Hi JT, you need to define what you are looking for, what do you want as a photographer, portraits, streetlife, landscapes etc. etc.? What style of shooting do you tend towards. the rit will always be softer than a lux v1, however they are lenses from different generations, so you cannot compare the two. You can however, compare the older versions to the newer versions and may as well now go into the debate of pre-asph vs asph. All these have a price point, you pay for what you want. Every lens stopped down can be pin sharp (unless you are a pixel peeper..in that case then you need a cron which is a different issue altogether). Hackers shots clearly show how "sharp" or "unsharp" the summarit is, now its up to your "taste" to see if you like it or not. It looks good to me.
You also need to define what "mucked up" means? Low contrast doesn't mean it's bad either.... lots of, primarily. b/w shooters prefer low contrast which preserves details. After all contrast is easily adjusted during PP. Then with low contrast you have the issue of micro contrast, yet another ballgame. Each level = more $$$
My favorite lens is the summar, even older than the rit and its pin sharp, at least in my eyes, its uncoated, goes only to f12.5 and its slow (f2), has wonderful bokeh and great tones... but I shoot it with only b/w. The Rit is also one of the mainstays on my camera.
So if you are decided on what you want, its easier to advise. Cheers, Dan
The new summarit 35/f2.5 is a good lens! buy buy buy:thumbsup:
