Wonderful lens for street work and people. I use it 80% of the time. This a good replacement for my old one. I often use this in concrete driveways events.

None so far.

small light wieght awsome images. the most versitile of all the g lenses. its the swiss army knife of lenses! you could say the zoom is the most versitile, i dont use zooms!

supposedly not as sharp as the 45mm, i couldnt tell the difference.

i have been meaning to write this review for a while, but just havent got around to it. but now that i have let me tell you about this lens! this is the best 35mm i have used, i have the nikon and pentax versions and neither is close in image quality! this lens is awsome, its small light weight and its the most versitile lens in the g lineup. this lens is on my camera 90% of the time. the only other g lens i carry is the 90mm for portraits. i had the 45mm but found the perspective to boxy and not wide enough for a general purpose lens. i had the 28mm as well but didnt ever use it because the focal length was so close to the 35mm. the 35mm is the do everything lens. its the swiss army knife of lenses, and my favorite in the g lineup! enough said 5 stars! get one

Customer Service

havent had to use them. a friend used them to get his g2 repaired. they do a great job! turnaround time could be a little faster

Similar Products Used:

nikon, pentax etc. none come close

Relatively sharp, very contrasty and distorsion-free. I'm glad it's faster than the 28mm version! In fact, that was the reason I bought it. It does help almost all Contax G lenses have the same filter size too, as I own two and plan on getting the long 90mm sometime soon.

Soft edges, or at least not as sharp as the 45mm (which is just astounding!). However, this isn't as noticeable as others may think, and only shows up if the foreground needs to be sharp. Otherwise, an excellent street photo lens!

Good lens, useful tool and surprisingly free of visible distorsion, unlike 28mm lenses would cause.

Customer Service

Excellent. Only high praise for them! They reply e-mails, explain policies and help customers even if the product was purchased used. Kudos to Kyocera!!

Similar Products Used:

Contax Zeiss Planar 45mm (for G1/G2)

Super sharp and reliable. Wonderful perspective.

None

I was skeptical after hearing about other users telling that this was the weakest lens in the Contax G group. I'm happy to report that this is now my "normal" lens when packing my G2. Color is supurb, sharpness is excellent. The perspective on this lens just feels right to me. Very comfortable. Combined with the G2 body, this combination can't be beat!

Customer Service

Not needed.

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2 45mm, 28mm, 21mm and 90mm.

Everything.

Nothing.

One word that comes to mind when describing this lens is "STUNNING." I have always been using SLR and fast optics from leading manufacturers in the photographic industry. But this lens really does surpass all others in terms of color saturation, textural tonality, and detail redention. It is probably one of the best prime lenses ever produced in the field of 35mm photography. The construction of the lens is superb, with excellent quality and craftsmanship. It is extremely compact and lightweight, especially for a prime lens with an aperture of f2.0. This has become my favorite lens for the Contax G system due to its wide angle, distortion-free characteristics, and eye-popping color saturation and extremely pleasing tonality. A perfect lens for street/travel photography and a must-have for the leisurely professional photographer.

Similar Products Used:

Various f2.8 zooms for SLR.

great color, sharp. small and light.

Contax G focusing

Great lens. I also heard that this is the worst lens in the Contax G line. the lens gives nice, well saturated colors, and good sharpness. I also own a 28, but I do not believe G1 viewfinder is accurate for the 28 lens.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

Contax G 28 Leica M 35 F2 ASPH

Zeiss contrast and 3D modeling, and center sharpness; nice focal length for people/decisive moment photography, focuses 40% closer than Leica's 35 f/2. Metal construction (Titanium!)

Soft at corners, esp. wide open, with strange "speckly" bokeh in corners that reminds me of older Summicron designs.

This lens reminds me lot of the classic 35mm Summicrons; not the sharpest lenses in the world, but sharp enough, and with a lot of character: I wonder if the Zeiss engineers were trying to capture that feeling intentionally. Don't get me wrong; the 35 Planar f/2 will blow away most SLR 35's - it's just a little softer than Zeiss's unsurpassed 28 G and 90 G in the corners (and probably the ASPH Leica designs) - curvature of field, possibly. The bottom line of The Bottom Line: I love the lens, and in combination with the rest of the G-system, it's reinvigorated my photography completely.
By the way, take that MSRP above with a big grain of salt - I paid about that for a 35 Planar-G f/2 AND a G1 body AND a flash.

Customer Service

So far so good.

Similar Products Used:

Leica 35's from mid-70's Summicrons to newest ASPH 1.4 and 2.0. Contax SLR 35 1.4 and 2.8.

Wonderful lens for street work and people. I use it 80% of the time.

None I can see. With photography, the usual weakness is me.

In the Contax G2 area of photoreview.com, I've seen one or two thumbs down on this lens. I can't figure out why. It is remarkable and has a crisp, classic look that I enjoy. I did try a 28mm but found it was really too wide for my work and the 35 has long been my favorite lens for street work. It does remarkably well with people without distorting.

The G2 came with a 45, which I like, and I thought there might be too little of a difference between that and the 35 -- wrong. The difference is significant and has helped power some of my better pictures. The best lens for the bucks anywhere. Period.

Customer Service

not used, thankfully

Similar Products Used:

Contax G2 45mm

Like all Zeiss lenses, the 35 Planar has good sharpness, high contrast, & nice color rendition. Not too pricey (even new). As a wide angle, it's also quite compact, adding extra portability to the G1/2 (e.g., when traveling).

While it is not as sharp as the 45mm Planar, particularly when wide-open, I don't agree w/those reviewers who have called this a "dog." I think it's just overshadowed by its superlative 16, 21, 28, 45, & 90mm siblings!

A fine general-use 35mm (which is my favorite focal length for travel & some street shooting).

Customer Service

None needed so far.

Similar Products Used:

1950s-era f/2.5 35mm w-Nikkor for Nikon rangefinders & f/2.8 35mm Biogon for Zeiss Ikon Contax rangefinders. I also have the f/2.8 28mm Biogon for the G1/2.

Sharp! great color. UNREAL CONTRAST!!! foreground subjects snap off the print!

out of focus areas (bokeh) rendered badly wide open (a leg of a chair in the background may have a double image)

I have heard and read that this is the worst of the entire Contax G lineup. The other lenses must be astounding then, because this is the sharpest lens I've ever used. It's sharper than my Canon 50 1.4 from wide open to stopped down. The colors are wonderful, and the contrast is exceptional. I've experienced NO issues with flare or distortion, even shooting wide open, and DIRECTLY into the sun!

I've shot plenty of color and black and white with this lens, and both look amazing.

My only complaint with the lens is how it renders out of focus areas. Wide open, there seems to be apparent 'double image' with background objects. Again, this is only wide open. Stopped down to f4, and it is gone.

canon's 35mm doesn't compare to this lens in any comparable category (color, contrast, flare resistance, vignetting, sharpness, etc.) it's hard to imagine that ANY 35mm lens for an slr could put up a fight against this lens.

From my own experience with this lens, I don't understand the negative reports it has received. If the other lenses in the lineup are indeed markedly better than this one, I'll be purchasing them soon, because this is the sharpest lens I have ever used in my entire life!

Customer Service

no experience

Similar Products Used:

canon ef 35 2.0
canon 50 1.4 usm