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ART or AIR? | Yongnuo 35 F1.8 ART vs Viltrox AIR 35mm F1.7 (APS-C)
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May 6, 2025
Photographer Dustin Abbott shares a comparison between two bargain third party 35mm lenses for Sony APS-C E-mount - the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 AIR and the Yongnuo 35mm F1.8 ART. Which deserves your money? Yongnuo ART 35mm Reviews - Text: | Video: Viltrox AIR 35mm Review - Text: https://tinyurl.com/Vil35AIRda | Video: https://tinyurl.com/Vil35AIRvid Purchase the Viltrox AF 35mm F1.7 @ Viltrox https://tinyurl.com/Buy35AIR (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 8% off) | B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/4hktQdC | Adorama https://howl.link/pg6zmhy3c9l5c | Amazon https://amzn.to/40ofvpJ | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/40RfJr3 | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/4ay5HhG | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3EdKoWi Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Sign up for my Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RHvUNp | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.link/nt4zdz1goa7ql Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Into the AM Clothing: https://bit.ly/intotheAMda and use code DUSTIN10 for 10% off Fioboc Clothing: https://tinyurl.com/FiobocDA20 and us code DUSTIN20 for 20% off Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:06
[Music]
0:10
hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here for
0:12
another one of my head-to-head videos
0:14
yongno has released its first art series
0:18
lens and I'm not a fan of them
0:20
appropriating Sigma's brand which I made
0:23
clear in my review but to be fair they
0:26
did move the needle a bit in terms of
0:28
optical quality with their new 35mm f1.8
0:31
art lens but the question is is it
0:34
enough enough to shake up the sub $200
0:37
APS-C uh 35mm market vtrox's Air 35mm
0:43
F1.7 has been out for about 6 months and
0:46
it has been probably my favorite
0:48
inexpensive 35mm lens that has been
0:51
released on APS-C so today's comparison
0:53
is to see whether or not the Yong no can
0:56
dethrone what has been my favorite now
0:58
before we dive in let me give you a
0:59
quick disclosure both the Yong no and
1:01
Viltrox lens were sent to me for testing
1:04
by their respective companies neither
1:07
have sanctioned this head-to-head
1:08
comparison and neither have had any kind
1:11
of input on my creative process they
1:13
will see this video when you do and my
1:16
thoughts here are my own we're going to
1:19
start by taking a look at what is
1:21
similar between these two lenses
1:23
obviously they both are the 35mm focal
1:25
length which translates to 52.5
1:28
millimeter full-frame equivalency so
1:30
these are essentially normal lenses
1:32
giving you that normal angle of view
1:35
both of them have a featureless design
1:37
in that there are no switches there's no
1:40
aperture ring there's nothing on the
1:42
barrel besides the an actual manual
1:45
focus ring both of them have a similar
1:47
price now the price of the Yong new is
1:49
not actually settled at this point i've
1:51
been told that it will be under $200
1:54
since I do know the price of the Viltrox
1:56
it's MSRP is $180 you can get a little
1:59
bit cheaper with a discount code but
2:01
that tells me that the price is going to
2:03
be at most within $20 and so I doubt
2:06
that that is going to be enough of a
2:08
determining factor to break the bank in
2:10
either direction both of them as you can
2:12
see do come with a lens hood both of
2:15
them use STM focus motors both of them
2:18
have 52 millimeter front filter threads
2:20
both of them have nine aperture blades
2:22
the specifications on paper are pretty
2:25
pretty close between the two there's
2:28
also a couple of differences that I
2:30
can't say because it's more of a taste
2:33
thing as to whether or not it is an
2:35
advantage for one or the other i'll let
2:37
you decide so we'll call these neutral
2:39
differences both of them dist exhibit
2:42
just the tiniest amount of distortion
2:44
now in the case of the Yongno that is a
2:47
tiny amount of barrel distortion in the
2:49
Viltrox it is a tiny amount amount of
2:52
pin cushion distortion neither one of
2:54
them makes any difference because it's
2:56
so minimal that you probably don't even
2:57
need to correct it so but if you prefer
3:00
one or the other there's your difference
3:02
now a more noticeable difference between
3:04
the two is when it comes to the color
3:06
tone of the optical glass the Yong Nuo
3:09
is definitely the warmer of the two
3:10
