I had the pleasure of using the Leica 28mm Summilux ASPH today.
The verdict: this lens is okay.
Technical notes:
- Purple fringing. Like most fast lenses shot wide open against objects with high contrast edges, undesirable purple fringing is elicited. This was present in the first image below but was removed during post-processing.
- Distortion. There’s very little. I assume that in a wide-ish f/1.4 lens like this it exists but I didn’t see any obvious sign of it. In fact, all of the photographs below are uncorrected.
- Size. Bigger and heavier than the the 35mm Summilux FLE, as expected. However, some of the reviews I read about the 28 ‘Lux led me to believe the additional weight was negligible but I was definitely conscious of it while photographing.
- Sharpness. Excellent at f/1.4 …and it gets better from there.
- Bokeh. I didn’t have enough time for rigorous evaluation of out-of-focus rendering; having said that, I didn’t see any objectionable qualities in this respect.
- Usability/Miscellaneous. The lens barrel has a focus tab, which I like. The hood is the same screw-it-on-and-it-stops-just-where-it-should type found on the 35mm Summilux FLE and 21mm f/3.4 Super-Elmar, which I also like.
—Peter.
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↑Leica M9 (CCD Lives! – Prosophos Open Letter to Leica) + Leica 28mm Summilux ASPH.
Those are all great photos Peter and glad you could get up close with that lens which helps to show it off. As to the purple fringing, have you ever tried using a UV/IR cut filter on your 35 Lux? I’ve been using one on both my 35 Lux ASPH. (pre-FLE) and 75 Cron and I notice less purple fringing and little more snap to my M-E CCD photos.
Peter get it! Very impressive! All you Need is 28, 50 and 90mm!!! It motivates me using my 28 more often!
I noticed a different look from your usual lenses when I saw this on Instagram. It’s just lovely. I’m thinking of getting this, or the new 28 Summicron,