Zeiss Biogon 35 ZM

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Ever since I got my X-T2 I have been tempted to try some Leica M-mount lenses. While I love the performance of my XF lenses, I feel they lack personality: it’s always sharp, no vignetting, low distorsion. Besides, I am not a fan of how they handle: the metal coating is too slippery, the focus-by-wire frustrating and the aperture ring too lose (I stopped counting how many times putting the camera in and out of the bag changed the aperture setting). So last Saturday, I made the jump: got a Fujifilm M Mount Adapter and a Carl Zeiss Biogon T*35mmF2 ZM.

The Biogon attaches itself firmly to the camera via the adapter and the whole package feels very solid. Needless to say that there is no autofocus, but with the focus peaking feature of the Fuji, it’s not all that difficult, especially with the focus ring of the Biogon which is a pleasure to use: smooth with the right amount of resistance. Since there’s no control of the aperture via the camera though, closing the diaphragm will darken your view quickly. This will not affect the photos you take but can be disconcerting at first.

First shots below: very happy so far. Love the color cast, it’s sharp where focused and the bokeh is lovely. There is virtually no distorsion but some slight vignetting and corner sharpness wide open isn’t very good… just as expected. No clinical perfection but photos with some character – this may very soon become my favorite lens!