lenses and even with every all settings
3:13
equalize same white balance it's going
3:15
to consistently deliver a noticeably
3:17
warmer image than with the Viltrox so
3:19
you can decide whether or not from the
3:21
comparisons whether the Viltrox is
3:23
cooler or if the Viltrox is neutral but
3:26
there definitely is a difference in the
3:27
color tone between the two and you might
3:29
prefer one look compared to the other
3:32
we're going to start by some reasons to
3:34
choose the Yong No lens it does have the
3:36
nicer build quality it is made of nice
3:39
metals it has that anodized finish that
3:42
uh feels nice so the materials are a
3:44
little bit more premium here it does
3:46
have some element of weather sealing it
3:49
has a gasket at the rear mount it has a
3:52
flooring coating up front uh Viltrox has
3:54
their nano HD coating up front but there
3:56
is no weather sealing gasket so at least
3:58
you get some weather sealing on the Yong
4:00
No so that is an advantage while both of
4:03
them have SDM focus motors I believe the
4:05
Yongno focuses a little bit faster and
4:08
you can see here that it if not instant
4:10
it's very close and going back to forth
4:12
in my indoor test and the Viltrox is
4:14
good as well but it's just a hair slower
4:16
and so there is a bit of an advantage
4:18
for the Yongno there the Yongno also
4:20
exhibits less vignette and so where
4:23
where I needed a plus 55 to correct it I
4:26
needed closer to a plus 73 or so with
4:29
the Viltrox and so nearly another stop
4:31
of vignette in the corners so certainly
4:33
an advantage there so there are some
4:35
reasons um to choose the Yongno there
4:38
are also some reasons to choose the
4:40
Viltrox while the Yongno has the nicer
4:43
build quality the Viltrox is much more
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compact in fact while they have a
4:47
similar diameter the Viltrox is 54.3
4:51
millimeters in length whereas the Yongno
4:53
is nearly 80 millimeters in length so
4:55
it's a plus 25 difference between the
4:58
two lenses 25 millimeters of extra
5:00
length on the Yongno and so even when it
5:02
comes to storage in a bag it may be a
5:05
make orb break situation for you and
5:08
because of this the Viltrox is also
5:11
noticeably uh lighter they call it the
5:13
Air series for a reason and so it weighs
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in at 170 g versus 265 g for the Yong No
5:21
so that means that it is a full 95 g uh
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lighter so in this case that's you know
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a third of the weight and so that is
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significant very obviously so there is
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some trade-off for the metals that are
5:32
being used in this versus the tough
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engineered plastics that are being used
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in the Viltrox uh you know one feels a
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little bit more premium but so far these
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Air series lenses have actually held up
5:42
really well for me so I don't think that
5:44
it's actually a poor build quality the
5:47
Viltrox surprisingly considering it's
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not the one that's advertising it being
5:51
the Art series is actually slightly
5:53
sharper less noticeable in the center of
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the frame but certainly in the mid-frame
5:58
and in the corners and if you stick
5:59
around for the optical comparison at the
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end you'll see that that is consistent
6:03
throughout the tested apertures that it
6:05
just stays a little more consistently
6:07
sharp across the frame surprisingly
6:10
although the Viltrox has a plastic
6:12
manual focus ring and the Yongno has a
6:14
nicer metal at least in terms of feeling
6:17
uh manual focus ring the action of the
6:20
Yongno is not as good it's not
6:22
engineered quite as precise and so it
6:24
feels like there's a little bit more
6:25
rubbing the Viltrox moves more
6:27
consistently with a better damping it
6:30
also focuses manually focuses better
6:32
it's a little more consistent it's
6:34
easier to do manual focus consistent
6:36
manual focus pulls i found with the Yong
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No it's very very speed sensitive and
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because the focus ring isn't perfectly
