The new lens is the AF 35mm F1.2 LAB from 2025… but without the display on the barrel, which at launch was introduced as a “real-time display for smarter shooting”.

What seemed like a good idea in 2025 is now dropped, as Viltrox introduces a lens that is similar, in optical terms, to the original version, the “old” AF 35mm F1.2 LAB, but, as Viltrox says, introduces “a more streamlined appearance without a display”, which is paired, the company says, “with a traditional aperture ring featuring marked stops that provide precise, tactile control preferred by many photographers.”

One year ago, when introducing the version of the AF 35mm F1.2 LAB for Sony – like the one now announced – Viltrox claimed that the lens offered “a user-centric design where customization meets control, prioritizes intuitive handling, with the dual customizable Fn button array and a multi-functional control ring for seamless aperture adjustments. Its dedicated focus ring allows users to switch between stepped and stepless aperture control, maximizing creative flexibility” and also noted that the lens also featured “a 0.96-inch LCD display for quick access to critical settings, enhancing user convenience in diverse environments.”

The display is now gone, and the N on the name if an indication that this version is Non-Display, as, according to Viltrox,  the new version will coexist alongside the original AF 35mm F1.2 LAB, offering photographers and filmmakers the flexibility to choose the control style that best suits their workflow.

As noted above, optically this is the same lens. As we wrote one year ago, “the lens’s fifteen element optical system combines five extra-low dispersion (ED) segments, three high-refractive-index elements, and two ultra-large precision aspherical (UA) lenses, to deliver, Viltrox claims, unprecedented clarity. This design suppresses, Viltrox continues, “chromatic aberration and onion-ring bokeh artifacts, ensuring smooth bokeh even at F1.2. The Nano-Hydrophobic Multi-Coating minimizes flare and ghosting in challenging lighting, while the ultra-precision aperture blade drive maintains circular bokeh shapes, with micron-level accuracy, boosting the lens’s artistic versatility for both photography and videography.”

The Viltrox AF 35mm F1.2 LAB N FE lens is now available from Viltrox for 999USD / 999EUR / 869GBP.