35 APO vs. 35 CRON V6 @ f8 & f11

[LeicaTobin]

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Hi Everyone,

I use a 35 cron ASPH for 100% of my shooting and mostly shoot at f8 and f11. Would the 35 APO at f8 and f11 be really any different than my 35 Cron V6? I know at 2.0 and 2.8 it will be hugely different in the corners and in the centre, but at f8 and f 11, are they coming to behave very similar? 

Thoughts? 

Tobin

[karrox1]

I think that you will not find significant differences at these apertures. 

[Stuart Richardson]

The MTF indicates that you might, but I would say that it depends on how large you print. The Leica MTF charts for the lenses only go to 5.6, but the newer version shows that it will have significantly more microcontrast on center (over 80% compared to 60%), and significantly more even sharpness across the frame. At the edges and corners, the new lens stays mostly above 80 to the corners, and is at worst at 65% contrast. The tangential structures over 40lpmm are below 20% in the corners on the old lens, though this is probably field curvature.  I suspect that the corners might improve a bit more on the older lens at f8 and f11. I think the question is: 1. How big do you print, or how much do you crop? 2. How important is it to you that the sharpness is uniform across the frame. If the answers are "big" and "very" then I think the new lens would make a big difference. If it is solely about budget, I think the new Voigtlander 35mm APO Lanthar is probably better than your existing lens.

[Jeff S]

In general, while some lens aspects improve when stopping down, other distinguishing characteristics remain…. color tendencies, flare, focus shift, chromatic aberrations, and of course any other handling/ergonomic issues or special attributes (MFD, etc).  

With the quality of lenses these days, across manufacturers, I find most capable of fine IQ under ‘good’ shooting conditions and for my modestly sized prints. Often more comes down to practical differences not shown on graphs, and those are only revealed by actual testing.

Jeff