35mm Lens Recommendation - ANY Mount

[Airy]

Leica R lenses may also qualify, but beware of flare (coatings are not Zeiss level). I had unfortunately no opportunity to try 35mm Leica-R lenses so far.

[rosko]

If you don't mind to use manual lenses , the Leica/leitz (M or LTM) range is for you !

The Summaron 35mm f/3.5 is the tiniest lens I've ever used so far on my Z6. (this one might not meet your requirements, though.)

My approach now is to go towards lighter and less bulky lenses. So any leica M mount lenses are perfect, with similar Z6's register distance, and in addition, they are better quality (albeit more expensive). Note that there is a huge choice among different makes : Zeiss, Voigtlander, Russian lenses, Artisan,even Nikon, and more.

I love my Zeiss distagon 35mm f/2 ZF2, but so big and I need the FTZ ring to use it on my Z6...

The Zeiss jena flektogon 35mm F3.5 (M42 or exacta mount) is a decent one, very cheap, very light with minimum distorsion. But you still need a a long converter. it has a faster sibling, but I don't know its features (certaintly even better as it's more expensive).

Good choice !
Francis.

[Fons Baerken]

Apparently Tamron brought out a new 35/1.4 which was  very well recieved.

[Matthew Currie]

I always have to throw in my dark horse, the Nikon 35/2.8 PC.  Manual as all get-out, makes nice images if you focus it right.  I use one of the older pre-AI ones on DX, but supposedly the later ones are a little sharper yet.  Feel free to disagree, but this is one of my favorite lenses even though I rarely shift it.

[pluton]

Adding more experiential knowledge for reference:
The Zeiss ZM Distagon Biogon 35/2 is an outstanding lens, and quite reasonably priced vis a vis the Leica product.  I have not owned it, but have seen hundreds and hundreds of shots made by a friend on Leica M9 and M10.  The ZM 35/2 has very low distortion, as is common with M-mount 35mm lenses. Also it has surprisingly good sharpness at f/16---most lenses soften a bit at the very small stops, but the ZM 35/2 seems to soften a little less than most. Many of the Zeiss ZF lenses also share this property, in my experience.
The classic Nikon 35/1.4 K/Ai/Ais is much written about.  At the risk of repeating what everyone else has said, my experience is that it has a unique, soft "dreamy" aberration look wide open, which gradually goes away as it is stopped down.  By f/2.8, it looks 'normal', and the lens is famous for it's extremely subtle, gentle transitions from in- to out-of-focus. I also chose to keep the Zeiss ZF Distagon 35/2 over my copy of the Nikon 35/1.4 AiS back in the 12MP Nikon D3 days.
Added Note:  Most all M mount lenses, both Leica brand and the others , have a close focus limit of 70cm. I find wide angle lenses that don't focus close to be undesirable; YMMV, as always

[Frank Fremerey]

I only mention lenses that I have tried extensively. That does not mean others don’t qualify. The 35/1.4 AIS has been on my wishlist, probably inspired by your shots.

I love my 1.4/35 Ai-S but I love it and bought it two times because of its imperfections. While it is a perfect companion to the D500 it is a difficult partner for most of the other DSLRS ... I guess it does not fit the ideas of Tristin. I read him and immediately thought: the Leica 35mm lens look is just what he is looking for...

[Airy]

I always have to throw in my dark horse, the Nikon 35/2.8 PC.  Manual as all get-out, makes nice images if you focus it right.  I use one of the older pre-AI ones on DX, but supposedly the later ones are a little sharper yet.  Feel free to disagree, but this is one of my favorite lenses even though I rarely shift it.

I have a late version of this lens. I like its versatility. However, on a comparison with the Zeiss 35/2 zf2 and the sigma 35/1.4, I found out that it was visibly less sharp at f/8. The camera was a D800. Subject was 3D (garden), so focusing errors were not the cause. As expected, colors were less vivid than with the newer lenses, but that’s more a feature than a flaw.

[Akira]

Cosina/Voigtländer offers plenty of M-mount 35mm lenses: Nokton 35/1.2 Aspherical II, Ultron 35/2.0 Aspherical and Ultron 35/1.7 have newly designed optical systems with aspherical and ED (in Nikon term) elements.

Also, Nokton 35/1.4 was just renewed to "II" version.  The basic design looks the same, but one element was replaced with an ED one.  I think the version II is of the same design as the one for Sony E mount.  C/V also makes a tiny Color Skopar 35/2.5P which also has an ED element.

Unfortunately, I cannot share any real-world experience with neither of them.  Just the info.  Both are ultra-compact.

Actually, I'm going to purchase the C/V Color Skopar 21/4.0 for my Fuji X-E3.  It would be an equivalent of 32mm in FX.  I've already ordered an M to X adapter which should arrive tomorrow. 

[Akira]

The Color Skopar 21/4.0 didn't work on the unforgiving 24MP X-Trans sensor, even in the cropped APS-C frame.  I ended up with the Nokton 40/1.4.

[pluton]

The Color Skopar 21/4.0 didn't work on the unforgiving 24MP X-Trans sensor, even in the cropped APS-C frame.  I ended up with the Nokton 40/1.4.

Even my old 16MP Fuji APS-C cameras are very demanding of adapted lenses;  Most of the older Nikon K- and Ai-era lenses look soft on Fuji APS-C. The better of the Nikon and Zeiss ZF lenses (ZF 100/2 Makro, ZF 50/2 Makro, Nikon 180/2.8 ED AiS) are acceptably sharp on my Fuji X.  Makes one appreciate how good the native Fujfilm lenses are.

[Frank Fremerey]

The thread opener has disappeared

[Akira]

Even my old 16MP Fuji APS-C cameras are very demanding of adapted lenses;  Most of the older Nikon K- and Ai-era lenses look soft on Fuji APS-C. The better of the Nikon and Zeiss ZF lenses (ZF 100/2 Makro, ZF 50/2 Makro, Nikon 180/2.8 ED AiS) are acceptably sharp on my Fuji X.  Makes one appreciate how good the native Fujfilm lenses are.

Personally, the softness is not a big problem when I use old lenses on a digital camera.  I like the veiling flare that my Nikkor-H Auto 50/2.0 adds to the reasonably sharp image when it is used wide open.  I even bought a non-coated Nikon ND4 filter to use the lens wide open with the expectation of additional flare and ghost!

The problem of Color Skopar 21/4.0 was the excessive field curvature which would be tolerated by the film, but not by the perfectly flat image sensor.  The Nokton 40/1.4 seems to offer reasonably flat filed at least within the APS-C image circle.  I will post images later here in NG.

[Akira]

The thread opener has disappeared

Tristin should be temporarily busy.

[Airy]

I quickly checked the Leica-R 35mm variants over various websites.

• Summicron R 35/2 is not OK, due to strong field curvature (corners to the back)
• Elmarit R 35/2.8 might qualify

but, again, beware of flare.

[Airy]

... in fact, none of the Leica-Rs would keep Tristin satisfied. The Elmarit is mediocre at the borders, and the Summicron flares badly (as I suspected). Okay, I remain with my earlier recommendation, a 2nd hand Zeiss 35/2 ZF2. This one never disappointed me.