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smooth i just found it a lot harder to
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get repeatable uh focus results there so
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score another win for Viltrox there i
6:53
also found that the Vtrox had better
6:55
specular highlights and so there's less
6:57
activity inside of them they are a
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little bit rounder and so just in terms
7:02
of the consistency there I preferred
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bright specular highlights bokeh balls
7:07
if you want to call them that i
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preferred them from the Viltrox lens the
7:12
Viltrox also is able to focus a little
7:14
bit closer 33 cm versus 35 cm and
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achieve a little bit higher level of
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magnification it's rated at 0.13 times
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versus 0.12 times and surprisingly that
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difference is fairly noticeable as you
7:28
can see in this comparison here I also
7:31
found when it comes to the bokeh quality
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that as we'll see in the optical
7:34
breakdown in many situations they're
7:36
more similar than different but I did
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find that in the transition zone that
7:41
there's a little less hard edges on the
7:43
Viltrox and so in that really important
7:45
transition area which can really make or
7:48
break images neither one of them are
7:50
like Sony GM quality however I do find
7:53
that the Viltrox is ever so slightly
7:55
smoother in those situations my
7:58
conclusion having spent a lot of time
8:00
with both lenses and shot a lot of
8:01
head-to-head comparisons is that in many
8:03
ways they're are very evenly matched
8:05
lenses the Yong No gives you this
8:08
slightly nicer build but at the cost of
8:10
extra size and weight i feel like
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Viltrox is maybe the more polished
8:15
product it nails the fine details a
8:18
little bit better it's more portable and
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so if you're looking to travel light
8:22
which many people will with lenses like
8:23
this it definitely wins that comparison
8:26
they're both fine lenses and they both
8:28
actually have a really strong optical
8:30
performance relative to their price
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point you're going to be happy with
8:33
either lens optically I suspect i'm not
8:36
sure that the art label is warranted for
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Yongno because I would expect something
8:40
a little more groundbreaking to
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associate that and I was actually kind
8:45
of surprised to find that the Viltrox if
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anything was actually the sharper of the
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two lenses and so that tells me that
8:52
this is feels like a little bit of
8:54
stolen valor when it comes to Yongno
8:56
using that art label that has been
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proprietary to Sigma for over a decade
9:00
at this point you can check out the full
9:03
text or video reviews of both these
9:05
lenses in the description down below or
9:07
you can stick around right now and we'll
9:08
put them head-to-head and look at how
9:10
they compare let's dive in and take a
9:12
look all right let's start by taking a
9:14
look at vignette and distortion
9:16
throughout this series of comparisons
9:17
I'm going to have the Yong No on the
9:19
left the Viltrox on the right so you can
9:22
see that the Yongno has a tiny bit of
9:25
barrel distortion the Viltrox a tiny bit
9:27
of pin cushion distortion both of them
9:29
have some vignette in the corners
9:31
however it is heavier on the Viltrox
9:34
both lenses manually correct fine again
9:36
Yong no left Viltrox right and you can
9:39
see there's no negative impacts left
9:41
after correction they look nice and
9:43
clean now we'll take a look at
9:44
longitudinal style chromatic aberrations
9:47
so if we zoom in here we can see that
9:49
there is a little bit more fringing from
9:51
the Viltrox than what there is on the
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Yongno it's not a significant difference
9:56
as you can tell neither is going to be
9:58
enough that you're going to see it in
9:59
real world images however I do think the
