MC and MD lens tests in photography magazines

These lens test results were copied from old issues of Dutch photography magazines (Focus and Foto; the source of each test is given at the bottom line). During the seventies and eighties, lenses were commonly tested by photographing test charts on high-resolution black-and-white film and determining the lens' resolving power by counting lines-per-millimeter on the negative. Although it's very hard to compare these test results to the more modern MTF (modulation transfer function) tests, they should still give the reader a general idea of the lenses' optical quality.

The bargraphs shown below represent the maximal number of linepairs (white/black) per millimeter that could be resolved at the edge and/or corner of the image (lowest figure, grey bar) and at the centre of the image (highest figure, top of red bar). The blue bars at the top are scale bars, ranging from 0 to 150 linepairs per millimeter.

The reasonable to excellent specifications were given by the authors, and represent their overall judgement of the lens' quality at that aperture. As other factors than resolution may play a role here, this subjective assessment may vary for lenses having the same score in terms of resolution.

(Whenever multiple tests of a single lens are available, I show at least two. Often, striking differences are apparent between various examples of a single model. Whether this hints at variation in lens quality or at variation in the measurements - experimental "noise" - is unknown.)

Available tests: 4 / 17 mm - 2.8 / 20 mm - 2.8 / 24 mm - 2 / 28 mm - 2.8 / 28 mm - 3.5 / 28 mm - 1.8 / 35 mm - 2.8 / 35 mm - 2 / 45 mm - 1.4 / 50 mm - 1.7 / 50 mm - 2 / 50 mm - 1.7 / 85 mm - 2 / 85 mm - 2.5 / 100 mm - 2 / 135 mm - 2.8 / 135 mm - 3.5 / 135 mm - 3.5 / 200 mm


MC W.Rokkor 4 / 17 mm
F
4 very good
5.6very good
8 excellent
11 excellent
16 very good
source: Foto, april 1978

MD Rokkor 2.8 / 20 mm
F
2.8-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
16 -
source: Foto, may 1979

MD W.Rokkor 2.8 / 24 mm
F
2.8very good
4 excellent
5.6excellent
8 excellent
11 excellent
source: Foto, april 1978

MD Rokkor 2 / 28 mm
F
2 -
2.8-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, november 1981

MD Rokkor 2.8 / 28 mm MD Rokkor 2.8 / 28 mm
F
2.8good -
4 good -
5.6excellent -
8 excellent -
11 very good -
source: Focus, october 1978 source: Foto, november 1981

MD Rokkor 3.5 / 28 mm
F
3.5-
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, november 1981

MD Rokkor 1.8 / 35 mm
F
1.8-
2.8-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, november 1981

MD Rokkor 2.8 / 35 mm
F
2.8-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, november 1981

MD Rokkor 2 / 45 mm
F
2 good
2.8good
4 very good
5.6excellent
8 excellent
11 very good
source: Foto, may 1979

MC Rokkor-PG 1.4 / 50 mm MD Rokkor 1.4 / 50 mm MD 1.4 / 50 mm
F
1.4good reasonable good
2 very good good very good
2.8excellent good excellent
4 excellent very good excellent
5.6excellent excellent excellent
8 excellent excellent excellent
11 very good very good excellent
source: Foto, february 1976 source: Focus, october 1978 source: Focus, october 1982

MC Rokkor-PF 1.7 / 50 mm MD 1.7 / 50 mm MD 1.7 / 50 mm
F
1.7good good -
2.8very good good -
4 excellent excellent -
5.6excellent excellent -
8 excellent excellent -
11 excellent very good -
source: Focus, 1976 ? source: Focus, september 1979 source: Foto, may 1983

MC Rokkor-PF 2 / 50 mm MD 2 / 50 mm
F
2 very good good
2.8very good very good
4 excellent excellent
5.6excellent excellent
8 excellent excellent
11 very good excellent
source: Focus, 1974 ? source: Focus, 1984

MC Rokkor 1.7 / 85 mm
F
1.7very good
2.8very good
4 excellent
5.6excellent
8 excellent
11 very good
source: Foto, february 1976

MD Rokkor 2 / 85 mm
F
2 very good
2.8very good
4 excellent
5.6excellent
8 excellent
11 very good
source: Foto, december 1979

MD Rokkor 2.5 / 100 mm
F
2.5-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, november 1981

MD 2 / 135 mm
F
2 -
2.8-
4 -
5.6-
8 -
11 -
source: Foto, october 1982

MC Tele Rokkor-PF 2.8 / 135 mm MD Tele Rokkor 2.8 / 135 mm
F
2.8excellent very good
4 excellent excellent
5.6excellent excellent
8 excellent excellent
11 excellent very good
source: Focus, 1976 ? source: Foto, april 1978

MD Tele Rokkor 3.5 / 135 mm MD Tele Rokkor 3.5 / 135 mm
F
3.5good very good
5.6very good very good
8 excellent excellent
11 excellent very good
source: Focus, october 1978 source: Foto, december 1979

MC Rokkor-QF 3.5 / 200 mm
F
3.5very good
5.6excellent
8 excellent
11 excellent
source: Focus, 1976 ?


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Page created on June 5, 1999; last updated on April 16, 2000