Re: [Leica] 35 Summilux Asph.

[D Khong <dkhong@pacific.net.sg>]

>
>Summicron-M ASPH 35mm gives a high contrast image with excellent micro
>contrast and a crisp rendition of extremely fine detail from center to
>the well into the outer zones. Light fall off is noticeable, but
>restricted to a very small zone. Flatness of field is outstanding as is
>the definition over the whole image area. 
>Summilux-M ASPH 35mm also gives this same performance, but the finest
>details are rendered a fraction softer at the edges. The difference between
>Summicron-M ASPH 35mm is the coverage over the image field. Center
>sharpness is a mite better with Summilux-M ASPH 35mm, but this lens
>loses more detail when going to the outer zones. This is visible at 30
>times enlargement. So it is not easy to say which lens is better. I
>would prefer to call it a difference in fingerprint or characteristic of
>image rendering.
>Summilux-M ASPH 35mm follows the classical* pattern of extremely high
>center quality, becoming less so when going outwards. Summicron-M ASPH
>35mm is a new pattern concentrating on even coverage over most of the
>field. The difference between the center performance of Summicron-M ASPH
>35mm and Summilux-M ASPH 35mm are in my view slightly academic, but they
>are there to note (on the bench at least!).
>

It appears that, unless one really needs the extra stop of the summilux,
the summicron is actually a better buy considering its lighter weight,
lower price and performance at full aperture.

Dan K.