Canon LTM Canon LTM 28mm 2.8 Lens Quality

Canon M39 M39 screw mount bodies/lenses
M

miatab

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I believe i asked this question on an inappropriate section of the forum, so I assume this is the place for it! My question: when it was in production, was this lens considered any kind of a ground breaker in performance or quality, or was it just another LTM and miles behind the Leica lens, if there was one in the LTM days?
 
I believe this was Garry Winogrand's lens of choice. I think it had reasonable sharpness but the key draw was the size as well. If you're talking about wide open sharpness, I'm guessing it probably wouldn't stand up against the current asph offering.
 
I don't own the lens so no comment on its performance. But remember this lens was introduced in 1956. Optical science has come a long way in 57 years.

Jim b.
 
not the sharpest thing at the edges

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but i find it to have really lovely drawing

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i really liked it on my rd-1

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I think all Leica had to offer in 1956 was the Summaron 28mm f/5.6, and even Nikon just had the 28/3.5, so I'd say the Canon broke some ground as a general purpose lens. It's definitely not stellar wide open (at least mine is pretty soft), but it's very compact, has a really nice rendering of color, and sharpens up nicely when stopped down. In other words, it's a very nice street shooting lens. Which is what Winogrand used it for, of course. :)
 
I had Canon 28/3.5 for while, and I liked using it.
I have not seen any lens comparisons for 28/2.8 versus the 28/3.5.
 
Thank you for your comments and pix. I am of that age group who sometimes (often?) get stuck in a time warp, and see older lenses as a reinforcement of the potential vitality of their own age! I bought this lens for use with my Bessa R2, along with its external viewfinder, but am considering getting rid of the Bessa and its old Canon and Leica lenses, and was wondering if I should keep the Canon lens,add a Fuji to M adapter and. . . .try it with my XE-1. Sorry to mention digital here!
 
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