10:02
Yongno is a little bit better you can
10:04
also see that in this real world
10:05
comparison remember I'm looking at 200%
10:07
magnification right now so this is
10:09
exaggerating it uh however you can see
10:12
there is a little bit more fringing here
10:13
in the Viltrox in this area than what
10:15
there is in the Yong no about equal
10:17
levels of contrast and detail in this uh
10:20
real world shot however a little bit
10:22
more fringing other thing you're going
10:24
to see as a trend here in general and
10:26
that is that the Yongno renders even
10:28
with the exact same settings in terms of
10:30
white balance it renders significantly
10:32
warmer than what the Vtrox was and
10:34
you'll see that as kind of a common
10:36
thread throughout this you can see
10:38
looking at the defocused area back the
10:40
background they look largely similar and
10:44
we'll we'll kind of hyper analyze that
10:46
in just a moment now when it comes to
10:47
lateral style chromatic aberrations you
10:50
can see that this is an area where the
10:52
Yong no is behind the Viltrox the
10:54
Viltrox is nice and clean here there's
10:56
just a tiniest bit on this very definite
11:00
line more so however on the Yong No and
11:03
definitely the Yongno is showing some of
11:04
that false color on these transition
11:06
areas whereas the Viltrox is nice and
11:08
clean so how about resolution and
11:10
contrast again we're showing at 200%
11:12
here and this is at 26 megapixels here
11:14
on Sony wide open i would say that I
11:18
slightly favor the amount of contrast
11:20
that is shown on the Viltrox the level
11:23
of resolution is similar uh there's not
11:26
a lot of difference there we can see
11:27
that little bit of difference when it
11:29
comes to the metering and thus the
11:31
overall exposure that is you know it's a
11:34
little bit faster a shutter speed on the
11:36
Viltrox because of that slightly faster
11:38
maximum aperture if we move into the
11:40
mid-frame however I think more of an
11:42
advantage emerges for the Viltrox that
11:44
definitely has more uh clear contrast
11:47
and thus the details look a little
11:49
crisper that's true down into the corner
11:51
as well where you can see it definitely
11:53
favors the contrast definitely favors
11:55
the Viltrox lens we'll pop up into the
11:58
upper left corner here as well and you
12:00
can see it's if anything it's even more
12:01
obvious up here i think that does bear
12:04
out in this real world shot here as well
12:07
even though they both I think look great
12:09
if you look in the overall textures here
12:11
of the sail on this model ship you can
12:14
just see there's more definite contrast
12:16
thus the details just pop a little bit
12:19
better when you compare the two stopping
12:21
both lenses down to f2 so we have really
12:24
more of an apples to apples comparison
12:26
here you can see that the contrast still
12:28
favors the Viltrox the amount of
12:30
resolution is just very very similar in
12:33
the center of the frame still very
12:35
slightly favoring the Viltrox here in
12:37
the mid-frame though I think that that
12:39
margin is closer up in the corners
12:41
however the Viltrox still maintains a
12:43
pretty significant advantage that
12:45
advantage remains at f2.8 popping back
12:48
to the center for the moment it looks
12:50
less obvious there but definitely in the
12:52
corners you can see it if we go to
12:54
landscape aperture
12:56
f5.6 we can see that they look pretty
13:00
similar in the center of the frame
13:02
mid-frame still slightly Viltrox and up
13:05
into the corners again it's closer now
13:08
but it still favors the Viltrox and I
13:10
think that's true in both corners that
13:13
you look at viltrox just definitely wins
13:16
for I would say mid-frame and corner
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sharpness all across the two lenses are
13:21
pretty close in the center of the frame
13:22
now the Viltrox wins in terms of minimum
13:25
focus distance and thus maximum
13:26
magnification and you can see here that
13:29
it definitely is showing a higher level
13:31
of magnification and if you look up
13:33
close I would say that it's doing a very
13:35
slightly better job in terms of the
13:37
contrast there in the area of focus now
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interestingly in this kind of using a
13:42
three-dimensional object I actually
13:43
liked the way that the Yongno handled it
13:46
better i feel like the uplose contrast
13:48
uh it favored the Yong no a little bit
13:50
and that could be you know depth of
13:52
field is small in these kind of
13:53
situations plays a factor but I just
13:55
