35mm Shift Lenses- Zukio or PA-Curtagon?

[Kate-the-Great]

I recently acquired a 5D MK1 and I'm wondering about shift lenses for it. Other than the legendary (and expensive, enormous, rare) Zeiss-Contax , it seems the Olympus OM shift has the best optical performance in the 35mm FL. But I saw that R-mount PA-Curtagon 35mm f/4 lenses are going for about the same price as the Zukio- anyone here have an idea how the Leica shift performs?

I'm not totally sold on getting a shift lens for the 5D; my EOS M does a fantastic job with the Nikkor AF-S 17-35 and a shift adapter and I'm a bit apprehensive about using a shift lens on a camera without Live View. Thoughts/experiences on that?

 

[Particular]

I just got the OM 35mm as well as the 24mm shift. So far I am using them on an om4, but will get a full frame digital at some point.
The 35 is indeed a great lens. It is surprisingly light, especially compared to the chunky 24mm. I don't know how it compares to other shift 35s, but I was surprised by how much shift it allows. Definitely more than the 24. One really great thing about the OMs is the shift mechanism, which lets you slide the lens up, down, left and right intuitively while you are looking through the finder. Another great thing is the snapping stop down button, which lets you quickly open and close the aperture for focussing. And it works equally well on non-native mounts. Just don't forget to close it as I did at first.

The curtagon is a Schneider lens, and was made in various mounts. It is a much older design than the OM. I'm sure it is a good lens. It is also quite compact. Ergonomically I like the the Olympus better.

 

[Kate-the-Great]

Thanks for the thoughts! I am leaning towards the Zukio if I go that route, their glass sounds tremendously underrated. The Schneider, yes, it's old. A 1960's or even 1950's design I think? Whereas the Oly is 1970's or 1980's- a lot happened with wideangle retrofocus lenses during that time!

 

[Dunk]

I just bought a Zuiko 35mm f2.8 shift lens in preference to a Leica R PA Curtagon 35/4 shift (Schneider) … for use on a Leica T. The Schneider is OK but most s/h examples seem to have internal dust issues. If using a non-Canon shift lens on a Canon DSLR you need to make sure the lens adaptor aligns properly so that the lens' vertical and horizontal shifts are parallel to the vertical and horizontal of the camera's image plane … if not aligned perfectly the lens will not be usable. I just returned a well known brand OM to Leica M adaptor to Amazon because it did not align properly - it was approx 10º misaligned. Today a Novoflex adaptor arrived which aligns perfectly.

dunk

 

[dtcls100]

I have no experience with the Curtagon, but own and use a Zuiko 35 shift (rare MC version). A really fine and convenient lens for architecture. Somewhat surprisingly, an excellent lens for portraits as well, as it renders skin tones beautifully. Overall, I prefer it to the Zuiko 35 f2 or 2.8.