"Budget" 35mm Lens

[colonel]

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On the best value 35mm lenses and one the best full stop is the Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 VM

Sharp, contrasty and flatish field.

the voigtlander 35mm f1.2 VM is a little heavy but is one of the best 35mm lenses full stop

They are all obtainable second hand

IMHO the best three 35mm lenses for the Leica M system are:

1. Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM - the sharpest and most 3d no doubt. Warmth falls between the Leica and Voigtlander, with a yellowy view. A bit long.

2. Leica 35mm f1.4 FLE - sharpest in the centre wide open and best size/handling. Cold/bluey colours. Pricey. Outclassed by Zeiss in overall sharpness and issues with waves of MTA

3. Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 II - most special rendering of people. Warm/yellowy&green colours. Shallowest DOF with  2D daguerreotype kind of rendering. Super sharp in the middle, never quite catches up with competition in far edges

the best of the rest:

4. Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 VM - No real downsides compared on any of the top three. More consistent but more boring. Unusual focus ring style.

5. Zeiss 35mm f2 ZM. Like the 1.4 but less so. f2 slightly hazy, really shines from f2.8

6. Leica Summarit 35mm f2.5 - the best of the Leicas IMHO and the best lens if you don't need faster then f2.5

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by colonel

[Martin B]

41 minutes ago, colonel said:

 

the voigtlander 35mm f1.2 VM is a little heavy but is one of the best 35mm lenses full stop

Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 II - most special rendering of people. Warm/yellowy&green colours. Shallowest DOF with  2D daguerreotype kind of rendering. Super sharp in the middle, never quite catches up with competition in far edges

 

 

I came late to this thread and saw that the decision was already made by the OP. But I am surprised that nobody else suggested any of the CV 35/1.2 versions - I use mine since many years (it is the version II of the lens) with my M6 camera especially in low light situations. Only con I can see with this lens is its bigger size compared to slower lenses of equivalent FL. In the past I decided against slower CV 35 mm versions (like the Color Skopar ones) because they caused issues when attached to Sony MLCs. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Martin B

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[Ecar]

On 11/12/2018 at 6:21 PM, colonel said:

On the best value 35mm lenses and one the best full stop is the Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 VM

Sharp, contrasty and flatish field.

the voigtlander 35mm f1.2 VM is a little heavy but is one of the best 35mm lenses full stop

They are all obtainable second hand

IMHO the best three 35mm lenses for the Leica M system are:

1. Zeiss 35mm f1.4 ZM - the sharpest and most 3d no doubt. Warmth falls between the Leica and Voigtlander, with a yellowy view. A bit long.

2. Leica 35mm f1.4 FLE - sharpest in the centre wide open and best size/handling. Cold/bluey colours. Pricey. Outclassed by Zeiss in overall sharpness and issues with waves of MTA

3. Voigtlander 35mm f1.2 II - most special rendering of people. Warm/yellowy&green colours. Shallowest DOF with  2D daguerreotype kind of rendering. Super sharp in the middle, never quite catches up with competition in far edges

the best of the rest:

4. Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 VM - No real downsides compared on any of the top three. More consistent but more boring. Unusual focus ring style.

5. Zeiss 35mm f2 ZM. Like the 1.4 but less so. f2 slightly hazy, really shines from f2.8

6. Leica Summarit 35mm f2.5 - the best of the Leicas IMHO and the best lens if you don't need faster then f2.5

I'm confused: in your opinion, is the FLE better than the Summarit or the other way around? 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Ecar

[colonel]

23 hours ago, Ecar said:

I'm confused: in your opinion, is the FLE better than the Summarit or the other way around? 

IMHO, considering the pluses and minuses, the FLE is a better lens by a margin but if you are only taking pictures f2.5 or below I have found in this range that the summarit is at least as good if not better

[Ccoppola82]

To the OP.  Here's my setup  

I have a Summaron 2.8 for day and or BW 

summicron v3 as a go to or travel where I don't know what I'm gonna get into

nokton 35 1.4 sc is reserved for night duty.  With film, the extra stop it affords is worth it to me  for night shoots and getting the 2.5 Skopar you are gonna really struggle I think. Nokton  distorts slightly, but you say you shoot street, so I doubt you'd notice.  I've had flare a few times, but not enough to make me give the lens up.  It is optically a bit behind the cron, but given your criteria and price point it's the only option in my opinion, especially if it's compact size I should important to you.  Keep an eye out and grab one even if it's just for night shooting. 

