Commodity old school 35mm

The 35mm focal length was a classic "candid" lens, for street photography/photojournalism etc but for me it was always a compromise: neither wide enough or long enough, preferring either a 28mm or a 50mm/85mm/105mm. These still command a decent price on the used market and I was able to obtain a 5/5 element/group 35mm f/2.8 AI-S copy for a short evaluation.


Initial impressions matched Bjorn Rorslett's opinions - I thought the lens wide open was a little weak, and certainly not as good as the 28mm f/2.8 AIS. Very near focus, wide open it's ok but mid distance seems to very bland.


^{f/2.8 near MFD, on DX}

Stopping down sharpness at middle distances improves the quality a little but its not a massive improvement.


<sup>f/2.8 - f/4 - f5.6 centre crops


f/2.8 on DX</sup>

This lens also has pronounced barell distortion.


Servicing this lens produced from 1981-89 is relatively simple, although there are a few sealed components like the retaining ring that sits on the focus ring. I found the helicoid mating position a little challenging with a number of potential starts very close together but its relatively easy to clean. Using a grease like the NPC BC-13A gives it a very nice dampended but fluid feeling.



Accessing the elements is reasonably simple once you have the front retaining ring off.

Not a great deal more to say about the lens. It handles nicely in the hand if you service it. The colours are nice and rich but I still prefer the 28mm f/2.8 AI-S for its rendering.