Mes amis,
I've sold the A7RII and a Z6 is on the way to complete my recent jump back to a two camera Nikon setup together the D500 (attached to a 200-500VR).
This also means that I have to let go of my beloved Sony Zeiss 35/1.4 FE as my main lens and have to find a suitable replacement, as I've been going around in circles for a while now about which lens to buy you guys can maybe help me out a little
In essence I'm looking for a fast 35mm but something a little wider like a 28mm might also work, aperture should be f/1.4 or faster and should be usable sharp wide-open in the centre with the entire frame being sharp at f/5.6 or so. Most important of all is an ultra smooth boke and a gentle transition from sharpness to the OOF areas, boke balls should be big, free of onion rings and if possible round in shape across the frame (as my 50/1.2 already has severe cat eye syndrome).
On the D800E I was big fan of the Nikkor 35/1.4 AFS, a lens designed with a nice character in mind. On the Sony I initially went with the Voigtlander 35/1.2 VM, less sharp wide-open at f/1.2 but the boke was insanely good, I'm a big fan of mechanical vignetting (versus PP) but the Voigtlander was sometimes too extreme because of Sony's fat filter pack. When Sony introduced the mentioned 35/1.4 FE I switched as I wanted to add AF for my main lens and just because I had to try this beast of a lens, compared to the other two 35's I disliked the colder colours the lens produced and the onion ring boke balls which seem to be the norm nowadays.
Though I hate to re-buy lenses formally owned the first two lenses are back on the table as I like to keep an open mind, as the Z6 has a slimmer filterpack the heavy vignetting should be less of an issue with the Voigtlander. A lens I've never tried is the Nikkor 35/1.4 Ai-S and it seems to tick a lot of boxes plus its light and compact.
Of course the 35/1.8S is also on the short list though a little on the slow side for my taste, would be nice though to have a modern native autofocus lens added to mix to balance out the classic looks I tend to gravitate to of lenses like the Nikkor 50/1.2, Canon 85/1.2FD and Voigtlander 125/2.5 APO. Based on the images I've seen so far the boke varies from stunning to horrible depending on the background and it also seems have the dreaded onion rings, on the plus side its very sharp but this means very little to me personally when the boke isn't pleasing to look at.
Mount wise I have no restrictions, as long as it can be adapted to the Z mount it's fair game
So, which hidden gem did I miss or do you have any experiences to share of the mentioned lenses?
