Introduction
Since its release in 2019 I have been using the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN as my main lens for any kind of reportage work. It took until 2025 for another manufacturer to challenge Sigma by releasing a 35mm 1.2 lens with autofocus of their own. Actually, there were two at almost the same time: Nikon with their Nikon Z 35mm 1.2 S and Viltrox with this Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE LAB. As the Nikon lens sells for 3 grand it is out of reach for most people. This Viltrox lens is way more attractively priced, so let’s find out if it is time to retire my Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN after 6 years of usage.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Contents
Specifications
This Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE LAB has the following specifications:
-
- Diameter: 89 mm
- Field of view: 64.2° (diagonally)
- Length: 120 mm
- Weight: 917g (without hood[47g] and caps)
- Filter Diameter: 77 mm
- Number of Aperture Blades: 11 (rounded)
- Elements/Groups: 15/10
- Close Focusing Distance: 0.34 m
- Maximum Magnification: 1:6.1
- Mount: Sony E
buy from manufacturer’s shop (use the code “BK3512LAB5” for 5% discount) | Pergear | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $999
Information for my readers from the US:
Viltrox told us when ordering directly from them the lenses will be sent out from a warehouse in the US, so no need to pay additional tariffs.
Disclosure
The Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE LAB was kindly provided free of charge by Viltrox for reviewing purpose prior to release.
Handling/Build quality
Viltrox’ high end line of lenses is the “LAB” series and this is the second lens of that series with the first one being the Viltrox AF 135mm 1.8 FE LAB.
Unsurprisingly there are many similarities between the two LAB lenses. If you want to know what the OLED display can do, best have a look at my review of the 135mm 1.8 LAB, as they work just the same.
The focus is by wire and it takes around 270° from the minimum focus distance to infinity. The coupling is not perfectly linear, if you rotate it extemely slow it takes more rotation. It is still much better than the early Sony and Zeiss Batis lenses though, but I do think Viltrox’ Pro lenses feature a better implementation.
As is the case for many modern AF lenses the focus group moves freely when without power, so when shaking the lens you will notice that focus group moving around. This is normal. Don’t annoy your dealer with complaints that “there is something moving in the lens”.
Personally I prefer the aperture rings of Viltrox’ Pro series lenses, as they feature dedicated markings that make it much easier to see the aperture value which is currently set.
Also a bayonet style hood is part of the package. Its build quality is not as nice as that of Sony’s GM lenses or the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art, but good news is this lens actually doesn’t need it, as we will see later.
Many people were put off by the Sigma’s size and I am happy to report this Viltrox lens is about 15% lighter and also a bit shorter. That is not a huge difference but still a welcome one. What matters more to me personally is, that this Viltrox lens features a more common 77mm filter thread diameter compared to the 82mm of the Sigma and the 86mm of the Samyang.
On the Nikon Zf I also tried it with three different E->Z adapters, the Megadap ETZ21, the Neewer ETZ and Viltrox own E to Z. Out of these three only Viltrox’ own adapter somewhat worked. Due to the adapter the AF is noticeably slower compared to using this lens on a Sony camera though and the Exif data is also not transmitted correctly.
AF performance
I am not shooting sports or fast moving animals/humans so if you want to know if the lens is fast enough for this, or how it compares to other lenses in this segment, you may have to look for a different review with a more detailed assessment of this aspect.
Generally the AF worked well and was snappy, similar to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN. The lens was still running on a preliminary firmware though and I may revisit this chapter when I got a chance to use this lens with the final firmware.
Vignetting
light falloff
| f/1.2 | 2.8 EV |
| f/1.4 | 2.5 EV |
| f/2.0 | 1.9 EV |
| f/2.8 | 1.7 EV |
| f/4.0 | 1.5 EV |
| f/5.6 - f/16 | 1.4 EV |
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
Generally these values are very comparable to the competittors, almost identical to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art even. The Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP has a small advantage due to originally being designed for DSLRs with a longer flange focal distance. The small Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 III shows higher vignetting at f/1.2 and also stopped down.
It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.
optical vignetting
Very fast lenses often show optical vignetting. Without going too much into technical details optical vignetting leads to the truncation of light circles towards the borders of the frame.
In the center of the frame almost every lens will render a perfect circle, but only lenses with very low optical vignetting will keep this shape in the corners.
So in the following comparison we move from the center (left) to the extreme corner (right) and see how the shape of the light circle changes.
