Introduction

Not that long ago we reviewed the Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo – the first lens of the Evo series – and it turned out to be a very compelling lens; correcting most optical aberrations very well in a compact, affordable package. It didn’t take long for Viltrox to extend the lineup, so here is the Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo and this time Viltrox even added an “Apo” tag, hinting at even better optical performance. Did they design the ideal compact autofocussing 35mm lens?  Let’s find out in this review.
Update May 4th: new sample pictures added

Sample Images

You can find many of the sample images in full resolution here.

Specifications / Version History

This is already Viltrox’ second 35mm 1.8 AF lens hence the “II” in its name. You can also easily tell them apart by this new one carrying “Evo” and “Apo” tags. Compared to its predecessor it is a completely new design and has the following specifications:

• • Diameter: 69 mm
  • Field of view: 63° (diagonally)
  • Length: 76 mm
  • Weight: 354g (without hood[25g], without caps)
  • Filter Diameter: 58 mm
  • Number of Aperture Blades: 9 (slightly rounded)
  • Elements/Groups: 13/10
    
  • Close Focusing Distance: 0.34 m
  • Maximum Magnification: 1:6.7 (measured)
  • Mount: Sony FE, Nikon Z

buy from manufacturer’s shop (use the code “PRnet” for 5% discount) | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (advertisement/affiliate links) for $395

Disclosure

This Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 II Evo was kindly provided free of charge by Viltrox for reviewing purpose prior to release. The first sample I received showed asymmetrical Coma artefacts so I asked for a second sample.

Handling/Build quality

This Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo is the second lens of Viltrox’ Evo lineup and it handles just the same as the Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo. It features a dedicated de-clickable aperture ring similar in style and function to Sony’s GM and later G lenses, an AF/MF switch and a lens button. 

The aperture ring has 1/3 of a stop click stops – which you can declick by using a lever on the right side of the lens.
You can also set the ring to “A”(utomatic) and let the camera choose the aperture value or to be able to use the camera dial to change the aperture value instead of using the aperture ring.

The focus ring has decent damping and a linear coupling. No matter how fast you turn the focus ring it takes a surprisingly long  360° from the minimum focus distance (0.34 m) to infinity.
When you turn your camera off the lens will remember the last focus position and will still be there when you turn the camera on again.

The dedicated aperture ring allows to preset the desired aperture when the camera is not turned on yet, which can save crucial time in the heat of the moment.

At the bayonet you can find a USB-C socket and a rubber gasket.

A plasticky bayonet style lens hood is also part of the package. It integrates nice into the design of the lens and can be attached reversed to take up less space.

Comparing the 35mm 1.8 Evo to the 85mm 2.0 Evo we see some minor differences which always leaves me wondering. They handle exactly the same though which is very welcome.

The E-mount lens worked well via the megadap ETZ21pro+ adapter on my Nikon Zf, but as there is a native Z-mount version I would recommend getting that one to use on your Z-mount camera.

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.

The AF is very fast and for normal use cases – especially portraiture – it certainly worked well.

Vignetting

light falloff

A very typical performance in this category. The Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar shows the same amount of vignetting within the margin of error. The Sony 35mm 1.8 FE shows similar vignetting figures at f/1.8, but slightly higher ones stopped down. The 7Artisans 35mm 1.8 AF and the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S show slightly lowerv values at all aperture settings. 

It is recommended to have a look at this article first to get an idea how this brightness graph works.

optical vignetting

Fast lenses usually show a noticeable amount of 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.

Also the optical vignetting amount looks average for a 35mm 1.8 lens. 

The optical design features one aspherical element and onion ring structures are visible here.

Sharpness

Focus Shift

With some lenses on stopping down the focal plane shifts to the front or back, here I do not see any focus shift.

infinity (42mp Sony A7rII)

The performance at infinity is really good from f/1.8. In the midframe and corners stopping down to f/2.8 we can see a small gain in contrast and resolution, but I wouldn’t hesitate using this lens at f/1.8.

The Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar looks even better here whereas the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S needs to be stopped down to f/5.6 for very good across frame sharpness.

The Sony 35mm 1.8 FE and the 7Artisans 35mm 1.8 AF are also solid performers but show a slight mid zone dip at f/1.8 to f/2.8 and also the corners demand stopping down a bit for best performance.

portrait distance (1.0 m, 42mp Sony A7III)

For portraiture it isn’t so important how flat the field is, it is more interesting to see what the sharpness is like when focused at different parts of the frame to take field curvature out of the equation.

This is what I did here, 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).
Focus distance was roughly 1.0 m and the circle of the dollar bill is more or less the size of a human eye.

f/1.8 <————> f/2.8

At portrait distance this Viltrox 35mm 1.8 Evo shows am impeccable performance, creating Moiré everywhere in the frame from its maximum aperture. 

The best performance I came across in a compact f/1.8 to f/2.0 35mm lens yet, outperforming the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar, the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S and many more.

close (0.34 m, 1:6.7, 42mp Sony A7rII)

Some 35mm lenses offer a maximum magnification around 1:4 whereas this Viltrox features a more moderate 1:6.7 magnification.

