Sharpest Lenses

Krisgage · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 681 Location: Singapore

for me currently will be

zeiss planar 50mm f1.7
micro-nikkor 55mm f3.5

Keysersoze27 · Expire: 2012-12-24

For me:

CZ Distagon 2.8/28(insanely sharp at f4~f5.6 on crop sensor... around f8 on film)
CZ Planar 1.7/50
S-M-C Tak 1.4/50 (at f5.6)
CZ Sonnar 2.8/85
Nikkor 1.8/50 AiS v1 (I might even say it's sharper than the Planar 1.7/50)

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

the S-M-C Macro Takumar 50m f4:

2Thumbs · Joined: 14 Jul 2009 Posts: 12

spiralcity · Joined: 02 Oct 2008 Posts: 1207 Location: Chicago, U.S.A

This is pretty sharp. What do you guys think?

100% crop from center.

indianadinos · Expire: 2011-12-05

I would like to add the Steinheil 135/2.8 to the list ...

koji · Expire: 2012-12-27

I would add Ultra-Micro Nikkor 50/2, it is f*cking sharp!
But it is not too common, so my second best is Planar 55/1.2,
it's a not common lens neither, but it's a regular normal lens.

voytek · Joined: 24 Nov 2009 Posts: 891

APO Lanthar 2.5/125

Karhallarn · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 577

My sharpest lens is the Volna-3 80 2.8 set to f4.

Wide open my Nikkor AF 50 1.8 is the sharpest.

For Telephoto my Sonnar 180 2.8 set to f4 is nearly as sharp as the Volna.

@Attila: How do you adept an Exakta mount to Nikon?

no-X · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:40 am Post subject:

I think my current sharpest lens is probably the 125/2.5 Lanthar. I'm not sure, if I took this shot at f/4 or at f/2.5, but I was surprised by it's sharpness:

koji · Expire: 2012-12-27

This is a beautiful shot, no-X.

Nesster · Expire: 2014-02-20

I'm having fun reading old photo mags... and just this question was asked in Modern Photo, Nov '76 issue's Too Hot To Handle section:

Q: I have a question you might be hard-pressed to answer, but here goes. What is the sharpest "normal" lens on the market for a 35mm camera?

A: We are indeed a bit "hard-pressed" to answer your question, not out of fear of offending anybody but because you do not define your terms or conditions. We will interpret "sharpness" to mean that which is measurable under laboratory conditions with test instruments. Among normal lenses (45-58mm) we've tested for 35mm cameras the (discontinued) 50mm f/2 Dual Range Leitz Summicron would be the best performer we have encountered overall; among the current f/1.4 lenses, the prize would go to the current black mount rangefinder version of the 50mm f/1.4 Leitz Summilux. We could emphasize that many comparable Canon, Nikkor, Takumar and Rokkor lenses (among others) are so close to this pair in overall performance that you would probably be unable to demonstrate any practical difference between picture-taking results obtained with them and the afore-mentioned Leitz optics.

estudleon · Joined: 15 May 2008 Posts: 3754 Location: Argentina

I had the Summicron DR.

It seemed to me a marvelous mechanical and optically.

If I can get an excelent example of M3 again, the DR will be my lens again too (with eyes, of course). neutral contrast and excelent IQ.

Rino.

poilu · Expire: 2019-08-29

the sharpest lenses are in my bag Laughing

nemesis101 · Expire: 2015-01-22

Pentax KA f2.8 100mm macro

Pentax M f4 100mm Macro

Zeiss Planar f1.7 50mm (AE)

Zeiss Planar f1.4 50mm (MM)

Pentax f1.4 Super Takumar 50mm

Chinon (Tomioka) f1.4 55mm

Minolta MD f1.4 50mm

Minolta MD f3.5 Rokkor Macro 50mm

Canon FD f3.5 macro 50mm

Konica Hexanon f1.7 40mm

hexi · Expire: 2011-11-18

So far the Zeiss Sonnar 135 3.5 is the sharpest of the "few" lenses i have.
but i also like the Rokkor 135 2.8 , the 1.4 / 50 mm MD same brand, Zuiko 1.4/50mm and the Tessar 2.8/50 and the Helios 58mm is very good.

