Just decided to check out the sharpness of some of my older and newer lenses.  I had a couple surprises in this test.

All these shots are a the widest aperture for the lens and are natural light, straight out of camera.  Focus was on piping on the corner of the cushion.

Nikon 50mm f1.4D – Least sharp fully expected

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Nikon 50mm F1.4D

Nikon 85mm F1.4G – Next least sharp – bit of a surprise, I expected it to be number 1 or 2 in the list, but it is still very sharp in my estimation, just no longer the top of the heap in my collection and is a very versatile portrait lens.  I thought the fact that it was so easily bested by the Sigma and the Zeiss was a result of focus issues so I switched to manual focus.  The sharpness improve a bit, but not significantly.  Unlike the Nikon 50mm 1.4D, In day to day use I never had an issue with sharpness wide open on the 85mm.

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Nikon 85mm F1.4G

Sigma 50mm F1.4 Art – Crazy sharp and great Bokeh, better CA control than the old Nikon 50 F1.4D.  I never traded up to the newer Nikon 50, so I cant really compare.  I expected this to blow away the nikon 50mm 1.4D ina pixel peep test.  But the Nikon is still very good, I found that I did not like the Bokeh and as a result did not use it as much as my other lenses and stayed away from shooting the 50.  Having the Sigma Art has renewed my interest in that focal range.

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Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art

Zeiss 135 F2 APO – No comparison: Bokeh, sharpness unmatched.  Definitely the king of this heap.  This lens is manual focus and so I don’t use this for events, it is mainly for product, still life, or portrait so far.

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zeiss 135 APO F2