Summaron 35 2.8 or Nokton 35 1.4

leicashot said:
A used Biogon-C goes for $650 and produces this....fresh off the streets of Bali

Fullframe wide open 2.8
L1002168.jpg


100% crop
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Need I say more?
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leicashot, I think this picture is a good illustration for the adequacy of having f2.8 as fastest aperture with a wideangle lens.
In some threads about fast wideangles/C-Biogon one reasoning was often that f2.8 would not leave you with the choice to throw backgrounds ("sufficiently") out of focus. Obviously it is true that f2, f1.4, let alone f1.2 give you more options, especially when the focus distance is not in the nearer range. But I find f2.8 plenty selective. Even with the f3.5 28mm Skopar (alas, now sold to a fellow RFFer) there was a lot of background blur to go around when the focus distance was reasonably close.

Greetings, Ljós
 
Rodrigo, the Nokton 35/1.4 SC is pretty good, it's very compact and since you already own the 50/1.1 I assume you prefer faster lenses. It can flare a bit, so using a hood is recommended (I use a collapsible rubber hood, trimmed the rim to avoid vignetting). I have taken some shots with this lens that I really really like!

edit: only now I realised I missed the 2nd page of the thread :/ hope you have fun with the Summaron!! here in Brazil prices can be cheaper for older cameras and lenses, but our taxes are also unbelievable!
 
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Ljós said:
leicashot, I think this picture is a good illustration for the adequacy of having f2.8 as fastest aperture with a wideangle lens.
In some threads about fast wideangles/C-Biogon one reasoning was often that f2.8 would not leave you with the choice to throw backgrounds ("sufficiently") out of focus. Obviously it is true that f2, f1.4, let alone f1.2 give you more options, especially when the focus distance is not in the nearer range. But I find f2.8 plenty selective. Even with the f3.5 28mm Skopar (alas, now sold to a fellow RFFer) there was a lot of background blur to go around when the focus distance was reasonably close.

Greetings, Ljós
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For me I like using the Biogon also because the f/2.8 aperture allows me to resist the temptation of using shallow DOF (on a faster lens) to be the focus of my image. It's much harder to make an interesting picture with a 2.8 lens compared to a 1.2.

I found that when I was forced to give up my rangefinders for DSLR's when I turned pro, my photograhy improved as Iwas considering more in my images than just a boring picture with shallow dof. With the Biogon-C I am made to consider background as an important element in my environmental portraits and documentary.

I now only use fast lenses for speed in low light or deliberate shallow dof when the background is distracting or not important to my image, and I believe this approach at least for me, makes my photogrphy better. I don't know about others but I wasted so many silly test shots on fast lenses just to see the immediate satisfaction of shallow dof and bokeh - with the Biogon-C it's forgiving aperture of 2.8 allows a huge hit rate too, with absolute sharpness all over the focus distance and plane.
 
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