Sharpest non-AF Nikon lens?

hankchinaski

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What is the sharpest, pre-AF Nikon lens? I am talking about the queen of queens, something like the Rollei Schneider Apo-Symmar 90 mm F/4.0 Macro for medium format.

ChatGPT said "One of the sharpest Nikon lenses without autofocus is the Nikon 105mm f/2.5 AI-S lens. It's renowned for its exceptional sharpness and optical quality. Despite being a manual focus lens, its optical performance is highly regarded by photographers, particularly for portrait and macro photography.", but I want to run it through the collective millennium of experience of photrio users.
 

albireo

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No idea, but cool user name! It's been a while since I've read Hot Water Music. Need to revisit.
 

Nicholas Lindan

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Sharpest is probably your choice of the 105/3.5, 105/2.8 or 200/4.0 Micro Nikkors. The 55/3.5 and 55/2.8 are no slouches, either.

As to the AI answer, well, I have the same same attitude to Artificial Intelligence as I do to Artificial Flavoring and Artificial Sweetening. All the AIBots do is give you the same answer you would get from Wikipedia & Co., but without the attribution of where the information came from.

AI comes and goes on a 30 year or so cycle. The young'uns think it is something new and great, without listening to the wrinklies and crumblies as they tell 'em last time AI came around all it finally amounted to was smoke and mirrors. The quality of the smoke and mirrors has improved over the years, but it's still smoke and mirrors.
 
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chuckroast

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I find the 35mm f/1.4 and 85mm f/1.4 both the equal of better of the 105mm f/2.5 which IS very sharp.

The 180mm F/2.8 is also excellent
 

Paul Howell

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I had the Nikon 105 2.5, currently have the Pentax M42 105 2.8, Miranda 105 2.6 Konica 100 and Minolta 100 2.8, I could say that the Nikon is any better, all can resolve Tmax 100.
 

Dan Fromm

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What decision(s) will the answers you get drive? How will they change what you do?
 

Mick Fagan

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I have the last manual focus Ai-S 105 f/2.5 with inbuilt hood, as well as the Ai-S 85 f/1.4 CRC which has a separate lens hood.

When doing portraiture, the 85mm lens is sometimes better as it has floating elements CRC (Close Range Correction), thereby keeping a better overall sharpness as you start to get quite close.

Either way there is very little in it when it comes to the range of Nikkor fast lenses from the Ai-S era.

The 180 f/2.8 is also a screamer. The downfall of this lens if you use it with a tripod, is that the lens is quite heavy and could do with a tripod collar. I've always wanted to fit a tripod collar to mine, but as I moved more and more towards the 4x5" format, I stopped worrying about finding and adapting a tripod collar.

I too would like you to answer Dan Fromm's question, it would certainly make for a more tailor made reply.
 

beemermark

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Better question is what pre-AF Nikon lenses aren't that good. All of the AI & AIS prime lenses are excellent performers. Most of the non-AI lenses were pretty good but the AI lenses are usually better. For the most prime lenses there wasn't any change to the AIS. Many of the zooms were pretty good. I have the 24~50 /4 that's outstanding.
 

RalphLambrecht

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In my opinion, it's the Micro Nikkor 55mm f/3.5
 

MarkS

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The question is impossible to answer because different lenses do different things. Captain Obvious would tell you that wide-angles, normal lenses, and telephotos all serve different purposes and cannot be directly compared.
Should I be forced to choose one lens, though, I would suggest the 55/2.8 Micro-Nikkor. I've used several different examples since 1985 and that lens has never let me down *for its intended purpose*.
 

FriedLouisStudio

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The 55/3.5 Micro and 105/2.5 are the champs among the lenses I've used.

And the tiny Tessar-style 45/2.8 GN is quite sharp considering it's so small/light vs. other pre-AI lenses.
 

Christiaan Phleger

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"What is the sharpest, pre-AF Nikon lens? I am talking about the queen of queens, something like the Rollei Schneider Apo-Symmar 90 mm F/4.0 Macro for medium format."

