I’m sold on the fact that Viltrox can make very respectable lenses to suit a tight budget, and I’m speaking from experience. A couple of years ago I put my money where my mouth was and bought all three of the compact yet fast, APS-C format metal-bodied Viltrox AF 23mm F1.4 Z, Viltrox AF 33mm F1.4 Z, and Viltrox AF 56mm F1.4 Z primes, plus the slightly larger Viltrox AF 13mm F1.4 Z and the faster Viltrox AF 27mm F1.2 Pro, both of which are also metal-bodied. They work a treat on my Nikon Z fc and continue to impress me every time I use them. This newer AF 35mm f/1.7 lens ditches the aperture ring, which I’d generally only use for shooting video, has a plastic rather than metal body (but still a metal mounting plate) and has an aperture rating that’s half an f/stop slower than the f/1.4 lenses. That results in an even cheaper purchase price and, as such, the new 35mm F/1.7 lens follows in the footsteps of the Viltrox AF 56mm F1.7, which I reviewed a few months previously. Whereas the 56mm lens has a portrait-friendly ‘effective’ 84mm focal length in full-frame terms, the 35mm equates to 52.5mm, giving an entirely natural field of view. I tested the XF version of the new 35mm lens on a Fujifilm X-T50 camera and, indeed, the lens aims to be a perfect fit for the best Fujifilm cameras as well as taking on the best Fujifilm lenses. If it follows suit with previous Viltrox launches, Nikon Z and Sony E mount versions will also be available.
