JonPB Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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I'd prefer the C/Y 35-70 for f/5.6 or slower, but the Leica R 35-70/4 for wide open shooting. The Leica R 35-70/3.5 is optically the same design as the Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 (and the bodies appear similar, too, which is how you can tell apart the different Minolta versions), which are both very good lenses: underpriced in Minolta form, but substantially more expensive in Leica dress. The C/Y 28-70 was their low-cost, low-weight kit zoom, which has a two-touch design but isn't very well regarded. The C/Y 28-85 has a reputation as being a better walkaround or sole lens than the C/Y 35-70, though the latter will have slightly better image quality within that limited range. Finally, the Leica R 28-70 has quite a bit of distortion, which generally turned off shooters in the film era, and I haven't seen an good comparisons with it on high resolution digital sensors. Edit: And there's the Leica R 28-90, which is in another price bracket entirely and which I've never seen convincing photos from, though it is better at the long end and I'm predominantly a wide-angle shooter.
Other options? Nothing comes to mind, though many companies offered solid 35-70/4 zooms. (I shot a Pentax-A 35-70/4 for some time, and while it had flaws, even on APS-C, they were almost entirely of the "could be better" variety rather than the "this makes the image worse" variety. If I went back to Pentax, I'd pick one up again, along with the 35-105/3.5 for its gloriously invasive flare and spherical aberrations.) With the C/Y 35-70 being better than most primes--even competing with Zeiss and Leica primes--at f/5.6-f/8, though, I haven't had the inspiration to look for even lower cost zooms that still provide top-notch quality.
I've never actually shot with any of those Zeiss or Leica zooms, mind, just looked at purchasing one.
Cheers,
Jon
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