JonPB Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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My response - to play off Lee - is that "better" is a strong word.
To me, the Elmarit-R 28 E55 represents a local plateau of what can be achieved with spherical lenses. Current aspheric designs have probably surpassed it in terms of edge modulation at high resolution, and future designs certainly will. To my eye, however, the mark of a great lens is what happens when aberrations dominate the subject structure. I'd describe what I've seen among good lenses as aspherics having a brittle quality and purely spherics as having a robust quality. Neither is inherently superior, but the simple fact that we're unlikely to see a spherical 28mm prime ever surpass the Elmarit means that I expect it to remain a collector's item for some time among both Leica and rendering aficionados.
I suppose my point is this: the Elmarit is good enough that "better" means "better suited to a given photographer's discerning taste" rather than "superior in every way." Like with a lot of kit these days, unless you can point to a specific benefit for you in using another lens, I'd recommend keeping what you have. One of those benefits might be that you can replace it with a much less expensive lens without giving up much in terms of results; another might be higher resolution at your shooting aperture range of choice, including lenses that open a stop or more wider; another might be connection with the camera, allowing faster workflows and automatic correction of aberrations.
Personally, I hope that the Batis 25 knocks everyone's socks off and causes the price on this lens to drop precipitously so that I can justify buying it, but I don't expect its price to fall any more than the Summilux-R 50 E60 has in the face of lenses that might be technically superior for far less money. To me, the enduring value of the R line is its combination of durability, forward compatibility, and optical quality. The Elmarit-R 28 E55 is certainly representative of those traits. There are better options depending on how different metrics are balanced, but not for my purposes and desires.
Cheers,
Jon
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