Comparison of the SD1M/17-70 C lens with the DPxM series

I was thinking about getting the 18-35 Art lens. I already have the 17-70 Contemporary lens; how does it compare to the fixed focus DP lenses?

I chose a scene with near detail (in a color other than brown), far buildings, and an horizon. The SD was on a tripod, DPs handheld. All images were taken at f/8; processed in SPP 6.2.1 with all sliders at 0 except exposure, saturation, and fill light. SD images were Daylight, Landscape (which tends to a little too much red); DP images Daylight, Standard. The focal point in all cameras was in the center. I took at least two images for each camera and chose the best for the views below (best being the largest .X3F file).

top row : DP1M, DP2M, DP3M. Bottom row SD1M

I thought the DP3M color was most accurate.

Now the same arrangement of images, but at 400x enlargement just a little above center:

The 'C' lens performance in the center was similar to the fixed focal length DP lenses, but the DP series were more 'crunchy' (most noticeably at 19 mm)

The C lens had much more CA in the corners. At 400x on lower right corner we get:

At 19 mm, the corners of the Contemporary lens were much worse than the DP1M. At 30 mm, the C lens was fine, but there was something wrong with the DP2M images (both that I took) - the foreground was somewhat OOF. And at 49 mm the corner performance was pretty similar to the DP3M.

So if I never need to shoot faster than f/8, it doesn't appear that I will gain much with the 18-35 Art lens. (But I'd entertain arguments to the contrary:-))

David