The premise of only keeping to Pre-AF is false if comparing to the Rollei, which was designed well into Nikon's AF era of optical design. Apples to Apples, APO-Symmar would be like a 200mm or 105mm Micro AF.

In terms of sheer resolution in Pre-AF, you'd have to consider lenses that were introduced just prior to the AF era which would have not only the most advanced computer aided optical design but also use more advanced glass and coatings, so I'd say either the 180mm ED Ai-s or the 85mm f/1.4 Ai-s. I've owned and extensively used both of those and I would think the 200mm Micro IF would be another higher resolving lens but I've not had first hand experience.

Besides, unless you're doing everything correctly (and well ha) at proper f/stops with good technique on high resolution film/sensor then chasing 'sharpness' and resolution of lenses (and expecting comparisons between actual different Optical Types to 'matter') is a journey that has the wagon wheel ruts of generations of photographers. By all means enjoy the discovery, I'd say find a focal length that you use or want to use and try a few, there's some sample variation especially used.
 

chuckroast

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I have the older 180mm f/2.8 Nikkor-P and it's shockingly sharp and high performance. Concur on the 85mm f/1.4 Ai-S to which I would add the 35mm f/1.4 Ai-S
 

Christiaan Phleger

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Ha yeah I was going to include the 35mm f/1.4 but that's an easy generation before, stellar lens as well. I've had many copies, I prefer the older N version with the 'built in yellow filter' but I think the most modern Ai-S could be in this level of list.

And the Nikkor 180mm P is an exquisite optic, I used to use the P.C Ai Converted version, at moderate distances, I'd still put the Ed Ai-s version ever so slightly ahead on sheer 'sharpens'. The 180 P has a lovely character in it's own way, not just in sharpness.
 

Nitroplait

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hankchinaski said:
What is the sharpest, pre-AF Nikon lens? I am talking about the queen of queens, something like the Rollei Schneider Apo-Symmar 90 mm F/4.0 Macro for medium format.
Click to expand...

“Sharpness” is not really such an objective term as many tend to believe.

An example from outside the Nikon ecosystem could be the Leica Summicron (v. 2) - the rigid version for Leica M produced 1956-1968 versus Summicron v3 produced 1969-1979.
Objectively version 2 resolves more line-pairs pr. millimeter over version 3 and can therefore be said to be sharper lens of the two.
However, v3 provides more contrast and will to most eyes appear sharper.

One lens may excel over another at certain distance or aperture ranges - and sometimes differences in resolution or contrast may be completely irrelevant if the photographer only uses 400 iso film or never enlarges above 24x30cm.

It would therefore help to define a use case scenario to discuss the matter further.

But as a general rule of thumb; newer lens designs will appear sharper than older optical designs.
Example the Nikkor AI 28/2.8S over any previous Nikon 28mm designs.
The result from an older optical design will appear shaper with more modern coating for example the Nikkor AI 105/2.5S will appear sharper than the Nikkor-P Auto from 1971 even though they share optical design.
 

250swb

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The 105mm f2.5 is undoubtedly the sharpest manual lens I have, but I don't use it much, so I'll go with the 'long nose' 50mm f/1.8 Ai-S as the next sharpest plus it has other advantages like it's easier to handle than the pancake 50mm f/1.8 (nearly as sharp or as sharp depending on your view) especially in cold weather and I think the bokeh is better.
 

skahde

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At one point I did a series of resolution tests where the Micro-Nikkor 2.8/55 mm easily outresolved the M-Summicron 2/50 v5. I don't know about the 3.5 Ralph mentioned but from the about a dozen and some Nikkors that went through my hands the 2.8/55 would take the cake. Other top-performers: 2.8/28 mm AIS, 2/50 mm, 1.2/50 at and above f2 (beware of the bokeh), any manual 85 mm, 2.5/105, 3.5 or 2.8/135 mm, ED 2.8/180 mm, also the AF-version. Not so hot and because it got mentioned: the Micro-Nikkor AI(s) 200 mm IF, a generally good lens, a great macro lens but the 180s are visibly better within their range.
 
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