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
The Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN is a lens that shows high optical vignetting and I am happy to report this Viltrox is doing a better job in this category. This Viltrox also creates comparably naturally shaped out of focus highlights. The Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus creates more lemon shaped objects and the Sigma stopped down to f/2.0 rectangular highlights in the corners.
Long story short: of all the 35mm 1.2 (or faster) lenses I tried, this Viltrox looks best to me here.
Sharpness
Focus shift
I do not see any field relevant focus shift here and what’s more the performance at the minimum focus distance looks really good: a clearly defined focal plane without any apparent softness.
infinity (24mp Sony A7III)
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
This Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB shows a similarly impressive performance in this category as the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN. There is no midzone dip and no apparent softness in the center, only the extreme corners look slightly worse at f/1.2 and f/1.4.
The differences caused by sample variation are probably bigger than those between the actual design performance of the Viltrox and the Sigma, so it is futile to discuss which of these lenses performs better here.
In my testing I found this Viltrox lens to be very sensitive to the correct flange focal distance. I have long been aware that my Sony A7rII and A7III have slightly different flange focal distances thanks to Sony’s too high mount tolerances. In the past I often checked the performance of a lens on both cameras, this is one of the very rare cases where this difference was enough to introduce a notable midzone dip when using it on my Sony A7rII (the other lens where there was a notable difference was the Sigma 35mm 1.4 Art).
portrait distance 1.0 m (42mp Sony A7rII)
I refocused for every shot and aperture to get the best possible result at different locations in the frame (center, inner midframe and outer midframe).
The circle of the dollar bill is more or less the size of a human eye.
f/1.2 <—> f/2.0
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
Also here this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB looks amazing and just as good as the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN.
close 0.34 m, 1:6.1 (42mp Sony A7rII)
Also here the Viltrox shows a really good performance. That being said, the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN is just as good here while also focussing a bit closer.
The same cannot be said about the Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus (0.5 m MFD), Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III (0.5 m MFD) and the Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP though, which are all softer at closer distances and greatly benefit from stopping down a few stops.
Flare resistance
The other fast 35mm lenses I have used so far didn’t show a great performance in this category. The Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN and the Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus are some of the few lenses where I tend to always use the hood to at least get rid of some of the artefacts and the Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III is also one of the worse modern Cosina lenses.
This is a positive surprise, as I can hardly spot any artefacts.
Also stopped down – where lenses are often more prone to showing ghosts – I did not manage to create any artefacts in these staged scenarios.
This is an amazing performance I did not expect. In most of my reviews of lenses from newer lens manufacturers (often from China or South Korea) you will see flare resistance listed as a negative aspect. The Japanese manufacturers always seemed to have an edge over the rest of the world here. Starting with this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB that might change.
Coma
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
If a lens has very good corners sharpness at infinity, that often also means it features a good Coma correction and this is clearly the case here. At f/1.2 to f/1.4 I see minimal Coma in the corners, stopped down further it is completely gone.
In this category the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN shows a slightly better performance at its maximum aperture, whether that difference is actually field relevant is debatable though. If you mainly want to use a 35mm 1.2 lens for astrophotography, the Sigma might be the better choice for you.
Distortion
While the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN features rather strong (but uniform) barrel distortion, this Viltrox shows noticeably lower but slightly wavy distortion. To fully correct this a correction profile is needed, which was not available (yet) at the time of this review.
Bokeh
In a fast 35mm lens this is one of the most important categories to me. The Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN and Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus both proved to offer amazing rendering in their own way: the Sigma combines very high contrast and sharpness in the focal plane with appealing out of focus rendering (with strong cat’s eyes though) while the Laowa is a bit softer but creates a look with its f/0.95 maximum aperture that cannot be achieved with any other lens.
Close Distance
As we have already seen in the sharpness section this Viltrox lens features an effective floating elements design that maintains high contrast and resolution also at closer distances. This makes the subject really stand out, even at closer distances.
Mid Distance
Similar to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN this Viltrox also creates a very appealing look at mid distances. The high contrast and resolution really makes the subject stand out against the blurred background.
The bokeh is also very clean and predictable, which is very important to me when shooting reportage or weddings. Even in the snowy forest – which is a real stress test – this Viltrox manages to create unobtrusive backgrounds.
Long Distance
Long distances are where things get interesting and sometimes even a fast maximum aperture is not enough to create an appealing background, when unfavourable field curvature or too strong optical vignetting spoil the game.
This is not the case here. Similar to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN also this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB has a flat field and manages to create a nice background blur – also at longer focus distances. Having a look at the picture with the bicycle we can see that even the corners are still nicely defocused.
