Leica lenses are unique and renowned for their character and there's a reason why they are so revered which lies in their look: The bokeh, the smoothness of the sharpness falloff, the micro contrast wide-open ... especially the Summiluxes.
In addition, remember that the M11 can both be precise with the APO lenses and characterful with the Summiluxes at the same time.
In effect, there is no substitute for the M Summilux in my humble opinion and in terms of output you won't see a big difference in sharpness due to the megapixels, but definitely in terms of the uniqueness of the lenses ... to be able to use the Summiluxes alone the M system is priceless in my book ... they have a way of capturing light which is just beautiful which is characterized by a glow ("swallowing light") in combination with heightened micro-contrast already at 1.4 ... if you use the Apo 35 / 50 you will have perfect landscape lenses which can create very detailed imagery and with the Summiluxes you have perfect portrait lenses with a unique look ... so in my view a very enticing combo. And for me the biggest benefit is the compactness of the system ... the M is highly unobtrusive while I imagine the new X to be a tad bigger which nudges it slightly out of the "bring anywhere" sphere ... the M you can sling around and carry around really anywhere, all day long ...
Leica lenses are unique and renowned for their character and there's a reason why they are so revered which lies in their look: The bokeh, the smoothness of the sharpness falloff, the micro contrast wide-open ... especially the Summiluxes.
In addition, remember that the M11 can both be precise with the APO lenses and characterful with the Summiluxes at the same time.
In effect, there is no substitute for the M Summilux in my humble opinion and in terms of output you won't see a big difference in sharpness due to the megapixels, but definitely in terms of the uniqueness of the lenses ... to be able to use the Summiluxes alone the M system is priceless in my book ... they have a way of capturing light which is just beautiful which is characterized by a glow ("swallowing light") in combination with heightened micro-contrast already at 1.4 ... if you use the Apo 35 / 50 you will have perfect landscape lenses which can create very detailed imagery and with the Summiluxes you have perfect portrait lenses with a unique look ... so in my view a very enticing combo. And for me the biggest benefit is the compactness of the system ... the M is highly unobtrusive while I imagine the new X to be a tad bigger which nudges it slightly out of the "bring anywhere" sphere ... the M you can sling around and carry around really anywhere, all day long ...
You’ve captured it perfectly there. I’m just drawn to that ‘characterful’ Lux lens look as you call it. I can spot it a mile away in images. It’s a real tough one though, as both systems have their advantages, but I do feel that with the latest M, rangefinder peculiarities not withstanding, that the M11 is getting more and more versatile (e.g dynamic range improvements, long exposure capabilities vs M10 etc) such that the differences with a medium format product like the X2D are getting less significant. I don’t see the 100mpx vs 60mpx advantage that the latter has over the M11 as being compelling enough.