In this instance, what you are paying for with the more expensive lens is not additional sharpness and contract... you are buying additional light gathering capability. Don't be fooled into thinking that a 1.2 is only a little bit faster than a 1.4, it is not a linear relationship. Instead of being 15% faster (.2 of 1.4), a 1.2 lens is twice as fast as a 1.4. It takes a lot more glass to bring in twice as much light, which is why the 1.2 lens is so much heavier.

What is impressive is not that the 1.4 lens has image quality equivalent to the more expensive 1.2 lens. Instead, be impressed that that 1.2 lens can match the sharpness and contrast of the 1.4. That is not an easy thing to do with such a wide aperture lens. That kind of performance (light gathering + sharpness + contrast) does not come cheap, as you have discovered.

tanstaafl.