The question remains, how this Viltrox compares to the other super fast 35mm lenses. To answer this question you can find many direct side-by-side comparisons at different distances to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
In my opinion its bokeh rendering looks very similar to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN in most scenes and I wouldn’t possibly be able to tell them apart in those. When there are lots of point light sources in the background the Viltrox creates more natural looking pictures due to noticeably less pronounced cat’s eyes though, hence it would ultimately be my pick between these two.
Sunstars
Similar to many of Sony’s GM primes and the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN also this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB makes use of a diaphragm made of 11 rounded aperture blades. With this configuration not in many situations you will see distinct sunstars, from f/8.0 to f/16 they look pretty clean with an even length of the rays though.
If you want to know more about sunstar rendering of different lenses have a look at this article.
Chromatic aberration
lateral
This Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB does not show a relevant/visible amount of lateral CA that I could show you here.
longitudinal
Sony A7rII | Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE Lab | 50% crops
You can find a direct comparison to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 DG DN Art, Samyang 35mm 1.2 XP, Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus and Voigtländer VM 35mm 1.2 Nokton III with all lenses shot side-by-side in my Super Fast 35mm Comparison.
Of all those aforementioned lenses this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB shows the best performance in this category. When zooming in you can see minimal outlining, but this will hardly be field relevant. It is astonishing how far we have come in only a few years.
Sony A7rII | Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE Lab | 100% crops
At this point it should not be a surprise anymore that also purple fringing is corrected almost perfectly.
Conclusion
good
|
average
|
not good
|
The Viltrox AF 16mm 1.8 FE already gave me the impression that Viltrox is on the right path to become a force to be reckoned with in the higher end lens market. But then the Viltrox AF 135mm 1.8 FE LAB came out and while it was supposed to be Viltrox’ LAB series flagship lens, it sadly didn’t really convince me. It failed to offer a real reason to pick it over the – admittedly very strong – competition, because it was too big, too heavy and simply came too late.
So let’s talk about this Viltrox AF 35mm 1.2 FE LAB. When it was announced I was mainly wondering how it will compare to the Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN – a lens I have been using since its release and a really strong performer, so not an easy fight to pick.
Having used the Sigma extensively, there are three areas where I saw room for improvement: flare resistance could be better, optical vignetting (cat’s eyes) could be lower and it could be a bit smaller and lighter.
To my utmost surprise, Viltrox’ engineers managed to achieve all that. But there must have also been some compromises, right? Actually, not really. The Viltrox’ Coma correction is sightly worse (still very good) that is all I could mention here. Personally, I also prefer dedicated aperture rings with actual markings over the programmable control rings of the LAB series lenses, but that isn’t remotely enough to spoil the picture.
This is easily Viltrox’ best lens so far and also the best balanced 35mm autofocus lens faster than f/1.4 currently available. I already put my money where my mouth is: my Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN has been sold and from now on I will be using this Viltrox 35mm 1.2 LAB for all the weddings and reportage work.
buy from manufacturer’s shop (use the code “BK3512LAB5” for 5% discount) | Pergear | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for $999
Information for my readers from the US:
Viltrox told us when ordering directly from them the lenses will be sent out from a warehouse in the US, so no need to pay additional tariffs.
Alternatives
I will only talk about the most notable 35mm lenses which are faster than f/1.4 here. You can find many more 35mm discused in our 35mm guide.
Sigma 35mm 1.2 Art DG DN:
I already compared these two lenses in all of the sections above. Unless astrophotography is your main application (and in that case you should really consider the Sigma 40mm 1.4 Art) I would go for the Viltrox here.
buy from amazon.com | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (affiliate links) for about $1499 (new) or starting at $750 (used)
Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus:
If you don’t need autofocus the Laowa 35mm 0.95 Argus creates a look you cannot achieve with any other 35mm lens.
buy from the manufacturer’s homepage | ebay.com | B&H (affiliate links) for $649
Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 SE:
The Voigtlander 35mm 1.2 SE is noticeably smaller and lighter but also features a simpler optical design than all the aforementioned lenses including this Viltrox. It is also a manual focus lens.
buy from amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com for $699 (affiliate links)
If you want to more details how all these lenses compare in detail, have a look at my Comparison: Super Fast 35mm Fullframe Lenses.
Sample Images
Most of the sample images in this review can be found in full resolution here.
Further Reading
- All Lens Reviews
- Review: Viltrox FE 16mm 1.8 AF
- Review: Zeiss 28mm 1.4 Otus
- Review: Nikon Z 58mm 0.95 S Noct-Nikkor
- How to: Creating Environmental Portraits
- Discuss this review in our Discord community
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Damn, I am buying it as well.