To compare with, the Planar 1.7/50 mm arrives tomorrow Very Happy

Big Dawg · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 2530 Location: Thach Alabama

1. Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4
2. Pentax M 50mm f/1.7
3. Auto Takumar 55mm f/1.8
4. Super Takumar 135mm f/3.5
5. Vivitar TX & T4 200mm f/3.5
6. Vivitar fixed mount 200mm f/3.5
7. Vivitar Series 1 105mm f/2.8 Macro Lens
8. Vivitar series 1 70-210 f/3.5 groups 1, 2 and 3 (Grp 3 f/2.8-4)
9. Vivitar 85mm f/1.9 preset
10. Super Takumar 50mm f/4 macro lens

wildlightphoto · Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 66 Location: Sacramento USA

1 ) Leica 280mm f/4 APO-Telyt-R
2 ) 300mm f/4.5 Nikkor*ED AI (non-IF)
3 ) Leica 180mm f/2.8 APO-Elmarit-R
4 ) Leitz 560mm f/6.8 Telyt-R
5 ) Leica 100mm f/2.8 APO-Macro-Elmarit-R
6 ) Leitz 60mm Macro-Elmarit-R
7 ) 55mm f/3.5 Micro-Nikkor AI
8 ) Leitz 400mm f/6.8 Telyt
9 ) Novoflex 400mm f/5.6 T-Noflexar
10) Leica 35mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R

anori · Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:33 pm Post subject:

my sharp one is CZJ sonnar 135/3.5, coz i only have that one Very Happy

sampel using czj 135

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

anori · Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:47 pm Post subject:

RokkorDoctor · Expire: 2025-05-01

If I am allowed to be a little facetious;

My sharpest lens is the Minolta UW ROKKOR-PG 18mm f/9.5

Optically quite soft, but you can prepare sushi with the metal twist-on petal lens hood Wink

Care advised when fitting!

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9096 Location: Houston, Texas

An interesting old thread you've ressurrected. I had been a member here for only a few months when the last message was posted, which is probably why I missed it back then. Of course, now it makes me think about which lenses I own that I would consider sharpest. This is not as easy as it would seem. I use the term "critically sharp" below, and what I mean by that is the sharpness exceeds the resolution of either the film being used (typically Kodachrome 25 or 64) or the sensor of my digital camera (24.3 mp).

A few that I own, which often go overlooked because of their "normalcy" are normals. Such as the Canon FD 50mm f/1.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and f/2.

Wide angles are often quite sharp, but I can think of only two that I found to be remarkable: the Canon FL 35mm f/2.5 and the Vivitar 35nn f.1,9.

Of the short teles that I own, I have only one standout -- the Canon FD 85mm f/1.2 Aspherical. I also own a Canon FD 85mm f/1.8 and a Nikkor 105mm f/2.5, plus a number of 135s. These are sharp lenses, but not critically sharp lenses.

Telephotos: Canon FD 200mm f//4 IF, Tamron 300mm f/2.8 LD IF, Century Precision Optics Tele-Athenar 500mm f/5.6, Meade 1000mm f/11 SCT. The Meade requires a very stout tripod, but when set up properly, its resolution capabilities are impressive. I'm tempted to include the Tamron 500mm f/8 mirror (55BB in my case), but it is not quite as sharp as the CPO 500mm.

Macros -- now, here I own several that I consider to be critically sharp: Nikkor 50mm f/3.5, Nikkor 50mm f/2.8, Tamron 90mm f/2.5, Canon 100mm f/4, Asahi Pentax Takumar 100mm f/4, Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 CF. I also own the famed Vivitar 100mm f/2.8 and the Nikkor 200mm f/4, but I don't consider either to be critically sharp. Sharp, yes, but not critically sharp.

Ray Parkhurst · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:40 pm Post subject:

Yep, this thread was long before my time on the forum, but a fun one.

My sharpest lens is the 105mm Printing-Nikkor, followed by the 95mm Printing-Nikkor. With these two lenses I can cover from 0.3x...2.5x with best in class performance. Below 0.3x I like the 55mm f3.5 Micro-Nikkor.

LittleAlex · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:42 pm Post subject:

Nikon 55mm f/2.8 AI-s

This lens is often used as the benchmark against which other lenses are compared. It's that good. ... It is hellaciously sharp at every aperture and distance, diffraction limited by f/5.6 in the center, extremely well made and fairly inexpensive. It is manual-focus only. (c)

https://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/55f28ais.htm

My own experience shoves that it is not the vain statement at all.

For example, there is my photo with it, done by Sony a7s:

There is that photo in it's full glory:

https://i.ibb.co/7VbjXVn/DSC00169-min.jpg