Like the telephoto comparison, I couldn’t find hardly anything comparing these two lenses side by side. So is a comparison between the Leica 24-70 and 24-90. They are both decently centered for zooms. 200% crops, SOOC with Adobe Color, no other processing. Here is 70mm shot at close distance, maybe 3-4 feet away. Will do some other focal lengths later.
70mm @ f/3.8 (WO on the 24-90, stopped down on the 24-70)
24mm at f/2.8, f/4 and f/5.6. I also included the Sigma 14-24 at 24mm against the 24-90 for fun. I turned on profile corrections for the Sigma, the Leica's are built in.
For this next test I shined a flashlight at the book and wanted to see how the lens handled contrast with harsh lighting. Then I moved the flashlight to behind the subject to see how it handled flare and contrast.
These were just informal tests with relative comparisons between the two lenses, just for my use, but thought I’d share.
TL;DR - in my opinion the 24-90 is superior in almost every way except flare resistance. My copy is sharper wide open at all focal lengths than the 24-70 is even stopped down, especially in the corners. Has more subject separation than the 24-70 at the same aperture. I think the OOF rendering is smoother, but that’s subjective. You also get an extra 20mm, which for me was the primary draw.
But at what cost? It’s twice the price, bigger, heavier and progressively slower from 25mm on. So depends on your priorities and uses.
Hope this helps someone who was looking for a comparison between the two lenses. I’ll be keeping the 24-90.
Many speak about how good is the 2490mm, and i never really seen anything that somehow proved it, these samples make me rethink that, yes if you don't pixel pip perhaps they look the same, but at the dimensions shown here, the images from the 2490mm look like someone lifted a vail from the 2470mm version. It is very very noticeable how much sharper the 2490mm is. Thanks for sharing!
I am curious now to see how the 2470mm panasonic would compare... They say it is better than the sigma 2470mm, (which is basically the same lens as the Leica), but is it as good as the 2490mm?
Awesome to go through all the images, thanks for doing this. The 24-90 really flexes over the Sigma, err, I mean Leica. But I agree with your summary, it really depends on your usage if you want to compromise, because without zooming in, they look very similar, especially after a quick trip through Lightroom.
