try something different. Viltrox does that with a very affordable price, at 859 EUR or 829 USD this lens is much cheaper than Sony’s offering. Sony’s 35mm G-Master F1.4 is about 1500 EUR.
And Nikon will sell you either a 35mm F1.8 S for about 999 EUR, a far less advanced 35mm F1.4 for about 729 EUR or a gigantic 35mm F1.2 S for over 2000 EUR. None are completely comparable, making the Viltrox a very interesting alternative that offers something Nikon can’t at the moment.
But price is just one of the things professional users consider when choosing a lens. They also need immaculate image quality, durability, reliability and compatibility. And for as far as I can tell, Viltrox delivers on this. The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro offers magnificent image quality that can compete with high-end lenses. Bokeh is very nice and the lens is impressively sharp, even wide open. Autofocus is fast and quiet with the advanced HyperVCM system and works without a hitch on my Nikon. And last but not least, I never had any compatibility problems with any Viltrox lens I’ve tried.
With all that in mind, I think you would be selling yourself short if you didn’t take this lens into consideration when shopping for a new prime. For the price of one 35mm G-Master you can buy a Viltrox AF 35mm F1.4 Pro and a Viltrox AF 85 F1.4 PRO. And two is better than one, isn’t it?
Interested in buying one? You can get one in the Viltrox shop, and if you use my promo code RICKSREVIEWS you’ll even get a 10% discount!