Beginner What is the best 35mm lens ever made? I heard it was the Leica apo Summicron 180 f2 R

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Jason
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I have read that the Leica 180 f2 Summicron R was the best 35mm lens ever made. I know it was very heavy and no doubt superbly built.

Are there other contenders to consider for best 35mm lens ever made?
 
For 35mm or 35mm focal length?

IMO it is the Canon 35L mk2.

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2015/12/canon-35mm-f1-4-mk-ii-teardown/

This is my kind of built like a tank. There is a flexible polycarbonate shell over a very solid metal core with really heavy-duty rollers, screws, and bearings. That’s a logical way to build things; make the core the strongest part, not the shell. It sounds so simple, but like I said, this is the first time we’ve ever seen this kind of construction in a prime lens of standard focal length. We take apart A LOT of lenses (we passed 20,000 in-house repairs some time ago) and this is the most impressively built prime I’ve seen. This is an engineer’s lens.
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If I had to summarize the mechanical design of this lens, I would say simply that no expense was spared, no corner was cut.
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p.s. being heavy doesn’t necessarily mean it is well built. How it is built is on the inside and you need something like this to really appreciate how well built the Canon is.
 
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I've no idea how good that Leica 180mm lens is but I'd be surprised if top end lenses produced in recent times didn't give it very stiff competition.

I suppose it'll help to try and define what's meant by "best" but in my own experience the technically best lens I've ever used is the Zeiss/Sony 55mm f1.8. I hardly ever use it :D but whenever I do I'm impressed with how good it is, and that's "good" as in lacking optical nasties which may not be how other people may define good or best.
 
As Alan indicates above: first define what you mean by "best".
 
No such thing as best, unless it's as best for a specific use.
A lens that is good for one usage will be incapable of other uses. And lenses that can cover a wider range of uses tend to be worse than those dedicated to a single role.
The lens listed might be the best 180mm, but probably not even then for all rolls - I doubt it's a good macro lens, while some good 180mm macros have been made...
 
Yes, best can he subjective when looking at the resulting picture. But I presume there are a number of technical aspects such as focusing at the extremities etc that can be measured.

I see that there are two Summicron 180's for sale at well over £8,000 second hand on ebay so I guess it must be one of the most expensive 35mm lenses in the world!
 
Leica will also sell you a 90mm Thambar for £5000. By normal standards, it's a terrible lens, but the deliberately uncorrected aberrations that make every shot look blurry are what people pay for. Well, that and the whole 'must have for my Leica collection' thing.
 
Joyfully said:
Yes, best can he subjective when looking at the resulting picture. But I presume there are a number of technical aspects such as focusing at the extremities etc that can be measured.

I see that there are two Summicron 180's for sale at well over £8,000 second hand on ebay so I guess it must be one of the most expensive 35mm lenses in the world!
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Expensive yes but a long way short of the most expensive, there have been a few lenses sell for >£100,000.
IIRC there was a Nikon 6mm fisheye (with 220° FOV) and several ultra telephotos.
According to this there's even a 50mm/0.7 that sold for over $23 million!

FWIW I doubt any of them are good for street photography or for anything I have to pay for...
 
Best one is the one you have on your camera :) (usual response)

As above, it depends what you are doing, and with what. There are more types of photography than just digital, and genres within each one.
 
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