I was looking at Chris Perez's web site in light of the recent discussion about LF lens resolution and noticed that in at least one case where CP tested two samples of the same lens (the Nikkor 300/9 M, of similar vintage) he got very different results. Not only were the resolution figures different (i.e., more than a couple of lp/mm) but the two samples behaved differently, with one performing best at f11 and the other at f22. (Let me know if I'm reading the test results wrongly; I've never been one to study, much less understand, lens tests so I may be 'way off here. If so, please delete this thread and save me from eternal embarrassment!) The discrepancies of these two lenses--if such discrepancies exist--are particularly interesting in light of a recent thread on this site in which one poster really dissed the Nikkor 300M while others jumped to its defense. (There are also discrepancies in two similar Fuji 450's, but they're much less significant.) I'm not saying the two lenses tested would produce pictures of different quality, so don't flame me for raising something that wouldn't matter in the real world; I'm just noting that in one of the few cases where CP tested two examples of the same lens there was a significant difference in performance.

Has anyone privately or in print addressed the issue of variances among different samples of the same lens? Do magazines ever put more than one example of a tested model on an optical bench, or are the results on which everyone bases their buying decisions really just those pertaining to one example? And is there likely to be more or less variance among smaller-production-run LF lenses (especially those produced over the course of several years or decades without a design change) vis-a-vis mass-produced 35mm lenses? Just wondering; it won't affect my photography or equipment purchases, b