Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

We frequently hear said x lens from the past is still considered tack sharp.
Then we hear said y lens from the present is tack sharp.
So either nothing has improved in 50+ years or it is all hyperbole.
So what is sharp enough in real world use and outdoor conditions and usually hand held?
Not charts and lab tests but real world use where the camera's AF could not be accurate enough on a consistent basis to make the grade.
Is a 50 year old premium lens in real world as good as the latest wonder lens?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Perception.....

MosheR Loc: New York City

Isn't "Perception" a famous song from "Fiddler on the Roof?" LOL

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I thought that was Tradition......

MosheR Loc: New York City

It was.

gwilliams6

From FStoppers:

" Of course, modern lenses offer better technical image quality, with high levels of sharpness, better control of aberrations, capable autofocus, and improved ability to handle things like backlit scenarios. However, the rise of mirrorless cameras and their ability to easily adapt a variety of SLR lenses has caused a resurgence in the popularity of vintage lenses, and for good reason. First, vintage lenses are usually vastly cheaper than their more modern counterparts, often costing just a tenth of what you would pay for a newer lens. Moreover, the optical imperfections of vintage lenses are often seen as creative boons, great for creating more organic or visually interesting shots. No doubt, after using a vintage lens or two, you might find more modern lenses almost sterile in their renderings."

It does matter if your lens can resolve the image sensor in your camera. Higher megapixel image sensors can really torture any lens which does not have the resolution needed for that greater pixel density of that higher megapixel sensor.

For best apparent sharpness and resolution in your resultant images you need to use lenses that have enough resolution for the megapixels of your camera's image sensor.

Older SLR and DSLR lenses were never optically designed to resolve the latest higher megapixel image sensors. So while older lenses may give you the rendering and look you prefer, they might not seem as sharp on your latest digital cameras as they seemed sharp on your older SLR or DSLR cameras.

So it isn't just a lens' optically-designed sharpness that matters to whether or not the final digital camera image will look sharp, it also matters if that lens is up to resolving the pixel density of the image sensor in your camera.

Both the lens' optical design and other properties, and the camera's image sensor's size, quality and pixel density will effect how sharp your images will appear to be in the end.

It is all just physics, folks.

Cheers and best to you.

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

So older lenses are not "Tack Sharp"?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I wouldn't agree with this summary rephrasing of the G Williams's response.

Modern lenses are (a) designed for modern high(er) resolution digital sensors and (b) use all the best (modern) design and manufacturing technologies.

But, many old designs are still applicable for today's modern digital cameras, even if their current updated models of the specific lens are even better. Personally, I shoot many of Canon's legacy and long-discontinued FD lenses on 24MP mirrorless digital cameras. When the focus is perfect, the lenses are as sharp as anything I own that is AF-capable. And, of those EOS lenses, again, many of my circa 1990 lenses are competitive in overall sharpness / resolving power to EF lenses of the late 2010s, 30 years later.

The only 'blanket assessment' is that newer lenses will tend to be better, even at the low-end of the lens options, as compared to older designs. But, specific older designs are everywhere as good as the newest glass, you just need to consider which older lens is being considered.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

User ID

Maybe from "The Wiz"?

(Download)

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

So what older lens?

User ID

Tacks are rather blunt compared to push pins. New lenses can be push pin sharp. Oldies apparently max out at tack sharp.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Since you are specifically referring to "outdoor conditions and usually hand held", that's where the improvement in sharpness and chromatic aberration can be seen today.

But most lenses are still not sharp edge to edge for landscape unless stopped down to f/5.6 or f/8. Newer lenses do better.

In other conditions (closeup, portrait, subjects near the center of the frame with the background out of focus) where older prime lenses can perform adequately.

Newer lenses are available that perform better in low light but with a good sensor you may not need them.

PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia

i agree, sharpness is in the eye of the beholder

ELNikkor

Digital scanning of the film shot on old cameras with old lenses now gives me sharpness I never knew could be had from those old arrangements. I'm now realizing that so many of my un-sharp photos from the past were more the result of shoddy printing techniques/equipment than the equipment and film I used to shoot the original images with.