Steve Spencer wrote:
It is good news that your lens seems to be a decent copy--perhaps not the best copy but a good one. I don't have the lens, but will be getting it soon. In deciding to get the lens, my evaluation is that it is a very much what I call a dual character lens. Wide open it has quite a few aberrations notably some spherical aberrations, a fair bit of axial chromatic aberrations, and quite a bit of coma. All of these aberrations, however, are ones that reduce a lot as you stop down the aperture. By f/4 the lens is very sharp and mostly free of these aberrations that are quite evident at f/1.5.
What I think this means in practice is that when I want a relatively aberration free image I have to stop down, but that is available with this lens. When I want an image with more character I can open up the aperture. For me personally, however, that means that at wider apertures, I am going to want to be aware of the aberrations and use the lens opened up only where I think they will enhance the image not detract from it. That means for me I will only use it at wider aperture in less challenging light, and when the light is more challenging I will stop it down. Personally, I wouldn't like the image you posted wide open, but I wouldn't want to shoot that image wide open and I like the performance stopped down to f/2.8, so I would not be bothered by your example.
Said another way, this is not a lens I plan to shoot wide open all the time. I will typically shoot it stopped down, but I appreciate that it has a wide aperture and that when the light is right and that wider aperture fits my vision for the shot I can open up that aperture and get a shot I could not get with a slower lens.
I have had the Leica 28 lux Asph and that is exactly how I used that lens and was quite happy with it. I also had the Zeiss Otis 28 f/1.4 and that is the only lens I know of that is this wide and can regularly be shot at f/1.4 with low aberrations, but even that lens as huge as it is was not completely free of aberrations at f/1.4. It was notably better than the Leica 28 lux Asph, but I used the Leica way more because for me the smaller size trumped the better performance. This lens provides performance almost as good as the Leica wide open and I think as good performance stopped down in an even smaller package.
I agree that the wider aperture look could be used to "fit one's vision", and I like that framing. Unfortunately in my case, I have the dual problem of my copy not aligning with my rangefinder and though it is only slight, it shows me the OOF rendering when the RF doesn't nail focus, and I don't like what I see. I'm not sure that I like what I see wide open when LV does nail it. Maybe it's just my copy, but the margin between "in focus" and "out of focus and highly objectionable" is on a razor's edge. My old Summilux 35mm ASPH was far more forgiving.
Either I swap this one for another copy and hope for the best, or I find something else, even an f/2.0 lens with better rendering. Having tried the Elmarit 28 ASPH, I would be happy with that but I need that extra stop. That, and I need to have my RF checked.
