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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. Last year, I gave
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you a review of the second of Viltrox's
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highest end lab series of lenses. That
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was the 35mm F1.2. I reviewed it first
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on Sony in May of 2025 and then later on
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on Nikon Zmount. In both cases, I found
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it to be optically one of my, if not my
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favorite 35mimeter lens ever. It is
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incredibly sharp, even at f1.2. Uh, it
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has beautiful rendering. It has a load
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of features, but it's also a load of a
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lens. It's big and it's heavy. And I
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noted there were a few things that I
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didn't love about the design. Viltrox
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had experimented with having an OLED
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screen on the top of the lens and rather
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than a traditional aperture ring, more
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of a customizable control ring ring like
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Nikon uses that could be decllicked, but
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it had some really strange uh function
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when it came to actually using it as an
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aperture ring and then so it didn't have
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traditional clicks. I found that it
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often didn't line up. Well, there was
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just quirks in and around the OLED
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screen. I gave some negative feedback in
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regard to that on both of the lab series
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lenses that have been released to that
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point and it's clear that Viltrox has
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heated those concerns because they have
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come back with a new N version of this
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lens and the N stands for no screen. And
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so in this case we have a traditional
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aperture uh ring. We have a setup which
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is basically what I've been asking for
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where all of the features particularly
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when it comes to aperture are controlled
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basically like the pro series with one
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addition and that is that we do have a
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second function button and it's not a
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redundant function button but rather one
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that can be assigned a different value
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than that which is assigned from within
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the camera. So, fortunately, Viltrox has
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sent me one of the new N series lenses
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and so I can evaluate it and give you
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feedback. And I've done a quick review
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of outside of just the changes to the
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control scheme to see if there's been
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any other hidden improvements along the
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way. Even though this is the same
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optical formula, I'm happy to uh to
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report back to you that there are a few
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subtle improvements, tweaks to things
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like autofocus that make this the in my
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opinion best version of the 35mm f1.2
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two lab series lens. So far, other than
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it being big and heavy, this is a lens
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now that is getting pretty close to
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perfect. And the fact that it is
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available for under $1,000 US makes it a
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killer deal. So, let's dive in and let's
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take a closer look to see whether or not
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this new inversion of the lens is the
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version to get. So, as far as the basic
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size here, everything is pretty much
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unchanged. The lens is still 89.2 mm in
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diameter and 121.8 8 mm in length. Lens
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hood's same design. No locking mechanism
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there, but it does fortunately does
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click into place with pretty good
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precision. It is movable, so I would
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like that still to be a little bit
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firmer. But overall, not too bad. But
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our big change here obviously is when it
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comes to not no longer having an OLED
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screen and instead of a kind of
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customizable control ring without any
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kind of, you know, limits to it.
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Instead, we have a traditional aperture
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ring here. And so you have the ability
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to have that aperture either decllicked.
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And so you can move smoothly through
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this and do aperture racking like this
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or you can click the button on the side
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and you can set up the clicks and you
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have nice precise detents there at 1/3
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stops. Aperture all lines up properly as
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it should. Then a little bit firmer
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detent between f16 and automatic and
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it's about right. There is no iris lock
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but other than that it does well. So in
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this place where the OLED screen was, we
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just have the branding information
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there. And while initially I looked at
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it and I missed the screen just from the
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visual, the more that I look at it, the
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more I appreciate the nice clean lines
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of this lens. It looks really, really
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fantastic. We have an AFMF switch as
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before. And then we still have the two
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function buttons here on the side. Now,
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when it comes to the function buttons,
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that's the only place where I would say
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it's a little bit less functional
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because there was some interaction
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between the function buttons and the
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OLED screen if you're shooting setting
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like an AB focus or infinity focus. And
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so, obviously, you have a little bit
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less control with that. But, as before,
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in theory, you're going to be able to
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assign the value of these buttons
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through the Viltrox app. So far, I
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haven't been able to do that. And I
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think it's basically just that the
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firmware has not been or the app build
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has not been updated to accommodate
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that. But in theory, because these two
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buttons are right side by side, if
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they're redundant buttons, it's useless.