feel like it's controlling the contrast
13:58
a little bit better and basically
13:59
anywhere that I look anything that's in
14:01
focus I think that the Yongno is a
14:03
little bit better up close now this
14:05
comparison shows us a couple of things
14:07
first of all levels of contrast in this
14:09
three-dimensional setting very very
14:11
similar you can see that mild difference
14:14
when it comes to fringing you You can
14:16
see it's pretty neutral here there's a
14:17
little bit of a green fringing here and
14:19
then also in this area more obvious
14:20
fringing nothing significant however if
14:23
we look at the specular highlights I
14:25
definitely prefer the Viltrox the Yangno
14:28
has this kind of weird little cutout
14:30
shape and it's also just got a lot more
14:32
basic busyiness going on the amount of
14:35
the geometry is similar but very
14:37
slightly better on the Viltrox just
14:40
keeps a more consistent type of shape
14:43
and thus a little bit less of that um
14:46
that kind of lemon shape in the corners
14:48
it's there on both of them but more
14:50
prominent on the Yongno if we stop down
14:53
to f2 we can see that neither of them
14:55
has perfect specular highlights the
14:57
Viltrox wins for having very slightly
15:00
slightly rounder and then also just
15:02
slightly larger and softer looking and a
15:05
little bit less of that deformation in
15:06
the corners by f2.8
15:08
eight this the Viltrox is definitely
15:11
winning here because they're just
15:12
getting a little bit weird shaped on the
15:14
Yongno neither one of them has like
15:17
perfect circular shapes all across but
15:18
the Viltrox is much closer to achieving
15:21
that so if we go out into the real world
15:23
and we compare the performance there
15:26
when it comes to overall rendering again
15:28
contrast and detail is close i slightly
15:31
like the Yongno better however if I look
15:34
at a few zones like this I feel like in
15:37
this transition zone the Yongno isn't
15:39
quite as good up here as well we can
15:41
just see that there's a little bit more
15:42
hard edges it's still not great here on
15:45
the Viltrox but just a little bit
15:47
smoother in general looking into this
15:49
zone however I think that they look more
15:51
similar than different not a tremendous
15:54
amount of difference there but once
15:56
again I think in this zone right here
15:58
even though it's I still still see some
16:01
outlining it's a little smoother whereas
16:03
here I definitely see some of that more
16:06
busy outlining that catches my eye and
16:08
so Viltrox I think is a little better in
16:10
the transition zones here's another shot
16:12
where I think the results other than
16:14
that being warmer as I've pointed out
16:16
previously I think that the end results
16:18
are really more similar than different
16:20
they both have similar levels of
16:22
contrast if you look at areas like this
16:24
they don't really look very different
16:27
the specular highlights that are shown
16:28
here because they're a little less
16:30
definite they really don't look all that
16:32
different and I don't see like a huge
16:34
advantage for the f1.7 versus f1.8 in
16:37
terms of the general defocus of the
16:39
background couple of final shots where
16:41
there is sun right out of frame and I I
16:44
did see situations where the Yong no
16:46
showed a little bit more flare but
16:48
putting them in this identical situation
16:50
my biggest takeaway is mostly that how
16:52
much warmer the Yong no image looks as I
16:55
look at the subject area they seem to be
16:58
showing similar levels of detail as I
17:00
just look generally at the background
17:02
here which is a little further away you
17:04
know they both look about the same uh
17:07
the sun's coming in through here but I
17:08
don't see any flare artifacts from
17:10
either one of them moving back a little
17:12
bit further again the sun is right up in
17:14
this area right out of frame it's the
17:17
same truth it's the biggest takeaway is
17:19
that the image looks warmer from the
17:21
Yong No and the settings are identical
17:22
in terms of white balance here so
17:24
Filtrox definitely looks cooler yonglow
17:26
looks a little bit warmer and as far as
17:30
the overall rendering of the scenes I
17:32
think they look very very similar so
17:34
thanks for sticking around to the end
17:36
hopefully a look at the optical
17:38
performance of these two lenses has
17:39
helped you to decide which one is the
17:42
one for you or you say maybe neither of
17:44
them it's your money thanks for watching
17:47
have a great day and let the light in
17:50
[Music]
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