I therefore need a snag a starter lens ASAP. Something readily available and not preposterously expensive (maybe I'll go down the more expensive and more weird next....)
Narrowed it down (I think) to:
- Voigtlander 28mm F2. Like the effective focal length as a predominantly 35mm shooter, F2 fast enough for me at that focal length. Heard gripes about close focusing rangefinder lenses. No idea how big a deal thing would be in practice.
- Zeiss 35mm F2.8. Only concern for me is that having one lens only being a 2.8 on APS-C might be frustrating. Sounds like a wonderful lens otherwise.
- Voigtlander 35mm F1.4 II. Has the speed but some reviews are sniffy about performance wide open.
I'm not sure how you narrowed it down to these specific lenses; I don't own any of them, so I can't give any specific advice. Currently I'm just using older lenses on my Pixii, although I'm interested in getting a modern 35mm since it's my most-used focal length and my "vintage" options fall short in some areas -- most often in terms of full-aperture performance and resistance to backlight (important because there's a lot of backlight where I work.)
Currently I'm leaning toward the latest 35mm f/2 Voigtlander Ultron as a mainstream normal lens for my Pixii -- it seems very compact (important to avoid rangefinder-patch intrusion) and YouTuber
Matt Osborne seems to like it a lot -- so I'd be very interested in hearing any user impressions of it.
One thought re the OP's list: Personally, I don't think using an f/2.8 lens on a Pixii-size sensor would be frustrating... I often need to shoot at f/2.8 or smaller anyway for close-ups, to avoid running out of depth-of-field (f/2 with a 35mm lens isn't enough to keep both eyes in focus on a three-quarter-view headshot, for example; you'll see this in some of the example photos linked below.) Dirty little secret: When I do need to get a background more out of focus, the latest version of that neural "depth blur" filter in Photoshop is embarrassingly effective...
In case it helps anyone, here's a quick take on the lenses I have been using the most lately:
- 28mm f/1.9 Voigtlander Nokton -- this is an LTM lens dating from the early 2000s; I use it with an LTM-to-M adapter. I don't think its sharpness is very good below f/2.8, and it gets pretty mushy under backlit conditions, so I'll probably look for something different eventually -- although it's not a priority as I don't use 28mm very often. Another nuisance with this particular lens on the Pixii is that the lens hood intrudes into the rangefinder patch, so I usually have to take it off, which of course doesn't do its backlight performance any favors.
- 35mm f/2 7Artisans -- this is a Sonnar-formula lens, and I like the way it looks for personal shooting. Its central sharpness is good even at f/2, but I don't think its corner sharpness is quite up to snuff for the more "commercial" pictures I need for work.
- 35mm f/2 Canon -- this is an LTM lens from the early 1960s. It's ridiculously tiny and very sharp, especially at f/2.8 and slower. My only kick is with backlight resistance (1960s coatings, y'know...)
- 50mm f/1.5 Voigtlander Nokton -- another LTM lens from the same vintage as the 28/1.9 (I bought them both around 2004 to use on my then-new Epson R-D1.) Like the 28/1.9, its hood intrudes a bit into the Pixii's rangefinder patch, so I usually remove it, but that doesn't hurt the 50's backlight performance nearly as much as it does the 28's. I can't complain about its sharpness either. One thing that does bother me about it -- and this goes all the way back to my R-D1 days -- is that small, bright areas against dark backgrounds acquire a compact but harsh "glow" effect that's nothing like the pretty glow of a Sonnar. I suspect it may be due to light bouncing off the sensor and being reflected from the rear element of the lens back onto the sensor, but I can't think of any way to mitigate it. I can live with it, but it's annoying enough that eventually I'll want to replace this lens too... I'm just not sure with what.
Want to see some practical-experience pics? Well, since the beginning of the year, I've been taking the Pixii to work every day, and have been shooting with it almost every day. These aren't what I would consider "prize-winning" or highly artistic photos... they're just shots of people in my workplace doing the work they do every day, the sorts of photos I need to produce almost continuously in my marketing job to supply our social-media channels and emails. Because they may also wind up in some print media, I try to be conscious of all that "modern" lens stuff such as sharpness, acutance, flare resistance etc., which is why I'm interested in modernizing my Pixii lens set.
The way I like to produce this kind of photo is kind of old-fashioned -- it involves closely observing what people are doing, sometimes over a long stretch of time, and then trying to take a photo at the "story-telling moment" -- and I have to say the Pixii has worked out absolutely superbly at it. Although the viewfinder magnification is low-ish at 0.67x, it provides a very sharp view that makes it easy to see subject details, and the rangefinder snaps in very quickly.
Here's an Adobe Lightroom gallery showing some typical pics I made with the 35mm f/2 Canon lens:
https://adobe.ly/3x7blFx
And here's one using the 50mm f/1.5 Voigtlander LTM Nokton:
https://adobe.ly/3LDKyoq
In case anybody is interested in using these two specific lenses on a Pixii, this should give you a rough idea of the kind of look you might get...
