Given the fact that almost no one owns a filmholder which actually holds the film truly flat,
and that people rarely use the optimum f-stop with a view lens, but stop down per plane
of focus considerations, this is a pretty nonsensical discussion. Sharp where - closeup?
Infinity? True apo per color work? What is the subjective definition of subjective??? But
given the lenses I personlly use (Fuji A's, C's, G-Clarons, Nikkor M's, etc), I doubt I'll discover anything "sharper" for field use.
For all we know the OP maybe using a digital sensor. And I love the irony of talking about film flatness as the more "real" concern. Film flatness is as much an issue as field curvature is. Sure... if there's a lot if it, it's bad but most of the time it doesn't make a difference. And even if you solve the film flatness issue, you can't solve the field curvature issues entirely... does that mean one has to give up photography? Can't we shoot anything other than an in-focus wall?
Perhaps these are points that you should use to enlighten the OP with instead using them to shoot him down. OP's specifically asking for subjective opinions... you are basically saying he can't ask such questions. Don't you think you're doing the wrong thing here by not informing the moderators then?
The best lens is the one you've tried and know produces the best images for the type of photography you do, with the film (or sensor) you use, and under the conditions you use it.
Cheers, Steve
Last edited by Steve Hamley; 20-Jul-2012 at 08:22. Reason: typo
And so we are doubly blessed and this thread can be closed without the mention of Hitler. (Grinning smiley)
Ooops! Oh, crap!
One man's Mede is another man's Persian.
Is sharp good? Is sharp eminently important? Do it in Photoshop and you can sharpen it until it's unrecognizable!!!
I sweated over which of these to get back when doing my first shopping. I could barely tell the MTF curves of the two lenses apart, so it makes sense that the real world differences would be unimportant. I'd like to get some of that sweat back. Maybe it could be applied to more important things ...
Depends on the work you're doing, how you want it to look. For different projects of mine, sharp has been very important, not very important, or somewhere in between.
Sharpening after the fact is helpful but has limits (I'd call unrecognizeability a serious limit ...)
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