 

I sometimes think of dumping a lens, and if I did it would actually be the v3 cron.  The Summaron in BW is just luscious with the tonality of the grey's and I wouldn't ever give that up  

 

[antigallican]

On 11/17/2018 at 7:51 AM, Ccoppola82 said:

To the OP.  Here's my setup  

I have a Summaron 2.8 for day and or BW 

summicron v3 as a go to or travel where I don't know what I'm gonna get into

nokton 35 1.4 sc is reserved for night duty.  With film, the extra stop it affords is worth it to me  for night shoots and getting the 2.5 Skopar you are gonna really struggle I think. Nokton  distorts slightly, but you say you shoot street, so I doubt you'd notice.  I've had flare a few times, but not enough to make me give the lens up.  It is optically a bit behind the cron, but given your criteria and price point it's the only option in my opinion, especially if it's compact size I should important to you.  Keep an eye out and grab one even if it's just for night shooting. 

 

I sometimes think of dumping a lens, and if I did it would actually be the v3 cron.  The Summaron in BW is just luscious with the tonality of the grey's and I wouldn't ever give that up  

 

I have the Summaron too. It's an absolutely lovely lens. Summaron plus winter light = heaven.

[TomB_tx]

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On 11/17/2018 at 1:51 AM, Ccoppola82 said:

nokton 35 1.4 sc is reserved for night duty.  With film, the extra stop it affords is worth it to me  for night shoots and getting the 2.5 Skopar you are gonna really struggle I think. Nokton  distorts slightly, but you say you shoot street, so I doubt you'd notice.  I've had flare a few times, but not enough to make me give the lens up.  It is optically a bit behind the cron, but given your criteria and price point it's the only option in my opinion, especially if it's compact size I should important to you.  Keep an eye out and grab one even if it's just for night shooting.  

I have the Nokton 35 1.4 MC, bought for its speed just after I got my M9. I've used a Summicron 35 v2 since 1969, and I found that the Nokton at f1.4 matched the Summicron for sharpness and vignetting at f2. Stopped to f2 the Nokton had less vignetting and was a bit sharper than my old Summicron at f2. They called the Nokton a "classic" design, which seems to mean performance like the 60s-70s lenses. I've had some very sharp results from the Nokton stopped down, but as noted then the sharpest plane tends to be a bit behind the intended focus. I really like the Nokton for its build and handling, but also use it primarily on my M9 for low light at 1.4 or 2.0 where focus shift isn't an issue.

On the M10 I prefer the Summarit 2.5, which is sharper than the Nokton.

[Brokenbottle]

Please consider the 7Artistians 35mm f2 for M rangefinders.  It has,  a modern look compared to a summaron. Sharp wide open, good contrast, but a little flare sometimes.

Also adjustable to your camera body, rather than the other way around.  I do not have a 35mm summicron for comparison, but the files are similar to my 50mm summicron

v5 wide open.  Said to have a little distortion, but I have not noticed it.  df optical did a good job on this one, its a keeper!

[james.liam]

The new Voigtländer 2/35 is just out and reasonably priced, though personally haven’t seen images from it yet. But given the quality of recent crop of VM releases, worth checking into. 

[Del-Uks]

On 11/12/2018 at 6:21 PM, colonel said:

the best of the rest:

4. Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 VM - No real downsides compared on any of the top three. More consistent but more boring. Unusual focus ring style.

“Best bang for the buck”, no doubt. Nice bokeh too. 

I also had the Zeiss Distagon. Technically, the best of all... but a little too big and heavy.

At the end, I kept the Summilux FLE and the lovely (and mostly underrated) Summaron f/2.8. 

PS. Not exactly a 35mm, but the Rokkor “Summikkor” 40mm (vers. II ; multi-coated) is also a great alternative for a good price. 

[gromit]

Am 18.2.2019 um 21:15 schrieb james.liam:

The new Voigtländer 2/35 is just out and reasonably priced, though personally haven’t seen images from it yet. But given the quality of recent crop of VM releases, worth checking into. 

I recently bought one (in the UK, for about 700 euro), and I am very very happy with it. Sharp @f2, nice colors, nice design and really small. No scientific testing, but I think this one is the best bang for the buck if you want a small lens!