sharpest lens of all?

[tim_robinson]

Ok with all this talk of lens sharpness what do you think is the

sharpest lens of all?Forget the creamiest etc etc i,m talking

detail, every wrinkle , can read a license plate from 100 miles

away ,that sort of sharp. Oh and if you shoot colour then what film

are we talking about??? B & W for me is tech pan

[pedro_lastra2]

The 100mm Apo Macro at F8 and at 1 meter. Close up portraits done

this way will make you very unpopular. For film, my pick is Delta

100. Very fine grain and solid acutance. With the combo above you can

duplicate medium format performance up to 16x magnification. After

that, the film grains shows and tonality, close up, deteriorates.

Tech pan is probably higher res, but is lower acutance and invisible

grain make it look less sharp.

[jackflesher]

Summicron 90mm APO asph M. Hands down, no contest. You get cuts on

your eyeballs from looking at the images this lens produces.

 

<p>

 

Tech pan is awesome, yes, but more practical choices are Delta 100

and T-max 100, 'cause they are about as sharp.

[david_page1]

In Leica R: Either of the current 180 APO lenses - Summicron or

Elmarit; in Leica M: 90 APO ASPH Summicron. Tech Pan is not a general

usage film, but is incredibly sharp. I probably would go with Delta

100 for general usage. Kodachrome 25 is the winner where contrast is

concerned, but is discontinued. Provia 100 is probably next best.

[budc]

Somebody on the LUG said a Leica Rep told him it was the 28

SummicronM followed by the 90 APO SummicronM. Personally, I'm more

interested in how the lens handles color.

[j_london]

Hubble Telescope

[MTC Photography]

COMPLAN lens on Minox B

[andrew_schank]

My current 50 Summicron and 90 Elmarit, especially at f5.6 to f8.0,

are pushing the theoretical limits for 35mm camera optics. My other

resolution champ is a 25 year old Nikon 55 f3.5 Micro Nikkor P-my

sharpest Nikon lens. The detail that thing can resolve at f8.0 may

be even be a bit higher than any of my Leica lenses, especially with

subjects closer than about 10 feet.

[art_karr]

Tim:

 

<p>

 

You just said lens. Ok, the two sharpest l have used are:

 

<p>

 

1. Zeiss 1 x

 

<p>

 

2. Leitz, APO, 100X oil immersion.

 

<p>

 

Both quite expensive, but very sharp.

 

<p>

 

Art

[fergus_hammond]

I just got from Glazer's in Seattle, where they're having a Leica

Day. The rep said 28 Summicron M, then 90 APO Summicron M.

[art_karr]

Great lenses:

 

<p>

 

Now, don't hold me to these names since they are coming from

deep in my memory. I think it was something called a Welby, 75

mm Acculux [60's]. They dodged the problems with air to

element by only using one element; they circumvented the

problems of glass formulation by using plastic.

 

<p>

 

Unfortunately, we can't test one because they appear to have

biodegraded. <b> <FONT COLOR="red"> :))</FONT> </b>

 

<p>

 

Art

[roberto_watson_garc_a]

Acording to some writing found in the net, the US army rated the

Summicron 50 D.R. as the sharpest, this in the sixties, and for

aereal photography I guess.

[collin_orthner]

I believe the Nikon Ultra-Micro-Nikkor line of lenses was designed

for extreme resolving power for copying circuit board microchips. As

for Leica - Apollo (Command Modules?)used the M-Summicron 50mm for

sighting stars for tracking purposes.

[wilhelm]

My sharpest lens is a 50mm f:1.4 SMCP Pentax, followed closely by DR

Summicron. The Pentax has better contrast, too. The new Canon 50mm

f:1.4 is in the same ball park. Great Bokeh on all three.

[mike_foster]

I have tried lots of Leica lenses. For the M series the sharpest to

me still seems the good old 50mm Summicron. For the R, I was blown

away with the 280/4 Apo Telyt.

 

<p>

 

Recently I have found the Zeiss 35mm Sonnar which happens to be in

the new Contax T3 to be one of the sharpest lenses ever! Certaintly

is as good as the 35mm Summicron ASPH at f5.6 and beyond. Maybe even

f4! What a lens!

[MTC Photography]

<h3> Performance per g </h3>

 

<p>

 

 

Performance per gram is an index = lpmm x format dimension

divided by camera weight in g

 

<p>

 

The following is a few examples

<PRE>

 

<p>

 

CAMERA lpmm format length weight performance per g

Minox TLX 170 11 98 17

M6+50 'LUX 95 36 835 4

Hassy 503cx 75 56 1520 3

 

<p>

 

Minox TLX not only has the sharpest photographic lens, but also

has by far the highest performance to weight ratio of 17 vs only 4

of M6

 

<p>

 

 

 

<p>

 

 

 

<p>

 

 

 

<p>

 

 

 

<p>

 

</PRE>

[Rob F.]

Martin, did you think that up all by yourself? Clever, but let's not

forget to state the units: lines per gram.

[paul_chefurka2]

"Lines per gram"? Sounds it should have more to do with mirrors and

razor blades than lenses and test charts...

[wilhelm]

Unless you're shooting on TechPan, Gigabit or possibly Kodachrome 25,

it doesn't make any difference how sharp the lens is, the information

on the negative is limited by the resolution of the film.

[art_karr]

Silly me, who though we were talking about lens sharpness. I

said:

 

<p>

 

<b> 1. Zeiss 1 x

 

<p>

 

2. Leitz, APO, 100X oil immersion. </b>

 

<p>

 

When you take into account the scope and all of the attached

computer equipment, I would lose on the lines per pound basis.

<b> <FONT COLOR="red"> ;<))</FONT> </b>

 

<p>

 

Art

[andy_piper2]

Paul - 50 points!!!!

[jackflesher]

Remember when the Space Shuttle made its first flight? If so, you'll

also probably remember that at that time the Navy was taking 8mm

(Yes, 8mm! I knew a guy on the P-3 Orion that photographed with it.)

movies of it from something like 250 miles away, and noticed that one

of the ceramic heat shield tiles had fallen off.

 

<p>

 

So, attention Martin: I seem to remember the tiles were 4" x 6" in

size... What LPM would the lens have to resolve to be able to see a

missing 4" tile at 250 miles?

 

<p>

 

And the bigger question is then: Does anybody know what lens was used

on the Navy's 8mm spy cameras in the early 80's?

[Sanford]

Canon 50mm macro breach lock

[MTC Photography]

Bob, great idea lines per gram

 

<p>

 

lines per mm x mm / g = lines per gram !

[MTC Photography]

Bill, you are right, I am shooting Techical Pan, enlargeable to

10x12" with hardly visible grain.

<p> I also shoot Agfapan apx 25 ( I saved two bulk rolls ) and

PanF plus.