What is your sharpest/best lens?

[Legion]

OK, we know sharpness is not everything. But I was taking a few head shots for the wife's portfolio yesterday, and man, the Fuji 56mm f1.2 just keeps blowing me away.

Not only has it the most beautiful bokeh, it is so sharp, even wide open at f1.2.

I have had some fast Leica lenses, and even with those was always a bit funny about using them wide open, so what was the point? But not this lens. No way.

I will try to post a shot, knowing that the software here will downsize the image in an unpredictable way, but trust me, at 300% crop on the raw file I can see every pore, hair, and myself reflected in her damn eyeball! Wide open at f1.2!!! Crazy stuff.

So tell us about your favourite lens? Why is it your #1?

 

[shm]

I don't own any "light strong" lenses, but the sharpest must be my Minolta 3.5/50mm Macro closely followed by my Sony 2.8/100mm Macro.

To be honest, I know my 50mm best, I haven't experimented/used the 100mm much yet, so I can get the sharpest photos from the small one currently.

 

[djh]

So many variables to consider here. Most of the macro lenses which I have used have been frighteningly sharp and very suited to their designed purpose but not necessarily the "best" or a favourite. Perhaps my favourite is my CZ 80/2.8 (on MF) or maybe even my Nikkor 50/1.2... even though I favour 35mm as a focal length.

 

[Radium]

Off my head Pentax FA 77 mm f1.8 Limited lens, Pentax 50mm F2.8 FA - 100mm FA 2.8 macro lenses, Leica 35mm F1.4 ASPH. Summilux M lens, Leica 90mm F2 Apo/ASPH. Summicron M lens

 

[Doraemon]

Sharpest? The sharpest I have used is the Olympus OM 90mm f/2 macro.

My favorite lens is the V4 Leica Summicron 35/2. I got rid of my 50mm Summilux and 21mm Super Angulon, and have stuck with just the V4 Summicron and MP. I like the Fuji 28mm f/2, I just wish Fuji would make lenses which fit Leica bodies.

For 50mm, my favorite is the Millennium Nikkor, 50mm f/1.4, which I use with a 2005 Nikon SP.

 

[Hoka Hey]

Gone now, but a Zeiss on a Leica M2. Stunning clarity. Borderline harsh, but on the right side of the line.

 

[Legion]

Sharpest? The sharpest I have used is the Olympus OM 90mm f/2 macro.

My favorite lens is the V4 Leica Summicron 35/2. I got rid of my 50mm Summilux and 21mm Super Angulon, and have stuck with just the V4 Summicron and MP. I like the Fuji 28mm f/2, I just wish Fuji would make lenses which fit Leica bodies.

For 50mm, my favorite is the Millennium Nikkor, 50mm f/1.4, which I use with a 2005 Nikon SP.

Haha! Leica would love that. As if fuji aren't stealing enough of their business.

 

[Edcculus]

Probably my 90mm Mamiya.

Here is a scan of a darkroom print using that lens. I'm not sure if it does it justice, but the negative is just stunning to look at.

Black and White - Edward Struble

 

[Highspeedlane]

Most likely this lens:

 

[sfeile]

I don't have a lot of high dollar lenses, but when I was doing model photography, my workhorse was a Canon 24-105L lens. Only an F4, but it was a very good all around lens for location shooting with my portable lights. On my 40D it was more of a 38.4-168 due to the 1.6 crop factor.

 

[Highspeedlane]

I have a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro lens (I believe that's a 160mm on my APC-C EOS 60D) that looks great in the middle range, roughly 5.6 to 11. The few times I've used it stopped down, the resolution seemed to fall apart. Areas where I wanted to see detail became muddy. This is one of the older, non-USM Canon lenses.

I used this lens for some fish tank photography when my wife had a salt water tank and wanted to post some pics of it to the web. It's a beautiful hunk of aluminum and glass. I just have to keep it somewhere in the middle aperture range and it works great (looks a lot better wide open than stopped down though).

Back in the day it was MANDATORY for everyone to have a sharp prime lens in their bag. Fast is good, and f2.8 was considered minimum.

 

[D.Gray]

My Pentax 24mm 1:2 internal focus lens is probably my sharpest lens, and now that I have a full frame sensor (Pentax K-1) it acts like a wide angle lens instead of acting like a normal view lens like it did on the crop sensor.

 

[Ricksplace]

4X5 -127/4.7 Kodak Ektar
6X9 -105/3.5 voitlander color-heliar
6x7 -80/2.8 schnieder krueznach xenotar
6x6 -80/2.8 Zeiss biometar, 120/2.8 Zeiss biometar, 50/4 Zeiss flektogon 75/3.5 zeiss tessar
35mm -1.4/50 SMC Pentax, 2.0/50 schnieder krueznach xenon
16mm -24/2.8 pentax
I have several 100yr old barrel lenses I use on a 4x5 speed graphic with a focal plane shutter. They're sharp in the middle devolving to a nice mush by the edges. Old time bokeh that can be achieved easily in photoshop (which I don't use). I still print in the darkroom, black and white only now.

 

[Zenoptic]

My old Nikon 105mm.