In this blog I will review the Viltrox 35mm f1.7 lens for Fujifilm after a couple weeks of use. For disclosure Viltrox sent me this lens however they have no say in this blog nor will they see it before publishing. All opinions are my own. Also it’s worth mentioning that this lens was sent to me before it was for sale so any quirks might have been ironed out with firmware by the time you read this.

I want to start this review with one important note, this lens retails for under $180. This is an insanely low price point and makes this one of the most affordable fast primes for the Fuji system. Straight away this gives Viltrox some serious points as it makes this lens accessible to more photographers who might have not been able to afford a fast prime before. Kudos.

35mm equates to around 50mm in full frame terms and this is a lens I would use for street photography. This is a fantastic all round focal length that can be used for portraits, products, street photography and everything in between. You might have heard of a term ‘nifty fifty’. It refers to a cheap, small and light 50mm prime. This lens is it.

Build & Ergonomics

The body is made from plastic but what did you expect at this price? With that said the plastic doesn’t feel too cheap or tacky. Feels similar to the Fuji XC35mm. One huge surprise and positive is the lens mount is metal which will greatly help with wear when taking it on and off. For comparison the Fuji XC35mm has a plastic lens mount despite being around the same price. The lens mount also hides a USB C port which you can use for firmware updates. After 2 weeks of use and throwing it into my bag, the body hasn’t picked up any marks. The focus dial feels very well damped with smooth motion. Finally there is no weather sealing but at this price point I’m not surprised. With that said, I was testing the Sony version of this lens, it was used on a rainy day in London with no issues. From my initial use, there is nothing bad to say about the build quality.

Moving to ergonomics and this lens is roughly the same size as the Fuji f2 primes in terms of length and a little fatter in terms of diameter. As for weight it feels lighter than any other XF35mm lens I tried and about the same as the XC. This will be suitable for all Fuji bodies. There is a lack of an aperture dial which for some people (including myself) is a deal breaker. I would have happily paid a little extra to have that dial. TTArtisan managed it with their 27mm prime, so I can’t see why it’s not been done here.

Image Quality

This is another positive for this lens. The image quality is very good. I don’t mean $180 good, but actually good. Sure at f1.7 you get some softness round the corners but nothing to shout about. Once stopped to around f4 or above, the image is tack sharp and renders well on the 40mp sensor of the XH2. Colours are nice and accurate too. Nothing else to say. Below is a selection of images taken on the Sony version of this lens which is identical.

Autofocus

This is where my experience with this lens has not been as positive. When focusing on subjects further away, performance does seem to be better but when trying to focus on anything closer, the lens takes a long time to focus. Furthermore there seems to be a delay between half pressing the shutter button to focus and the lens actually acquiring focus. Not a huge delay, but enough to notice compared to a Fuji lens. This seems to be more of a software thing that can be fixed later. With all that said, none of these issues prevented me getting any of the photos I wanted. It’s worth noting that when I tested the Sony version of this lens on my Sony A7Rv and A7CII, I did not experience any AF issue mentioned here.

Summary

To summarise I recommend this lens to anyone on a tight budget or those wishing to test out this focal length before splurging on a more expensive option such as the 35 f2 or 33 f1.4 from Fujifilm. The build is good, the image quality is good and although the autofocus feels a little slow (on the Fujifilm), I’m sure it will improve with firmware updates. Considering this lens is only $180, it’s great value.