35mm colour skopar v 40mm rokkor/cron

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knodd

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Hey guys,

I'm looking for a compact 35mm/40mm lens for my m6 which i can bring out and carry around in my school bag everyday, and i've narrowed my search to these two lenses.

Currently i'm leaning towards the 40mm rokkor/cron, because they are just marginally bigger, but have a stop advantage.

The only drawback is that they are considerably harder to come by than the 35mm colour skopar, and have really odd filter sizes.

Anybody who owns both (or all three) of these lenses with any opinions? :)

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Shaun
 
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I had all three lenses over time. The CV 35/2.5 P II was very small and good to handle but the maximum aperture was to limiting and I swapped it for a 35mm Summilux-M pre-ASPH. For a short time, I had the 40mm Summicron-M, which is a terrific lens but it didn`t focus well with one of my Leicas. Now I have the 40mm M-Rokkor CLE version and it is the best of the 3 lenses, IMHO. Odd filter-size but easily to get in Japan (where I live at the moment) and the quality of the lens is very very good. Very sharp already wide open, no problems with flare and focuses perfect with all my cameras. I use it without modifi9cation so it brings up the 50mm frame lines.
 
Optically they behave very, very similar.

I recommend the CLE Rokkor. Best built and 40.5mm filters are actually easy to find (many Nikkor, Contax and Russian lenses have that filter size).
 
Shaun, do you actually need the extra stop? If not, consider a CV 35 pancake II. 399 filters and very good performance. Its one of my favourtie lenses and thats up against Zeiss and Leica. Personally, I shoot stopped down between f4 and f11 most of the time, but need speed when shooting indoors. In this case a 1.4 is really called for.
 
I have all three and I like the 40 the most in term of quality, and the CV in term of handling, much smaller. I recommend the CV for that advantage, and you can get it from Chiif for a nice price.
 
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i've got a f1.2 nokton for when i really need the speed, but i was thinking of just a general walkaround lens that i could carry every day :) hmmm so the opinions seem equally split between the rokkor and the skopar... tough choice.
 
what camera are you shooting it on? I would not even dream of using a 40mm on a camera without framelines. I know it works for some but it sounds a bit slapdash and vague to me. If you have only 35mm lines, I would go for a 35mm lens every time. RFs might not be made for accurate framing but guessing for 40mm lines AND having to account for near-far differences sounds like chaos. 40mm makes sense on a R3 or CLE of course.
 
I had the 40/2 Summicron & CV 35/2.5 in the past. I sold both along the way but the one I just bought again is the CV lens. With modern film, less than one stop is no big deal and, in the end, I like the shots from the CV lens better.

Just my experience, your milage will vary :)

William
 
As 35mmdelux said, why did you discard the 40 Nokton? (Just curiosity...)

You say you're interested in a compact lens, and it's compact, and fast at 1.4, also sharp from wide open, and the multicoated version doesn't flare easily, and it's good for B&W and color...

Cheers,

Juan
 
I had the PII and the 40 Rokkor and you can't go wrong with either, their images are even similar, I thought the 40mm worked well with the M6 35mm framelines. I guess I prefer the PII's focusing tab, the build quality seemed about equal, better than the usual VC lens. Their are tilted vented hoods for both the 39 and 40.5mm size so what else would you need? ;-)
 
knodd said:
i've got a f1.2 nokton for when i really need the speed, but i was thinking of just a general walkaround lens that i could carry every day :) hmmm so the opinions seem equally split between the rokkor and the skopar... tough choice.
Click to expand...

Sponteaneous moments just happen unadvertised - while the leviathan f1.2 nokton home in the cupboard.

Also consider 35mm Canon f/2 Black. Compact and many say Summicron quality.
 
If u go for CV35,, make sure that you go for the PII version, much more rigid build than LTM version. and the tab is a pleasure to use.

But overall, the Rokkor/Summicron-c is a better lens in all aspects, faster and better build.
 
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