I am going to suggest a different path than many others may.
A 35mm is probably the most useful first M lens you can buy. It is easy to use, and a very flexible focal length.
However, if your goal is actually learning to manually shoot M lenses I would suggest you start with a more challenging lens, that is still one of the most useful focal lengths. In my opinion that would be a fast 50mm. There are choices in very nice lenses in the f/1.2 to f/1.4 aperture ranges. These will allow you to really learn well how to focus using the features of your camera.
One of my favorites is the Thypoch Simera 50mm f/1.4 because of its aperture blades, beautiful cinematic rendering wide open and excellent sharpness stopped down. However, I don't think this is the correct lens to start learning with due to its unique aperture/distance scale. This would hamper you learn to properly use zone focusing techniques.
Since my in depth personal experiences are limited the very expensive Leica lenses, and the Thypoch I will not make specific recommendations. I suggest you research what is available and post those options that are interesting to you. Then people with expertise using that particular lens can post their opinions on it from a place of real knowledge.
Then you could also buy one of the inexpensive 28mm lenses as a second. These are generally small enough to fit in your pocket, and will give you a wide point of view and the ability to shoot manual as a virtual point and shoot using zone focus techniques. There is no point having a fast aperture for this use case. So, look for an f/2 which are most often less expensive, smaller, and optically better that the faster choices.
Enjoy your M experimentations!
Aug 23, 2026 at 07:58 AM
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