Best 35/2 lens for canon 5d?

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I need some help choosing a prime 35mm (f2) lens for my newly acquired canon 5D. Since so many brands can be adapted (nikon, canon, pentax, zeiss, olympus, contax) I am not sure which to choose. Any help would be apreciated.
Oh, and ofcourse, the cheaper the better, as long as quality is not bad.
 
the 35/2 distagon ze is probably the best:

Zeiss_ZE35mmf2.jpg


i'm not familiar with all the particulars of the various options, but i bet the gorgeous pentax s-m-c takumar 35/2 would be lots of fun.
 
The Zeiss 35/2 is significantly better than the Canon 35/1.4 except at 1.4 ;-)

Distortion, sharpness, flat field, flare resistance are far superior. Also performance from f/2-4 is much greater
 
I wonder how hard it is to focus a MF lens on AF Canon? From what I understand screens on EOS cameras are not really designed for manual lens focusing. Or 5D is better in this respect?
 
Krosya said:
I wonder how hard it is to focus a MF lens on AF Canon? From what I understand screens on EOS cameras are not really designed for manual lens focusing. Or 5D is better in this respect?
Click to expand...

The 5D is a bit better then say one of the Canon APS-C bodies and you can switch out the focusing screen for one that's works better. But I still found using manual focus on the 5D as problematic especially when shooting wide open or close to it.
Depending on the lens its possible to set the camera so that one can use the auto focus points to confirm focus when focusing manually.
 
Best for shooting ... what?

One that may surprise you:

Canon EF 35/2.

Yes, the cheap one (compared to Zeiss or Canon L), but for portraits it's one of the best 35mm I've seen. I recently lent my copy to my brother, and he decided to cover a wedding with it (professionally).
 
shadowfox said:
Best for shooting ... what?

One that may surprise you:

Canon EF 35/2.

Yes, the cheap one (compared to Zeiss or Canon L), but for portraits it's one of the best 35mm I've seen. I recently lent my copy to my brother, and he decided to cover a wedding with it (professionally).
Click to expand...

Best for shooting color.

Anyone tried the Voigtlander 40mm pancake? People with film cameras seem to like it.
 
Mcary said:
The 5D is a bit better then say one of the Canon APS-C bodies and you can switch out the focusing screen for one that's works better. But I still found using manual focus on the 5D as problematic especially when shooting wide open or close to it.
Depending on the lens its possible to set the camera so that one can use the auto focus points to confirm focus when focusing manually.
Click to expand...

With the normal screen I found it impossible to focus correctly. Focus confirm is a big help but slow. When the focus point lights up, you already turned the lens too far. So back again a little bit, until the focus point lights up again. Usable for static objects.
 
shadowfox said:
Best for shooting ... what?

One that may surprise you:

Canon EF 35/2.

Yes, the cheap one (compared to Zeiss or Canon L), but for portraits it's one of the best 35mm I've seen. I recently lent my copy to my brother, and he decided to cover a wedding with it (professionally).
Click to expand...

This lens is a big surprise if you look at the price tag. Wide open it's a little soft in the corners and the bokeh is not so good but center sharpness is always good. At 2.8-3.5 it's really good overall.
 
2nd generation SMC Takumar 35mm f/2. It's M42 thread and will adapt to an EOS body quite well. I've used one in the past and it's fantastic. Wide open, not the sharpest lens but stopped down to f/2.8 it's quite good. Light falloff in the corners wide open is there but we spend over $1000 USD for Leica lenses which perform the same as the Tak' which would cost no more than a few hundred USD for a sample which is Exc+. If you use a coded adapter, the focus confirmation and TTL flash metering ability will be further enabled.

Phil Forrest
 
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