Best budget 35mm lens in 2018?

Wow. Wonders never cease. I can put a Nikonos 35mm f2.5 Nikkor (same as 35mm f2.5 Nikon rangefinder lens) on my Sony Nex 3's.

Nikonos Nex Adapter by Nokton48, on Flickr

There is a Nikonos II, III, V, and two 35 f2.5 Nikonos Nikkors all for $90 right now on Ebay.

Is that cheap enough? 😀😀😀
 
Wow, thank you all for the responses! As you can tell, I'm new to this forum and the level of engagement here is refreshing 🙂

I'll take all these suggestions and do some more research...
 
I have two J 12 lens's and while I like them optically, they interfere with the metering on my M6. They have a very big rear element that partly blocks the metering on the M6. My favorite 35mm lens for my Leica IIIc is a Nikkor 35mm f2.5, Just a wonderful lens but a bit hard to find at a good price. Joe
 
the Color Skopar 35mm f2.5 in an M mount is a fine contrasty lens in the $350 ish range on Ebay.
 
The Voigt. 40mm f1.4 is one of my favourite lenses and I'm sure the Voigt. 35mm F1.4 version will offer similar results if you fancy a fast lens. Otherwise the Skopar gets great reviews but I haven't used one personally so cannot comment from having had any experience with the lens.

FWIW my own advice in the first instance would be to buy an older Leitz 35mm f2.8 (or even the f3.5) Summaron-M but only if you don't need a low-light-level, fast, lens.
The Summaron-M should be pretty much the same price as a new Voigt. but the optical performance in terms of abberations etc. is on a much higher plane.

IMO, of course.

Pip.
 
Summaron 35mm 2.8 are offered at $750-$1000 U.S. which is really in another budget bracket. I've used the CS 35 2.5 & it is a very good lens.
 
The Canon ltm 35/2 has almost the same optical scheme as the Voigtlander 35/2.5.
As long as budget 35mm lenses go you can't go wrong with either of them but with the Voigtlander you have the advantage of closer minimal focusing distance and no need for ltm to M adapter. Performance-wise they're very close. Some vignetting, contrast is medium-high, a little barrel distortion, sharpness is very good from 2.8 on, and good in the center of the frame at f/2 for the canon.
 
Depends; what is your budget?
Lenses that I can recommend to you based on my own use of such lenses:

Zeiss Biogon 35/2 (modern look, flare resistant, brilliant colors)
Canon 35/2 ltm (still modern look; sharp; cheap)
Summicron 35/2 Version 1 (a classic; high resolution)
Canon 35/1.5 ltm (rare; performs very well)
Nikon 35/1.8 (special look to images from it; overpriced in ltm; small)

I do not own any CV 35mm lens, but I read about positive feedback on such lenses.
 
Budget (less than a grand, around $500): the CV Nokton 35mm f1.4 is the best.

For a bit less you have the much praised Color Skopar, also CV, also 35mm focal length.

Then, for a variety of prices, the Canon line. Some go for very reasonable amounts (35mm f2.8), while others take a bit of a jump (although never like a CV or a Leica), as it's the case of the Canon 35mm f1.5 and the f2. Sure, the Jupiters are incredibly inexpensive... but do you want to gamble with it?

Other than that... there's not really a lot in the "budget" territory when it comes to 35mm glass. As it was said above, these lenses tend to go for much more than its 50mm brethren.

Enjoy shopping! 🙂
 
nickthetasmaniac said:
Really? How so?
Click to expand...
In comparison to the 35mm Summaron (which is as near-as-damn-it rectilinear) the 35mm Nokton has very pronounced barrel distortion. The 40mm Nokton, OTOH, isn't nearly as badly affected in this way as is the 35mm. but is still not as good as the Summaron.
The edge fall-off in terms of sharpness follows the same pattern as above with the Summaron being comfortably ahead of the 40 Nokton with the 35 Nokton trailing both.

Of course depending on what type of photography the lens will be used for might make all these comparisons academic. For a predominantly street-shooter none of this might matter. For someone who shoots a lot of architecture (such as myself) the 35 Nokton might not be a wise choice.

The Voiglander lenses are beautifully made and as I said earlier the 40mm I have is one of my absolute favourite lenses for my M's but I didn't buy the matching 35mm because it simply wouldn't be able to produce the results I'd hope for.

As always YMMV.

Pip.
 
For ebay price of new Nokton 40 or new Skopar 35, you could only get used 35 3.5 Summaron. Even if purchased locally. At least where I purchased it locally once.
Summaron 35 2.8 is much more expensive lens now.
Where is no difference for distortions between Skopar 35 and Summaron. At least, they seems to be better then Summarit-M 35 2.5 is 🙂
I had Summaron-M 35 3.5 twice. I'm totally agree what ex-Midland technician and Leica seller, repair person told me once about those lenses. "They are cheap and many of them were made".
I was never overwhelmed not with Skopar nor with f3.5 Summaron. But both are still good lenses if on "budget" and don't want Jupiter-12 quirks in handling and mega flares. 🙂
 
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