Which lens is sharper - 1.4, 1.8. 2 at F8

[ColColt]

I've read that some of the noted photojournalist of yesteryear, such as Eugene Smith, most always used f8-f11 for the better dof. I don't know how he did that and maintained sharpness under some of the lighting conditions of his photos.

I did an informal test between the Zeiss 50 f2 Planar ZM lens and the tried and true 50 f2 DR Summicron not long back. There wasn't a dime's worth of difference to my eye but, the Zeiss would have no doubt won out had I used color instead of B&W. The contrast difference between the two was minor. That said volumes to me about such a much older lens.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Weegee used flash and prefocused. He would set the aperture at f/8 and said to "f/8 and be there".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee

 

[RobC]

f8-11 is the typical 'sweet'spot' for 35mm lenses;by f/8 all abberations are minimized or gone and above f/11 ,diffraction takes over.

I think that needs to be qualified. Diffraction is always present but whether you can see it in the image is dependant on the aperture used AND how much you enlarge the negative. For a 10X enlargement f8 or f11 should be just fine. But for a 20x or 30x enalrgement you would need to be looking at f4 or f5.6 and for that you need a high quality lens and great lighting.