Actually, my orginal response said all things being equal. This means
holding everything else the same. Of couse, a more expensive faster lens
with ED/florite elements or a better design will have a sharper image.
The poster asked about using the 50mm as a loupe. I'm sure it would be
used wide open.
John
On Thu, 20 May 1999, Giles wrote:
>
> The old lore about slower lenses tending to be better performing than faster
> lenses
> may be true for other brands but it does not hold true with respect to Zuikos.
>
> George is right, with Zuikos the lore is fallacious as the tendency is for
> the
> faster lenses to be better performers than their slower counterparts.
>
> It is not a simple matter of just the number of elements and light
> transmission.
> Gary's tests have shown that some multi element zooms rival some fixed focal
> length
> lenses wich have far fewer elements.
>
> When comparing fast lenses and slower ones it is not really valid to say that
> the
> slower one is sharper at it's maximum aperture than the faster one is at its
> maximum
> aperture. The more valid comparison is to compare the lenses at equivalent
> apertures. When you do this the picture changes. Looking at the performance
> of a
> 50mm f1.2 at f1.2 might lead you to think it is a dog, but compare it at f2
> with the
> 50mm f1.8 at f1.8 and it is the latter which starts to bark.
>
> This tends to hold true across the line of Zuikos. As was pointed out, all
> lenses
> tend to be at their best when closed down one to two stops. This means that
> a fast
> lens will tend to achieve its best performance at a wider aperture than a
> slower
> one.
>
> Giles
>
>
> J. Williams wrote:
>
> > How so? Slower lenses have fewer optical elements. Fewer elements mean
> > more light transmission. F1.8 wide open should be sharper than f1.2/f1.4
> > at wide open.
> >
> > John
>
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