Is This the Best New 35mm Lens?

Viltrox’s new AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE lens brings an extra-wide aperture to Sony full frame cameras, letting you blur backgrounds and shoot in dim venues without pushing ISO. That mix of speed and moderate width gives photographers room to frame environmental portraits while you keep distractions melting away behind your subject.

Coming to you from Christopher Frost, this thorough video starts by putting the Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE lens in your hand, so you get an honest look at its all‑metal shell, the weather‑sealed mount, and the heft that comes with 920 g of glass and aluminum. Frost points out the click‑or‑de‑click control ring that defaults to aperture duty and notes the seven micro‑clicks between f‑stops, a quirk you need to feel before deciding whether to leave the ring active. You also see the miniature OLED screen that can show focus distance or your own startup graphic through the Viltrox phone app, a fun novelty. The autofocus motor tracks quietly in single and continuous modes once it beds in, useful when you rely on face‑eye tracking for moving people. Frost flags mild focus breathing, so if you plan to punch in during video, keep that crop in mind rather than discovering it on the timeline.

Image quality testing reveals plenty of real‑world details. Wide‑open center sharpness is high, and corners clean up by f/2 on full frame and f/5.6 on APS‑C, giving you flexibility when edge‑to‑edge clarity matters. Distortion is basically corrected optically, so you are not forced to lean on lens profiles that may or may not exist in your raw converter. Vignetting is obvious at f/1.2 yet lifts with a quick slider in post, a trade‑off you make for that dreamy depth.

Key Specs

• Focal length: 35 mm

• Maximum aperture: f/1.2 (minimum f/16)

• Sony E mount

• Minimum focus: 13.4 in / 34 cm

• 15 elements in 10 groups

• 11‑blade diaphragm

• Autofocus 

• No optical stabilization

• Filter thread: 77 mm

• Dimensions: 3.5 × 4.8 in / 89.2 × 121.8 mm

• Weight: 2 lb / 920 g

Price lands at $999, edging into Sigma Art territory, so you compare not only optical stats but handling quirks like that rear ring and the absence of stabilization. The video spends time on flare resistance and shows contrast drop‑offs with bright light on‑axis. Background rendering is smooth with only slight hard edges in bokeh balls, making the lens attractive for event work where small lights often pepper the scene. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Frost.