At close distances, surprisingly very much like the 50/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH stopped down a little. This was shot pretty close to the minimum focus distance, and wide open. (All images shot with the Leica M8 and 21/1.4 Summilux-M ASPH.)
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Although backgrounds in middle distance are quite blurred, there's still enough definition to be able to tell what's in the background.
If you don't have any cues in your image as to scale or geometry, it's quite easy to believe that you're shooting with a normal or moderate tele:
Backgrounds are always busy, because it's a superwide and the further away from the camera you get, the more there is going on. So no matter how fast your aperture, the relative blur you can achieve compared to a longer focal length is always going to be significantly less - just look at the depth of field scales.
At longer distances, there's just enough defocus to separate the subject from the background - it looks MUCH better with a large image, or better yet, a print. This has the nice advantage of giving a photo a more 3D feel thanks to that separation.
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Bottom line: not as much isolation as I'd have thought or liked, but opens up new opportunities when light starts to get low, or your subjects are a little closer...
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