Best 35mm for Nikon RF

L

loneranger

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HI, I am new to the Nikon RF world, just recently bought a S3. I am looking for a 35mm lens to go with it and would like to know what you guys would recommend. Older Nikon 35 or newer VC lens, or any others out there that I dont know about. Appreciate your help.
 
Any of the lenses entioned will do a good job. The Voigtlander 35f2.5 SC is a modern lens and benefit from coatings and computer design for the glass. Personally I like the 35f1.8's but that is mainly because I have two of them.
If you are going for a "vintage" look, go for the 35f2.5 Nikkor. They are reasonably priced and well built. The apeture ring takes a bit to get used to though.
For sheer build quality, the pre-war Biogon 35f2.8 is unbeatable. They do flare though! Looks great in black/white!
 
loneranger said:
HI, I am new to the Nikon RF world, just recently bought a S3. I am looking for a 35mm lens to go with it and would like to know what you guys would recommend. Older Nikon 35 or newer VC lens, or any others out there that I dont know about. Appreciate your help.
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Don't listen to these guys!!:D :D you got a Nikon S3,she deserves the 1.8:angel:

Kiu
 
Buy a J12, real cheap, works ok... the CV is ok as well. The Nikon stuff is only for the glass case. If you like fondling buy a J12 and Nikon, you will be heartbroken if you damage a Nikon.

Noel
 
When I bought my S3 back in 1989, I also saw a glaring need to get lenses to match that 35mm frameline and 105mm frameline.

I started with the Soviet Jupiter-12 35/2.8. It really is a nice, sharp lens. I then got a Nikkor 35/2.5, which is wonderfully sharp and flare resistant.

I initially bought the Nikon S2 and S3 as curiosities, as I was doing a lot of newspaper photography at the time with Nikon SLRS. I found myself using the RF cameras for more and more working assignments, and I really needed the extra stop of the 35/1.8, so I bought one in user condition.

I'm sure the CV lens is optically marvelous. To me, one of the joys of using 50 year old camera is that the 50 year old lenses continue to be just as capable as modern lenses in taking high quality photographs.

One of the reasons the CV 35/2.5 is still so readily available is that it costs about the same as a vintage Nikkor 35/2.5, which remains a fantastic lens, and most Nikon shooters already have one of these.
 
Having an S2, I've skipped the 35 and gone with a 25/4 CV as my wide of choice. My kit is 25/50/105 and I find it works fine for me. There is something special about the old Nikon glass, as much as I love my CV stuff, if given the option, I'd go Nikon.

B2
 
'you will be heartbroken if you damage a Nikon'

Wrong quote guys if you drop a J12, (done that,) and it turns to sugar, you wont cry, if you drop a Nikkor, waaaaaaaaaaah. Hey I'd have a 1.8 if I could get one.

Noel
 
'you will be heartbroken if you damage a Nikon'

Wrong quote guys if you drop a J12, (done that,) and it turns to sugar, you wont cry, if you drop a Nikkor, waaaaaaaaaaah.
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It's not the end of the world. I've cracked the front element of a Nikkor-S 5cm/1.4 ... so I got another one. I also cracked the front element of a Nikkor-P 8.5cm/2. I had accidently bought one of these lenses in Contax 'C' mount before knowing the difference, so I used the glass from the 'C' lens to repair the other one.

In either case, purchasing user versions of these lenses would be less costly than buying a new CV lens, let alone new SLR or Leica glass.

I broke one lens smashing it on a Navy ship rail at sea and another when the cameras experienced prolonged abuse while I was hitchhiking in back of a truck on what must have been the bumpiest road in Macedonia. I really think, in ordinary shooting circumstances, that you are much more likely to break part of your automobile than break a camera lens.
 
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Thanks for your responses. I have one more question. Will any contax rangefinder lens fit a nikon RF? And if not, how can I tell which ones fit and which ones dont. Of course I am not talking about the contax G.
 
They all fit mechanically but the contax and Nikon use a different focus movement so only the 35mm or less will interchange photographically.

If you get a Nikon lens with a 'C' as in post above it will work ok on a Contax or Kiex as it has either the correct focal length or an appropriate focusing thread pitch. But the 'C' needs to be in the correct place, confusing...

Noel
 
Xmas said:
Buy a J12, real cheap, works ok... the CV is ok as well...
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Right! I use a J-12 at a FED-3b and it is a darn good lens, esp. when you consider what you get for that money!
 
My father-in-law took a tour of the Nikon factory while he was a base commander during a "Police Action" and was told that the Nikon mount was a clone of the Contax. This lends credability to the idea that it was a mistake. My guess is that someone in management did not realize the total impact of thier decision to save money and the folks below did not want to put them in a bad or questionable light.

B2 (;->
 
Everyone keeps saying Nikon rf lenses are widely available and cheap etc. On ebay, it is hard to find a single wide angle Nikon rf lens in decent shape. And I dont see any listed in this forum's classifieds. There are in fact many more contax rf lenses listed on ebay.
 
Everyone keeps saying Nikon rf lenses are widely available and cheap etc. On ebay, it is hard to find a single wide angle Nikon rf lens in decent shape. And I dont see any listed in this forum's classifieds. There are in fact many more contax rf lenses listed on ebay.
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Everything is relative. If you've got to have one just this minute, that's Kevin Camera's specialty, but you have to pay a little extra for the availability. He's got several for under $400.
www.kevincameras.com
 
Can someone tell me how the Nikon 35/2.5 and contax 35/2.8 match up, I am looking for a lens that come close to the preasph leica 35 or the Konica hexar 35 . I think there is something special about those lenses that I have not seen in many others. Not just bokeh, but color and saturation.
 
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