Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE lens review

When you’re shooting subjects such as the night sky, the ability to resolve fine detail while also pushing camera settings to the limit is essential. This is why professional prime lenses can be the perfect options for astrophotographers, and the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE is a lens that full-frame Sony camera owners will appreciate.

This lens is part of Viltrox’s flagship LAB series, which currently also includes a 135mm f/1.8 lens in Sony FE and Nikon Z mounts. The AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB is currently only available for Sony FE but a Nikon Z version is on the horizon. Pair this lens with one of the best cameras for astrophotography, and you'll enjoy a high-performance professional lens for an incredibly attractive price.

The 35mm f/1.2 LAB costs $999USD / £959GBP, which is still an investment but incredibly attractive for such a fast prime. It’s also considerably less expensive than the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM, and faster, so with this in mind, it’s arguably something of a bargain. If performance is up to scratch, this could be a must-have for your kit bag.

35mm is a focal length that’s perfect for a wide range of subjects, including astrophotography, where the ground and foreground interest are important elements of the scene you’re capturing. Of course, 35mm is nowhere near as wide as a 16mm prime but it can be equally as useful.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE lens review

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE: Design

• Naturally chunky and heavy
• Excellent build quality
• Weather-sealed, protected against rain etc

Many f/1.4 lenses are quite chunky but when you throw f/1.2 into the mix, the design of the lens naturally means it’s going to have some heft to it. As such, the 35mm f/1.2 LAB is a chunk of glass with a size of 3.51 x 8.80 in / 89.2 x 121.8 mm and a weight of 32.5 oz / 920 g. This is quite a beast of a lens but there’s no getting around its construction.

The lens is made up of 15 elements in 10 groups. These include five ED lenses, three high refractive index lenses and two UA lenses. The front element also features a water and stain-resistant coating. The aperture is made up of 11 diaphragm blades, which produce a pleasing bokeh effect, while the minimum focusing distance is 13.4-in / 34 cm. These are most useful for general photography and of little consequence for astrophotography but worth mentioning.

The 35mm f/1.2 LAB is built to an incredibly high standard, both in terms of the optical construction and the overall design. For the price, it’s exceptional in these areas. The lens itself is made of aerospace-grade magnesium-aluminum alloy with a die-coating, so it has a premium look and feel alongside being built like a tank.

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This is a lens that’s built to a high standard thanks to its dust and moisture-resistant construction, making it perfect for outdoor photographers, especially those working at night in locations where dust and moisture can be an issue. The 77 mm filter thread is a standard size if you plan to use color correction or star filters, whether the square or circular variety.

By default, the Multi-Functional Ring is set to control the aperture with click and clickless operation available using a switch to toggle between the two. The latter is perfect for video.

The Multi-Functional Ring is customizable, so you can apply one of several different controls to the ring. Other controls on the lens include two customizable Fn (function) buttons, an AF/MF switch, a wide and comfortable manual focus ring and a small digital screen that shows the focus distance and aperture setting.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE: Functionality

• Customizable Fn (function) buttons
• Digital color screen
• Fast autofocus

Prime lenses are typically fairly straightforward but the 35mm f/1.2 LAB comes loaded with some innovative features that are extremely fitting for the modern world of photography. Not to mention, this functionality is extremely useful to photographers because we can customize aspects of the lens for a more personal shooting experience.

We’ve already briefly discussed the customizable Multi-Functional Ring, where you can change the setting that the ring controls, but there are also two customizable Fn (function) buttons. The options available for both are useful for personalizing lens functionality. This is achieved by connecting the lens via Bluetooth, to the Viltrox Lens app.

With the lens unattached from a camera, there’s a USB-C port on the lens mount where you can power the lens and connect the app to make these changes, update the lens firmware and customize the digital screen’s welcome screen. The color digital screen shows the focus distance and the aperture setting, as well as showing the active Fn (function) button.