The performance is good, there is only a hint of softness at f/1.8 and from f/2.8 the performance hardly leaves something to be desired. The Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar offers a similar magnification but is noticeably softer at f/1.8. 

Flare resistance

As always evaluating flare is a complex matter since you can get any lens to look bad if you push it hard enough and a slight change of scenario can affect results a lot.

Flare resistance is still the category where most of the lenses from Chinese manufacturers struggle, but some of the Viltrox lenses showed an above average performance, so let’s find out if they manage to continue that trend.

At the maximum aperture we hardly see any ghosts, only veiling flare with the sun in a specific spot just outside the frame is something to watch out for.

Stopped down the ghosts can be a little more obvious and the veiling flare is still there. These artefacts can still often be avoided by slightly reframing.

This is actually a good performance, better than the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar, Sony 35mm 1.8 FE and 7Artisans 35mm 1.8 AF, on par with the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S. 

Coma

The Coma correction of this Viltrox lens is surely good and even shooting a blue hour cityscape at f/1.8 can be done without running into any issues with distracting artefacts.

This Viltrox clearly performs better than the Sony 35mm 1.8 FE here and similar to the Nikon Z 35mm 1.8 S. Among the 35mm f/1.8 to f/2.0 lenses the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar is the best performer I came across so far though, rendering almost perfect light points already at f/2.0. 

Distortion

The Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo only shows a very low amount of distortion. For correcting it perfectly a lens specific profile is needed though. As Lightroom/CameraRaw features profiles for most Viltrox lenses I expect this one to be added soon.

Bokeh

As we have already seen in the previous sections, this Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo is a lens that corrects most optical aberrations very well, similar to the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar. These highly corrected lenses often create a harsher, busier bokeh, will that also be the case here?

Due to its moderate maximum magnification this Viltrox 35mm 1.8 Evo is at a disadvantage here compared to closer focusing 35mm lenses. With small subjects it did in fact happen a few times that I wanted to get closer but couldn’t.

Already at close distances we can see that complex backgrounds are rendered in a harsh way.

With the foliage in the background we again see a harsh and busy rendering whereas less complex backgrounds are rendered in a much nicer way.

At longer focus distances the maximum aperture of f/1.8 is not sufficient anymore to create a shallow depth of field, if that is what you are after, you may want to have a look at a faster 35mm lens. 

This lens creates a decent to good bokeh and without having done a direct comparison it looks less harsh and distracting than what I have seen from the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar. 

Sunstars

The Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo did not manage to create particularly nice sunstars. Here the situation is a little better, at least at f/11 the sunstars feature rays of even length.
If you want to learn more about this topic have a look at this article.

Chromatic aberration

lateral

I did not see any lateral CA from this lens.

longitudinal

• background
• foreground

• 
• 

Sony A7rII | Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo | 50% crops

Viltrox made a big fuss about their superior color correction and even decided to put an Apo tag on this lens. This is highly deserved, I can neither see purple fringing nor bokeh fringing. 

One of the best performances I have seen from a 35mm lens yet and also noticeably better than the Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar.

Conclusion

good very high contrast and resolution from f/1.8 at all distances perfect CA correction Coma correction flare resistance distortion build quality/handling size/weight

average bokeh vignetting minimum focus distance

not good

This Viltrox AF 35mm 1.8 Evo Apo is the second lens of Viltrox’ Evo lineup I reviewed and the table above looks very similar to that of the Viltrox AF 85mm 2.0 Evo. We are again dealing with a lens that comes without any outstanding flaws and I am still wondering how Viltrox could come to that point in such a short time.

The optical performance of this Viltrox lens is actually better than that of the highly regarded Voigtländer 35mm 2.0 Apo-Lanthar. While the Voigtländer performs a bit better at infinity with less Coma, this Viltrox lens outperforms it at portrait and closer distances and even corrects longitudinal CA way better – which should be the staple of the Apo-Lanthar lenses. Personally I think you can find 35mm lenses that create a nicer bokeh, but also here I prefer the Viltrox to the Voigtländer.

That alone would be enough to strongly consider this lens when looking for a compact, high performing 35mm lens and this is before we take into account it not only offers autofocus – contrary to the Voigtländer lens – but it also costs less than half. 

buy from manufacturer’s shop  (use the code “PRnet” for 5% discount) | amazon.com | amazon.de | B&H | ebay.com | ebay.de (advertisement/affiliate links) for $395

Sample Images

You can find many of the sample images in full resolution here.

Further Reading

• Review: Laowa 10mm 2.8 AF
• Review: Sony FE 16mm 1.8 G
• Review: Songraw 50mm 1.2 Moonlit
• Review: Sigma 135mm 1.4 DG Art
• How to: Taking environmental Portraits

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BastianK

My name is Bastian and I am your expert here when it comes to ultra wide angle lenses, super fast portrait lenses (ranging from a 50mm f/0.95 to a 200mm f/1.8) and I also have reviewed way too many 35mm lenses. Don't ask me anything about macro or wildlife shooting though.

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