ZEISS Ikon Distagon T* ZM 1.4/35 Wide-Angle Camera Lens for Leica ZM-Mount Rangefinder Cameras, Black

This lens rivals the comparable Leica 35mm f1.4 FLE lens. I've owned both lenses and can't seem to see any difference in image quality between the two lenses. I will say the Leica lens focus ring is a little tighter; the focus ring on this lens is a little lose and does tend to have small amounts of unwanted movement. Regardless of this, this lens is a top-tier performer and I highly recommend this lens. As an added bonus, this lens focus ring is the more traditional circular movement type vs. the Leica lens that uses the tab to move the focus ring. I don't like the tab which is why I sold my 35mm M lens and bought this lens.

I have many 35mm lenses to use with Sony a7 series (currently I am using the R4). This Zeiss lens is my favorite 35mm right now. There are some issues with the lens (for example, the corners are dark when shooting wide open), but overall it is a great lens, very very sharp (even on 61MP sensor) and most important - I love the rendering! It has the famous Zeiss 3D look.

Second to none for Leica rangefinder.

This is as good as it gets. I have been using this lens for three years now, and after a week of shooting I already knew that this is there that my shopping around for an M-mount 35mm lens stopped. Although it is not the smallest 35mm lens in the world, its optical excellence and build quality make up for it. Speaking of size, everything is relative. It is still smaller than any of the non-M 35mm lenses. This is what you get:1. Excellent image quality overall2. Beautiful bokeh3. Amazing resilience to stray light. The best flare control among M-mount lenses.4. Lateral CA is minimal and only shows up in very tough lighting conditions, like shooting against the hard light source5. Longitudinal CA non-existentMy only initial disappointment was that it came without a lens hood. Now I can say that this lens does not need it, really.

This Zeiss ZM 35mm f1.4 display Microscopic sharpness in my test and the sharpest lens ever. I used Sigma 35mm, Loxia 35mm, Rokinon 35mm AF, and Leica Elmarit-R 35mm, Contax Distagon 35mm, Contax 35mm ZE, Canon 35mm IS, Nikon 35mm G and etc. None of them come closer to this. Color rendition is killing, and most prominent trait is its contrast that separate each object distinctively, best 3d pop or micro-contrast. It is superior to Leica Elmarit-M 28mm or any of 28mm ever used. But most closer one is Voigtlander 35mm F1.7 (VM) so far.

I use this lens on the Sony A7r III via a Techart Pro adapter. This gives me a reasonably fast autofocus. It also enables me to use face detection and eye autofocus.Why did I buy the one of most expensive 35 mm lenses only to adapt it to a camera that it was not designed for? The draw of this lens. The Image rendition is superb with incredible color color accuracy and sharpness. Though this lens is not technically perfect in the Sony FEmount, the images are extremely artistic and film like.In addition the lens is relatively compact compared to the Sony 35mm 1.4 FE lens.This lens is definitely better than its Leica counter part at half the price in my opinion.This is a lens to be handed down to your next generation.

This lens is about as good as it gets for a fast 35mm. I have the Voigtlander 35/1.2 II as well, and this completely blows it out of the water. Incredibly sharp wide open, and gets increasingly sharp stopped down. Bokeh is really quite nice, colors and contrast are - typical of Zeiss glass - poppy and really pleasant.It is on the larger side, but it's noticeably lighter than the Voigtlander. If you want a smaller 35/1.4 with equal performance, your only other option is the Leica Summilux FLE, and that lens is several times more expensive, and honestly no better optically.I've had maybe 6 different 35/1.4's across a few systems and makers, and this is probably my favorite one.

I've just received the lens on Saturday, and I spent all Sunday to test my new toy. I have to say, everything about the lenns is great, contrast, sharpness, bokeh, ... Before buying this lens, I read many reviews about the Leica 35mm f2 Summicron, and this lens also. I think the Leica 35Cron renders color a little different, I can't tell how but I refer this lens, better and especially much cheaper. Love the way it render and the color of Zeiss. I got the 50mm Summilux, and now this Zeiss lens can fulfill my focal-length collection.

I am a professional Leica M photographer who specializes in wedding documentaries and street/travel photography. Hence 35mm and 50mm is my prefer focal length. I guess if you are reading this and looking into this lens, you may be interested in similar kind of photography genre.I've used a few different 35mm lenses in my professional life and before this, I was using the equally amazing Voigtlander Nokton 35mm ASPH VM II with great results. However, there was one problem, mostly affecting all Voigtlander lenses, is optical correction. Despite all VM lenses good metal built quality, most lenses suffer strong chromatic aberration when shooting wide open in contrasting scene and barrel distortion. I was really happy with it but after extensive use last year on weddings, I spent a lot of time correcting these 'phenomenons' and really wasting a lot of my post production time. So a better lens was sought.I was close to getting the Leica Summilux 35mm FLE which cost twice as much as the Zeiss and three times the Voigtlander, so I kept hesitating. It just didn't make business sense abeit its superior performance. But that all chanced with the announcement of the Zeiss Distagon.I had to wait a long time for it because it wasn't available until now. I ordered it straight away and after a few photoshoots, I can tell you I am shock with its performance. Sharp wide open (even more so than Voigtlander and probably hairline better than Leica), contrasty, and very very well optically corrected. No visible distortion so straight lines stay straight and chromatic aberration is almost non existent (a little bit but I can accept it as it's way way way better than anything I've seen!)Bokeh is pleasant but can be busy at times. I do think the Voigtlander has the better bokeh though, a bit smoother in my opinion. Zeiss is a middle ground in terms of the overall feel. Pictures are more true to life and Voigltander is a little soft (good for environmental portrait) and Leica is just too abrupt (too much pop!)It's a shame that it doesn't come with a hood because I don't use filter so a hood is used to protect the front of the lens. I ordered this through Amazon and it's from a German dealer, they are very good and it comes with a 3-year international warranty after registering with Zeiss!