A 35mm lens for a Nikon FM3A

[DownUnder]

As many others have said - Nikkor 35/2.0 'O' is your baby.

This was my walk around lens on two Nikkormat FT2s for many years. When I went digital I mostly retired the 'mats. - I still have them but nowadays use them maybe 2-3 times a year, for nostalgia's sake - and bought a 35/2.0 D. The G version, 35/1.8, is just as good.

I'm more a 28 photographer as I do mostly architecture and needs must.

A few truly good photographers I know use this lens exclusively. And swear by it.

 

[steveyork]

The Nikkor-O is a very good all round lens. My feeling after using it a bit is it does everything good, but nothing great. If you want modern, clean optics in a small package I would consider the 40mm Voightlander. Sharp and contrast, albeit large, maybe one of the Zeiss ZF, which are attractively priced on the used market. As mentioned the 35/1.4 ais is another very sharp lens which has some interesting character when shot wide open, but I wouldn't call it a character lens. Just my very limited experience with Nikon SLR's; take it with a big grain of salt.

 

[Dogman]

The Nikkor-O 35/2 makes lovely photos. Unfortunately mine was bought "As Is" from KEH some time ago and it's kinda worn. It still makes excellent images but it gets loose quickly. Rattles like crazy. The AI or AI-S Nikkors are both good lenses. I can't fault either of them (but I'm not particular). My favorite is the Zeiss 35/2 Distagon ZF.2 but it's an extremely heavy lens for the size. It has that great impression of depth to the images Zeiss is known for.

Lots of really good 35mm lenses in the world.



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