The decision’s been made, I’ve made up my mind and will once again swap lenses for my M8.

Having been using the wonderful Zeiss Biogon 2/35 for several weeks now, I came to realize more and more that I need (want) a faster lens, as I do a lot of low-light shooting with frequently moving subjects (i. e. my son inside the house ), where fast shutter speeds are needed. Technically, I could resort to ISO 2500 in b&w, but I don’t always want b&w. So, the Biogon has to go.

Enter the Voigtländer Nokton 35/1.2, the fastest 35mm lens ever built. (Or is it? It’s the fastest around, for sure.) It’s also quite a brick of a lens, but it has an outstanding reputation, said by some to rival even the legendary Leica Noctilux 50/1. As a 35mm lens becomes a 47mm effective on the M8, the Nokton is the ideal Noctilux substitute for the less wealthy among us.

Depending on whether I’ll be able to find a used one at a good price, I might additionally acquire a second, smaller walkaround lens, which would ideally be the Minolta M-Rokkor 28/2.8, and less ideally a Voigtländer Color Skopar Pancake 35/2.5 – although I’d rather have the 28, as I think having the same focal length twice would be a bit boring.

So, my Biogon is up for sale, and I will place ads at the common classifieds sections as well as eventually an auction at eBay. If you’re interested: it’s in as-new condition, used for only two months so far, black, and available with or without fitting UV/IR filter for the M8. I’ll be asking 750 € without and 775 € with filter.

UPDATE: And here’s the reason why I think I might actually eventually need a 28 more than another 35:

"Water fun" | Leica M8 + Biogon 2/35 @ f/2, 1/750 sec, ISO 160

I couldn’t back up further and thus didn’t get the whole scene into the frame. Had I had a 28 with me …