I'm sorry I didn't save my Contax 28/2.8 to compare this to, but I did some comparisons of my Leica Elmarit-R 28mm/f2.8 to my Canon 16-35 (an average copy) and my 24-70 (an excellent copy). I've done similar comparisons of the 28/2.8 Contax Zeiss Distagon, and I'm pretty sure the Leica will smoke it.
This is the currently shipping version of the lens (Leica #11333). Ambient light (overcast window light and incandescent), I focused on the "Canon" logo on the 24TSE....These are the 100% crops.
Here's the overall shot (underwhelming composition, I know). All of these were shot with my 1dsmk2, processed with Capture One or whatever it's called now, only sharpening was "Standard Look" 25 amt, threshold 3 applied to all images. Meant to do no sharpening, but accidentally reset....The 24-70 exagerrates---I zoomed out to 27mm, and still didn't get as wide as the Leica....Also, the amount of field curvature is quite pronounced on the zooms and it's quite obvious at these smaller f stops.
Lens testing isn't my forte, so I apologize if this doesn't met someone's standards--I was impressed though.
Wow, well the Leica sure smoked the Canons, but are you sure it will "smoke" the zeiss 28/2.8, or will it just edge it out by a small margin? That Leica is looking pretty nice.
I am a bit shock that the supposedly excellent general purpose 24-70L lens is so poor in performance, and the 24TS-E is not exactly at the corner either. I may have to do similar test to compare some of my own lenses and satisfy my own curiosity.
brainedead, what is roughly the distance between the camera and the front roll of the lenses? Did you use any focusing aid like the Angle Finder for MF? Was that only one shot for each lens, or you did multiple shots and picked the sharpest one as the representative shot?
Gee, I know the Leica is good but surprised it is so much better.
slau wrote:
I am a bit shock that the supposedly excellent general purpose 24-70L lens is so poor in performance, and the 24TS-E is not exactly at the corner either. I may similar test to compare some of my own lenses.
brainedead, what is roughly the distance between the camera and the front roll of the lenses? Did you use any focusing aid like the Angle Finder for MF? Was that only one shot for each lens, or you did multiple shots and picked the sharpest one as the representative shot?
Gee, I know the Leica is good but surprised it is so much better....Show more →
I was dumbfounded. I think head to head, the Leica really would be substantially better than the Contax Distagon 28/2.8, but that lens wide open was better than either of these zooms. I have a lot of shots with the Contax 28/2.8, so I should be able to at least give some subjective feedback on the difference.
The sensor plane to the front row of lenses is about 30 inches or so. Of course, I didn't think to use the Angle Finder until I had wrapped things up. I just did one shot for the Leica, but had to come back for multiple shots for both zooms--the difference was so dramatic I wanted to make sure, but the zooms were also harder for me to focus (that probably means something). I then picked the sharpest (again, focusing was on the 24 TSE). Both zooms get substantially better towards the center, as you would expect. At f5.6 and higher, the 24-70 is very difficult to tell from the Leica in the center 60-70% of the frame.
Part of the problem for the zooms may be performance at close distance; hopefully weather will permit some landscape work soon.
Guy Mancuso wrote:
The Zeiss 2.8 does not have floating elements but the 2.0 does. Ergo the price difference also and the same with the leica R which have 4 versions of this lens. Do you know the version of this Leica
It's the currently shipping one--thinking about what to do with the ROM contacts hanging off the back of mine....It's supposed to be the penultimate version.
I don't know much about Leica lenses, but I'm guessing this IS NOT the same leica R 28 you can buy at keh.com for 500-600 bucks? (they have about 3 in stock right now for that price).
Or is this the newest version that you can get NEW at B&H for $ 2,195.00? Or am I talking about the same lens here?
Thanks for posting this test. Yet another reason buying the 1Ds Mk II was an expensive decision. I'd love to see this lens in a head to head with the Leica 28-70 2.8 zoom. Maybe you and Jorge could meet somewhere
I did a direct comparison between the current Leica Elmarit 28mm version with the CZ 28mm f/2.8. As matter of fact, I compared four lenses at that time; those two mentioned above plus the Distagon 28 f/2.0 and a 24-70mm L zoom at 28mm setting. Indeed, the Leica blew every single other lens away at each aperture but the difference is more obvious in the corners in full aperture and at f/4.0. In the center, there was a difference but only slight and at f/5.6 and especially at f/8.0, the difference became even less noticeable both in the center and corners in my comparison test, which was done at a distance between of 15 feet between the camera and target. In my test, the Canon zoom did surprisingly well, better than I anticipated compared to those famed prime lenses.
Robert,
Do you feel better about the CZ 28 now ? Yes, it is a great lens but you have to stop it down to around f/8.0, which people mostly do for landscape anyway. The lack of the floating elements indeed makes it less suitable for closeups but hey, the price it right, only a fraction of the current Leica lens . In addition, the difference I mentioned before applies only to a FF camera.
Likely the old versions for sale as there are a lot of them floating around (in production from 1970-1994), the newer version was redesigned in 1994. Here is the scoop on what's what and the various versions of each lens: http://www.wildlightphoto.com/leica/
I've been using the third version of the 35mm f2.8 Elmarit which has a well established reputation on my 20D and have been blown away by it, a happy camper indeed. Here is an example:
? Yes, it is a great lens but you have to stop it down to around f/8.0, which people mostly do for landscape anyway. The lack of the floating elements indeed makes it less suitable for closeups but hey, the price it right, only a fraction of the current Leica lens 
