Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 7:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
stevemark wrote:
kds315* wrote: |
Testing MACRO lenses at infinity clearly shows the quality of this "TEST" |
Yes and no
Of course the "average" Macro lens from the 1960s or 1970s (the common 3.5/50, 3.5/100 or 4/100mm) was designed for, maybe, something between 1:5 and 1:10. Nevertheless most manufacturers did promote them as "universal lenses from infinity to close range". And these days, most users will use them for exactly this purpose.
The whole "repro business", financially quite important for many professional photographers in the 1960/70s, was the reason to develop macro lenses with little distortion and good correction of field curvature. Such vintage macro lenses, around 1:5 or 1:10, usually have a good correction over the entire field. Nevertheless - and unknown to most! - the center resolution of e. g. the Ai Nikkor 1.4/50mm was better than the center resolution of the Ai 3.5/50mm Micro Nikkor, even at close range.
So, to summarize it, theses days most users of a macro/micro lens in the 1:1 ... 1:10 range won't use it for reproductions, but for subjects where corner performance simply doesn't matter. Many of today's users of these Macro lenses, however, are interested to shoot landscapes along with small objects. And exactly for them, the "tf" tests certainly are valuable.
Stephan _________________ www.artaphot.ch |