In this blog I will review the Viltrox 35mm f1.7 lens for Sony E mount 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. It’s also worth mentioning that I used this lens on a Sony A7RV and A7CII both of which are full frame cameras. However you can put them into APSC mode and use just like a native APSC camera.

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. 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, during my test 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 very small and light meaning it will not feel front heavy on even the smallest bodies. The lack of weight is really noticeable here and this has to be the lightest lens I ever used. On my A7CII it felt right at home. 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.

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 26mp sensor of the A7RV in APSC mode. Colours are nice and accurate too. Nothing else to say. Below is a selection of images taken on a very gloomy day in London

Autofocus

This is another surprise. The AF works great. Is it as good a the Sony G lenses? Of course not, but it doesn’t feel much slower than my Sigma 50mm f2 which is much bigger, heavier and nearly 4 times the price. The lens worked well with all AF modes including tracking without any issues. It’s worth noting that when I tested the Fujifilm version of this lens on an XH2, the AF was pretty slow.

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. The build is good, the image quality is good and the autofocus is great. Considering this lens is only $180, it’s great value.