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There's no use having two of them. So, I
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think the point is to have function one
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and function two having two different
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functions. However, you will have to
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just kind of go with that a little bit
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more blindly as far as setting an AB
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focus. And then obviously, you are
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missing the distance scale. And I as far
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as aperture feedback, I don't miss that
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at all because the aperture ring itself
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is more precise and it is a much better
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way to control aperture. To me, overall
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the the change is well worth it. Weight
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is still heavy. It's 910 grams in
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overall weight inside. There's 11
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aperture blades. Keeps a nice circular
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aperture. We've got a weather sealing
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gasket here. And then we've got a
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thorough weather sealing all throughout
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the lens design. As before, minimum
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focus distance here is 34 cm. And mag
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maximum magnification is 0.17 times. Not
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a massive amount of magnification, but
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useful enough. And the lens is amazingly
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good up close. And yes, as before,
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you might hear some clunking there as
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you go back and forth. It does have
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floating elements to help that up close
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performance. That will go away once the
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lens is energized. So if you take your
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lens out of the box and it feels like,
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oh, there's something loose in there,
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that's by design. Put connects to your
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camera, turn the camera on. If it goes
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away, all is well. This is the way it's
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designed to operate. I would say now
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that while this is a big, heavy lens, it
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looks absolutely premium, which it is.
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Has a feature set similar to a Sony GM
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lens. It is beautiful and it handles the
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way that I wanted these lenses to
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operate. So, let's talk autofocus. I've
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been doing all of my outdoor filming on
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the Lab 35 F1.2 to in lens. And as you
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can see, it handles all of the autofocus
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things that I've thrown at it with a
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plum. This is still powered by four of
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their hyper VCM focus motors. It always
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had a lot of thrust, but there were were
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some room for improvement in autofocus
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when it came to algorithms and just
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overall focus confidence. I'm happy to
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report that I feel like Viltrox has kind
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of unlocked the potential of these quad
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HyperVCM focus motors. Now, not only is
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there tons of thrust, as there always
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was, particularly for a lens with such
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big, heavy glass elements, but now it
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feels like there's just that extra
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degree of polish and precision. One
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thing that I noted that stood out to me
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compared to not just other Viltrox
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lenses, but lenses on Sony in general,
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and that was I found like the lens was
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much more responsive in nailing closeup
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images. And so, if I was wanting to
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focus on a close subject here, often
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lenses want to stay stuck on the
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background. But I found that this new
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Lab N series lens was able to just adapt
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to that and to pull focus to where I
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wanted to without me having to do manual
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override or things like that. I shot it
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in an event setting in Montreal and I
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found uh that it did an amazing job and
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I shot basically exclusively at f1.2.
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Always nailed focus just perfectly. And
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you can see from these close-up shots
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that its ability to just nail with
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absolute precision and then to allow
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those amazing optics to utterly shine is
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what makes this lens stand out as being
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just so special. On the video side of
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things, I noticed that things kind of
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went up a notch there as well because it
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is has I think better algorithm support.
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It's more finely tuned. Not only was I
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able to do my traditional thing like
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approaching the camera, ducking in and
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out, you know, my, you know, kind of
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traditional test that I do there, but
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because it did it so well and I saw so
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much more responsiveness, I thought,
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okay, what if I just ran full tilt
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towards the camera at f1.2? Well, as you
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can see here, it actually did remarkably
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well in keeping up with me all the way
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throughout the frame. And so, this is a
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really responsive lens at this point.
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Focus pulls are utterly confident back
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and forth. Um, you know, there's there's
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perfect speed. There's no visible steps
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or settling or pulsing here on Sony. All
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of that is great. The only kind of
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remaining concern that obviously hasn't
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been ironed out because the optical
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formula hasn't changed and that is the
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simple fact that there is a bit more
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focus breathing than what I would like.