Agreed, as a buyer of the sigma 35 1.2 mostly because of Bastian’s review, this is unexpected but welcome. Especially the CA performance, that bothered me more on the Sigma than I thought it would.
Viltrox had already achieved parity on a lot of the things that make this lens great with some of their other fast and/or high end lenses, but the flare handling on this and even the 135 LAB does seem like a big step forward for non-Japanese 3rd parties (as I think Bastian mentioned in the review).
Doing it without the bulk is noteworthy too, sub-$1K Pro series F1.4s that can match Sigma/Sony would be a big deal… Samyang has been vyying for that but AF is not on the same level and even optics weren’t quite on the same level, but they were still good deals. Viltrox fixing to lap them though…
Thanks for the review! I love this lens, however, I wonder if you agree that the bokeh of the sigma is still different and has a sort creaminess that this lens doesn’t quite have, even if it has smooth Bokeh.
No, I don’t. I see no difference in favour of the Sigma in any of the comparisons.
After reading the side by side comparison, I agree, I hadn’t seen the actual side by side comparison before
Thanks for the (as usual) great review!
Seems like a pretty nice lens. Though if in this market I would await the Sigma 35/1,2 version 2. Yes it may be a Sony 85 GM II clone ie smaller and lighter and worse bokeh..I will count on you to advice us about that Bastian.
Anyway, I prefer a normal aperture ring, and honestly, after having seen tours of Sigma’s factory and seen their boss talk on several occasions, I would rather support them. And they supply a 5 year warranty tied to the lens.
But personally I don’t feel that I need another fast 35 after I got the 35/1,2 SE; it’s good in all the aspects that mean anything to me : )
Let’s hope for Viltrox they also publish some factory videos then 🙂
I would love to see a factory tour
Nice review again, seems to be a very nice lens.
Is there a list of all currently build 35 mm’s Fulframe ?
what I know/ probably some not produced anymore:
– I count 30, but there should be more-
Nikon Z f1.4 / f1.8 / f1.2 ; G : f1.8 (still build?)
Sigma f1,4 / f2 / Sony f1,4 / f1,8 Tamron f1,4 / f1,8 / 2.8
Kerlee 35mm f1.2 (the first f1.2) ;
Voigtlander f1,2 / f1.4 / f1.5 / f2 x 2 types! / f2.5/ f 3.5 (7 types)
TT Artisans f1.4 f2 apo, 7-artisans f 1.4 f2
Artizlab 35mm f1.4
Laowa 35 mm f0.95
Leica f1.4
SLRMagic f1.4
LightLenslab f2
Apoqualia 1,3 / 1,4
Pergear f1.4
Samyang f1.4
You can also use Canon EF lenses on Sony/Nikon with an adapter.
This adds the EF 35/1.4 and EF 35/2.0. I don’t own them, but at least the 1.4 got some good reviews, and it’s an „L“, which generally have a high standard. New price was above 2k.
The EF system was extremely popular in the time cameras had mirrors, this leads to high availability of EF lenses and reasonable prices.
jip, are they still produced, sometimes I loose track of what is still in production 😉
Yes, I just looked at the Canon shop: 2005,- Euro, free shipment, on stock.
I wonder whether they still sell relevant volumes of EF lenses today – the second hand market is full, and this one you can easily get for less than half in good condition.
There’s also the Yongnuo 25mm f2
I meant 35mm f2
that’s also a new lens isn’t it? Viltrox 85 1.4 Pro?
Yeah, don’t have a release date yet.
Hello Bastian, is that you on the 2nd photo?
Yes.
what can you say about this lens and sony 35 1.4 gm ?
Whenever in life you are deciding between a faster and a slower lens it means you don’t need the faster lens and you should therefore get the slower one – as long as the slower lens is smaller/lighter/cheaper that is.
It’s worth noting, his review of the 35GM has a very thorough comparison vs the Sigma, the latter is a little smoother in some instances IIRC but the GM has the better flare resistance and ever so slightly less cat’s eye (so just like the Viltrox, but it’s lighter/smaller and pricier, yet with the highest max magnification).
My choice for a 35mm f1.2/f1.4 with autofocus:
As a Sony user, the decision would be clear.
FE 35mm f1.4 GM (“only” €300 more expensive, half the weight, significantly smaller, faster AF, optically even better (?))