Manual focus with the lens is extremely comfortable thanks to the wide focus ring with comfortable resistance, while its size makes it easy to use in low light and when wearing gloves. The same goes for the Multi-Functional Ring. By default, one of the Fn buttons is also set to zoom into the EVF and LCD screen image, which is perfect for manual focus on stars in the night sky.

While AF isn’t relevant for astrophotography, it performs well and locks onto subjects quickly and silently. The AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB features Quad Viltrox HyperVCM motors, which Viltrox claims are 150% faster AF speed over STM motors.

The silent aspect of the AF will be useful for videographers who use AF when capturing video, while the lens also supports subject recognition, which was tested and proved to be precise when using eye recognition while shooting at f/1.2.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE: Performance

• Fantastic image quality overall
• Excellent Sharpness at f/1.2
• The sweet spot is f/8

Prime lenses are the holy grail of astrophotography because of the fast maximum aperture they typically offer. And with a lens with an f/1.2 maximum aperture, achieving excellent image quality is quite a challenge. The 35mm f/1.2 LAB doesn’t skip a beat when shooting wide open, and although it’s not perfect, it’s seriously impressive.

The 35mm f/1.2 LAB exhibits exceptional centre sharpness at f/1.2 but corner sharpness is quite soft. Edge sharpness, however, is excellent. Corner sharpness incrementally improves as you get closer to the centre of the frame and also as you stop down the aperture. f/4 is the earliest setting to show greatly improved corner sharpness.

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Corner sharpness continues to improve until f/8, which is the sweet spot of the lens, before sharpness begins to fall off slightly as you continue to stop down. Vignetting is most present at f/1.2, as to be expected, and this remains pretty much the same until f/2, where it almost disappears. It’s at f/2.8 when vignetting completely disappears, although it’s no major issue because vignettes are easy to remove using photo editing software.

During testing, a shot was taken of a tree with a bright sky behind at f/1.2 to check for chromatic aberration and there was only the tiniest amount of fringing visible. This was easily removed using Lens Corrections in Adobe Lightroom. At the time of writing, there wasn’t a Lens Profile available in Lightroom to correct vignetting and any lens distortion.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE: Price

The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE is available for the incredible price of just $999 / £959. This is one of Viltrox’s premium LAB series lenses and in the box you get the lens, a lens hood, front and rear lens caps and a soft lens case.

This lens is the Sony FE version and there will be a Nikon Z-mount version being released soon. So, to get a little context in terms of price for these two systems, the Nikon Z 35mm f/1.2 S costs $2797 / £2899, while the slightly slower Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM costs $1398 / £1429. This makes the 35mm f/1.2 LAB an absolute bargain when you consider the performance and build quality of the lens.

Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE: User reviews

Online reviews for this lens typically agree that the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE is a fantastic lens overall, with excellent sharpness and fast autofocus. Users also report that the lens represents excellent value for money.

How we tested the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE

The Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE was tested in combination with the Sony A7R V, which offers an unforgivingly high resolution. The lens was tested at night with a focus on astrophotography, and in daylight to assess sharpness, distortion and general functionality.

Should you buy the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE?

If you’re a Sony A1, A7 or A9 series full-frame camera owner looking for an ultra-fast 35mm lens, then look no further. The maximum f/1.2 aperture is perfect for lowlight and astrophotography, while image quality is fantastic overall. The focal length is also useful for other subjects, so this is a lens that could be extremely useful.

For a prime lens, the 35mm f/1.2 LAB is feature-packed with its small digital screen, two customizable Fn buttons, a customizable aperture/function ring with clicked or clickless operation and app-based firmware updates. It offers much more than most prime lenses. Build quality is excellent and the weather-sealed design makes it ideal for outdoor use.

If this lens isn't for you

35mm might not be wide enough for you, so if you’d prefer a fast prime with a larger field of view and excellent image quality, take a look at the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G lens.

There’s no getting away from the advantages of prime lenses, but for maximum versatility, you can’t go wrong with the impressive Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II lens.

If you’re an APS-C Sony camera owner, the Sony E 16-55mm f/2.8 G lens offers a versatile focal range for astrophotography alongside a reasonably fast maximum aperture.

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