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Relatively speaking, this lens is not another triumph for Leica. Wide open it is okay in the center but softer at the edges than any Leica lens I have used. In effect, it is pretty good 35mm lens after cropping out the blurred sides. It sharpens up at smaller apertures but never does hit the phenomenal clarity of Leica's 35mm lenses. In comparison, the Leica 35mm lenses are sharper everywhere. I hoped the new 28mm would be incrementally better than an older 35mm and I could switch the two but the lesson is that the 35mm remains unsurpassed.
This lens is noticably better than its predecessor in the central 75% of the frame, but at the cost of being less sharp at the edges and especially in the corners. I prefer this iteration to its predecessor (most people do, or Leica would keep the old design), but both lenses are compromises to achieve very, very small lenses that produce phenomenal results. This lens is much improved, but still not perfect. The even newer version of this lens is quite a bit larger (almost the size of the 28mm f/2 cron, and reverses the trand above. The newest iteration of the 28mm f/2.8 (which is not the smaller one in the photo) traded away center sharpness for more even performance across the frame (including in the corners). For me, the earlier version is the sweet spot (it's the smallest, cheaper, and favors center performance). On the whole, both lenses are still 3.5-star performances.
I'm not sure what's up with the previous reviews. There is only one optical version of this lens which has been in production since 2006 (model 11606). There is a new version (11676) which has a metal hood but which is otherwise identical. The performance is astonishing and impossible to describe in a technical manner. Everything looks great through this lens. Colors are better, it's sharp and full of contrast. Produces an idealized view of the world without flare, haze or compromise. Tiny, light and does not block the finder. My favorite lens.