jj - You're obviously totally ignorant of the practical facts involved. Trying to convince someone like me, who has actually used these lenses year-in /year-out for various critical applications, isn't going to be swayed by your sheer guesswork generic assumptions. All the big pro labs around here used Apo Nikkors for mural-sized printing. I use them not only for more precise results than ANY official enlarging lens can achieve (and I have some of the best of those too), but also for very critical color dupe and interneg work. The technically best tele-photographer I've even known routinely uses some of the same lenses at INFINITY. They've frequently been adapted by view camera photographers for general usage all the way for macro to infinity, but are a bit bulky in my opinion, especially if fitted in shutter, but otherwise optically superb over that whole range.
What you don't seem to understand is that factory specifications for these kinds of lenses are based upon printing conventions and extremely accurate apo dot reproduction standards far in excess of ordinary photographic needs. But just study up on how these lenses get re-purposed. Not long ago, remaining Apo El Nikkors were highly coveted for large expensive scanning-back cameras used for reproduction of paintings and related art forensic purposes. Some people still use them on conventional enlarging system, though it takes a very well built enlarger to support their extra weight. The shortest Apo El Nikkor is a 105, and the shortest Apo Nikkor 180, so pretty much off the radar of typical 35mm photographers.
But it works both ways. Cheapo student-grade 3-element enlarging lenses tend to be just rebranded cheapo stat camera lenses like those once used in T-shirt silkscreening shops and for other casual graphics applications.
