I was wondering which of my 50mm something lens was - -

[Ron Evers]

- sharpest wide open. I took eight lenses & shot a test panel with the camera on a tripod & using a cable release. To my great surprise there was very little difference at all in the images in spite of the largest apertures varying between f1.4 & f3.5

Here are three examples:

1.

2.

3.

Would you pick one over the other?

 

[Derrel]

Lens #2 looks BAD at the edges...

Lens #1 looks best overall, edge-to-edge.

 

[dcmoody23]

#1 is definitely the most clear throughout the image, however they all seem 100% equal at this size in the center IMO.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

You gotta cut 100 % crops of the center, mid, and corners and then look at them. Of course looking at this distance from the shot, plus websized, all of them are going to look great.

Given the situation though, I think 1 looks the best based on what we can see. Look at the corners on the other two.

 

[Ron Evers]

Nobody asked but here is the line-up.

1. Super Takumar 55/1.8

2. Helios 44-2, 58/2.0

3. Sears 50/2.0

I selected the three to show with close maximum apertures.