As a Nikon user, I’ll buy the Viltrox (as soon as it’s available with a native Z mount).
The Z35mm f1.2 S is fantastic, but (currently) simply far too expensive.
The Z35mm f1.4 glows like a Christmas tree at wide apertures on contrast edges…
I don’t see the GM being optically better, but it might have an edge when it comes to the AF performance.
Nice review, as always!
I have a general question to you Bastian, as you touched upon a subject I’ve thinking about, flange tolerances.
Are the flange tolerances in Sony FE bodies and/or lenses so large that lens decentering depends significantly upon the specific camera body? I.e., would decentering depend upon a specific camera body-lens combination where the respective tolerances of camera body and lens either add up or cancel each other out, resulting in a more or less decentered body-lens combination. Then the upgrade of a body (even with similar resolution) may lead to some grief…
Or are the effects of flange tolerances insignificant compared to tolerances of the elements inside the lens?
I assume this may also depend on specific lens designs, making the issue even more complex.
Between my Sony bodies I do see some minor differences, sadly.
A badly decentered lens will have the same corner looking bad on both cameras.
When it comes to the performance of complex super fast wide angle lenses and fast ultra wide angle lenses it is indeed possible that the lens just looks better on one camera versus the other.
I have no data if the flange focal distance is more consistent when it comes to the later generations of E-mount cameras and I also have no data how the situation is with Canon RF and Nikon Z cameras.
Thanks for the great review!
Was just about the order the 35GM before finding out about the viltrox by randomly coming across this article. I think if I am reading this correctly, f1.2 vs 1.4 aside, we can assume they are almost identical (loosely speaking, in terms of performance)? So if I am not in need of a f1.2, I am in some way paying $300 more for the GM for being almost half the size?
However, my dad is coming over from China in two weeks. Over there it’s about $780. Factor in tax… Now I am looking at maybe $500+ for the size difference. Do you think it would arguably be a bit difficult to justify paying $500usd more for the GM?
I wouldn’t do that.
But you need to decide for yourself what maximum aperture and what weight you are looking for.
Bonjour ..personnellement je l ai renvoyé .peut être une mauvaise copie de l objectif .Problème AF et honnêtement le piqué n est pas exceptionnel .utilisé sur a7r3
First of all – thanks for all the work! Always a great read and great pictures.
Got mine yesterday based on your review since Sigma 35 1.2 was my favourite and most used lens by far. There was one thing I was affraid of – the control ring. The Sigma has the dedicated aperture ring right after the conical part and I used to change the aperture from time to time by accident. The Viltrox has the control ring a little farther so there´s a bit of space and together with uneven stops, for me, that actually works. Anyway, awesome lens. Thanks again!
Hope you will use it as much as the Sigma!
Hi Bastian and all,
Thanks for the great review.
I used mine for a few days on a A7 III but since the 1.04 firmware update the lens has become useless. When focusing there is a loud IF mechanism cycling noise. The IF mechanism seems to travel fully to the front hitting the mechanical stops. In manual focus the same happens. When focusing suddenly the IF focusing mechanism starts cycling and loses focus. Do I have a wrong lens or is it caused by the firmware upgrade? Does anybody else experiences the same serious focusing issue? Mine will soon be on its way back to Viltrox.
I think with the computer app you can downgrade the firmware. Maybe you should try that.
Thanks Bastian,
I will try that this evening when I am home.
It is very strange (with a A7III) as 70% of the time the lens behaves normally. However 30% of the time (based on camera powering on) it displays this violent IF mechanism travelling behaviour. Even stranger when focusing manually it will focus only to start violently travelling when focus has been achieved.
If the firmware restore does not give me a 100% reliable focus then the lens will go back as I might have a bad lens.
I tried to restore the firmware but the App does not allow me to do so. The lens AF remains unreliable (on a A7 III) with occasional violent travelling of the IF mechanism and incessant noise/operation of the actuators. I am afraid the lens will have to go back. Considering the positive comments on the lens I might have had a bad copy or it does not pair well with a A7 III.
I have been using it with the A7III most of the time, so that shouldn’t be the problem.
Thanks for your advice Bastian.
Mine must be a bad copy then because the IF travelling is quite pronounced. I can actually see it hitting the mechanical stops at the front of the IF mechanism in autofocus. In manual focus the same happens. When focus is achieved suddenly the IF mechanism travels forward.
My 16 mm Viltrox is a pleasant surprise but this 35 mm LAB lens is a disappointment (for me at least).
I will stick with my modest 35 mm f1.8 Sony lens for now.