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Originally posted by jeffreybehr Well, it turns out that the 35 is still on the way from Japan, via rowboat, apparently, but the approximately perfect 28/2 I bought from forum member Nick Seibers arrived Saturday the 14th. I shot enough with it and the Ltd 31 to see that the Zeiss's images do indeed have more liveliness, more pop*, than the Ltd 31, so the 31 will soon be for sale.
I'm still waiting for another forum member to give me details so I can send money for his 85/1.4; I hope that'll happen so that he can mail it Monday so that I'll see it maybe early the week of the 23rd.
I think I'll keep the Ltd 43; it's quite light and compact, and then probably I'll sell the SMC 50/1.7.
* And now I know what 'microcontrast' means.
Here's status on May 31:
Keepers are the three Zeisses (28, 35, and 85); losers, the Limited 31 and 77. The Ltd. 43 I'm keeping for shooting vertical-frame panos, at least for a while.
Then I tested my newly arrived Pentax 15-30/2.8 against the 28, and even if I LOVE the images from the 28, those from the 15-30 at its longest lengths are competitive (and have even less CA [= none that I can see] than the ZK28's little), so the big, heavy 15-30...
...is in the roller bag...
...and the relatively petite Zeiss 28 is 'riding the bench' right now. But...having a little more money than good sense, I'm now bidding on a ZK 50/1.4, so who knows what I'll end up with.