philip_pj
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That waterside tree scene kind of flatters the E55, I think, because (i) so much of the image is off the focal plane, (ii) the E55 has very nice bokeh, and (iii) the E55 is actually well-behaved at f2, with nice flat curves, albeit at low levels. It has overall the nicer image to me.
The focal plane performance is much weaker than the MP as one would expect, seen best in the tree detail and foreground grass detail, none of which appears quite sharp.
Nor should it, the 40lpmm curve is at less than 50%, the MP manages 60%, which is kind of a threshold value, I believe. That is in the centre...by 15mm IH, you only have 20% to play with, the MP gives 40% - much of the image content is in shadow but if you check out the ground near the edges you will see what I mean. That sensor takes no prisoners!
The thick branch in the top right of the crop is quite purple in the E55 shot. Shimmery bokeh there too, not so good a look.
Actually f5.6 would have been very interesting here, the E55 is fabulous in the middle 6-7mm then it all goes very pear-shaped very fast, by around the short edge it delivers only half the performance. The MP is just as good in the centre and stays within a few percent, keeps pumping right out towards the wide edges then dies off into the very corners. The E55 looks more Zeiss like at f8, at the cost of that highlight brilliance a little, signs of early onset of diffraction.
I have the E55, love it's handling but it's a portrait/street/bokeh lens for me. On occasions it is still on when a open country photo op presents itself, and it does creditably - if you don't look too closely off centre. My 35-70 VS works much better than the E55 for this kind of work, and gets within 5% of the MP for most of the frame at 50mm (where it is best), and has (much) better corners at its best aperture, not even close actually.
I am figuring to leave the Leica at home since I have my hands on the amazing RX1, with ample cropability due to astronomical MTF cross frame, and even better bokeh, hard decision even though, that Leica signature is very addictive. I am getting like the MFT guys, don't want to carry too much, haha.
JaKo, you are doing us a real favour here, sincere thanks.
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