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And so while focus changes are nice and
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confident, for example, from my hand to
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my eye here, you can just see that
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unfortunately you can see a little bit
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of that kind of lurching sensation due
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to the focus breathing as a part of
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that. But I found uh when shooting often
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you at f1.2 and just kind of moving
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around that focus was just really strong
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staying on the subject and if I was
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trying to force a transition to another
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focus subject nice and smooth
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transitions. So overall I'm really
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impressed not only by what I see as very
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positive changes to the handling of the
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lens and its function but to autofocus
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as well which again leads me to the
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conclusion that this is the best version
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of the lens we've seen so far. Now, if
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you want my typical deep dive into the
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optical performance, I would recommend
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that you go back and look at last year's
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review as it is the same optical formula
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and I'm still testing at the same 61
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megapixel um you know, kind of
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resolution point. But suffice it to say,
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I've used this lens a lot at this point.
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I've put it in a lot of comparisons with
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a variety of lenses from Sony GM lenses
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to new lenses from Sigma um 35mm f1.2s
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and f1.4s. What I have found is that
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this is an optical formula that even the
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very best, they just really can't beat
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it. It has an amazing combination of
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resolution, sharpness, contrast, but
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then also out of focus rendering. And
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you can see even in these outdoor video
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shots that it has gorgeous rendering for
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a 35mm lens. As a byproduct, I just get
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images that I often feel just have that
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bit of extra special sparkle, that
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little bit of magic that really look
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gorgeous out of it. And my feelings on
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that haven't changed. All of the images
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I'm showing you in this particular
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review are lenses that I've taken with
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this new version of the lens. And as I
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go back and just look at real world
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images, you know, chart testing aside,
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what has stood out to me is that this
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lens is still really, really amazing.
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And frankly, if you're looking for an
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affordable 35mm lens, it's going to give
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you very close to the best performance
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we've seen at 35 mm. Uh it's it's hard
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to beat the 35mm f1.2 Lab. And the fact
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that it now is designed and handles the
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way that I want it to. Fantastic. Put
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simply, this is the lens that I wanted
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from Viltrox. it already had an amazing
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optical design and the fact that they
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not only have improved now the the build
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and the function to to work basically
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the way that I think it should, which is
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essentially it handles just like a Sony
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G Master lens. Um, and so it's got all
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of the features that you're looking for.
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It's got the function. I would say that
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the only reason to not consider the
11:30
Viltrox 35mm f1.2 to lab in is if you
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need something that is smaller and
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lighter because one thing that it isn't
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is smaller or lighter at this point. So,
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it's still a big, heavy, bulky lens, but
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optically it is fantastic. And the fact
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that they have managed to while not
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changing the hardware when it comes to
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autofocus, they have managed to tweak
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algorithms and just tune the
11:54
responsiveness to the lens to where it's
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now operating at, I would say, a level
11:58
up from where it was when it was
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initially released. Makes it now, I
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think, to me, the most compelling big
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aperture 35mm lens on the market. I
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really like Sigma's 35mm f1.2. 2 uh art
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series lens Mark I. I think it's a great
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lens, but I just kind of instinctively
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prefer the rendering out of the lab
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lens. And that's one thing that has
12:19
stood out to me is that just if I'm
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looking side by side at images, I just
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tend to very slightly prefer the ones
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out of the lab. And the fact that you
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can get this lens for under $1,000, and
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there is a uh coupon code in the
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description down below that'll help to
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save you a bit more off of that, it just
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makes it a really, really compelling
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lens. And so this is the change I was
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looking for from Viltrox. And I really,
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really hope that their road map that has
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a 50mm f1.2, an 85mm f1.2 from the lab
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series are going to follow this design.
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Get rid of the OLED, get rid of the
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customizable control ring, and just give
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us traditional aperture control, give us
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this beautiful looking lens, and
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beautiful performance like this. I will
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be delighted. If you want more
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information, you can check out my link
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in the description. We'll go back to my
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original review of this lens. There are
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buying links there as well. As always,
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thanks for watching. Have a great day
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and let the light in.
