I know the reputation of this lens is high. But I came to share with a friend wh o ownes one (and from who I borrowed it) and we could not state that the lens wa s sharp. We both pulled out a variety of pictures taken with the same lens sampl e (an early make) and with different cameras in a variety of situations, with a range of f-stops. Even if they looked good under a 3x loupe, closer scrutiny on all the slides we had showed a certain lack of details, just as if the resolving power of the lens was relatively poor. However, on Chris Perez and Kerry Thalma nn's lens test page at hevanet.com, this lens came out relatively well, with 42 lpm at f32 versus 48 to 54 lpm for a long lens: the Fujinon 450/12.5. But place d side by side with an Apo-Ronar 360's shot, the T 500 slides are really noticea bly softer. For example, a slide taken with the A-R showed distinctly the blades of grass at a distance, when with the T 500, grass was just a green mass. We ar e now wondering if this particular lens is behaving correctly, or if other T 500 's are perhaps sharper than this one?
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