New lens test: Nikon 55mm f/3.5 AI micro-Nikkor

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Administrator

Just posted this lens test. It is a good macro lens that shows very high resolution and sharpness. It lags a little behind its more modern brethren in the areas of corner sharpness and chromatic aberration. The problems are countered by its price, typically around $100 in good used condition. See the full test at the link below.

http://coinimaging.com/n55-35.html

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Added a couple new lens test recently.

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Administrator

Added lens tests for the Nikon El-Nikkor 75/4 enlarging lens and the Nikon E Plan 10/0.25 LWD objective. I tested the 75 mm both normal and reverse mounted to see what really works better. I found that the optical principle (based on how the lens was designed to work) that you should use an enlarging lens reversed when above 1:1 and normally mounted when below 1:1 seems to play out in my numerical testing, at least for this lens.

http://coinimaging.com/nikon75.html

http://coinimaging.com/nik10lwd.html

Mark.

 

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New lens test: Canon 35mm f/2.8 bellows lens

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Administrator

Just added the Canon 35mm bellows test to my lens test page. This is great lens that is highly recommended for high-magnification macro work.

http://coinimaging.com/can35_bel.html

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New lens test: Nikon 105/4 AIS micro

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Administrator

Added a new lens test today.

http://coinimaging.com/nikon_105-4ais.html

 

 

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All lens tests have been updated with the new graphs.

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Administrator

I have adding my new graphical ratings system for sharpness and resolution to all of my existing lens tests. Not sure what other new tweaks I can add. I will probably add axial CA images to the older ones as that addition is pretty easy.

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A new addition/change to my lens testing.

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Administrator

I have been working on a ratings scale for lens resolution/sharpness performance. I created a graphical system based upon all of the lenses that I have so far tested (60+ total). I have curves that correspond to fair, good, very good, and outstanding for resolution and sharpness. When a particular lens’ curve is placed over this template it will give you information about how that lens compares against other lenses at a specific magnification. I have added these graphs to the newest test – Nikon CF-N PlanAPO 4x/0.20 microscope objective. I plan on adding these graphs to the other already completed tests in the near future.

A note on how to use these ratings: A rating of fair doesn’t mean that the lens stinks, it just means that there are other lenses out there that will provide more sharpness and resolution at a particular magnification. Longer focal lenses will tend to score more poorly at any given magnification compared to shorter focal length lenses. I may still want to use a longer focal lens because it has superior working distance.

 

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New lens test: Nikon CFN PlanAPO 4x/0.20

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Administrator

Just posted this test today. This lens is the bestest of the bestest from 3:1 to 6:1.

http://coinimaging.com/nikon_4apo.html

 

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New lens test: Spiratone 35 mm f/3.5 enlarging lens

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Administrator

After a little vacation from lens testing, I just put up a new lens test today. I was surprised how well this lens actually performs since I only paid $5 for it.

http://coinimaging.com/spir35.html

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Moving my optics articles

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Administrator

I have been steadily moving the blog postings that I made on optics over the last couple of years. I am moving them to their own webpage where they will be easier to navigate.

they can be found at:

http://coinimaging.com/optics_articles.html

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Finally got the Minolta 12.5 f/2 bellows lens test done.

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Administrator

The Minolta 12.5 f/2 bellows lens test is finally online at:

http://coinimaging.com/min12bel.html

It was kinda slow going with the testing since I have been busy at my real job lately. the other reason is that high magnification testing is often time consuming. Testing the aperture at f/8 and a magnification of 9:1 results in a shutter speed of 15 sec. I have to take 40 or 50 pictures to make sure that I get the numbers I want. that means it goes slowly.

not sure what I will test next.

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