On Tue, 16 Jul 2002 12:21:32 GMT, Rod Gotty
>Can someone please point me to a reputable source which provides
>resolving power for the Nikon Nikkor Lenses. I've looked at Nikon's
>website and didn't find it there.
Not what you ask for, but maybe more useful:
www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/slemn.html. Here, the
quality of the lens image at the first likely
good stop for the lens type is compared with
others, and given a subjective evaluation number.
Raw resolution does not tell you very much, since
it does not include contrast and other "real world"
info of value in describing lens performance in
making photographs - and resolution alone is a
very complex issue, since it varies with position
in the frame, aperture used, and distance focused
on, and it often is not easy to determine exactly
even when all the above are fixed (excluding many
useful variations, which would give different
results, anyway - which is why I do not do "chart
testing"). With most Nikkors, one can assume that
in the image center at medium-long focus distances
that the resolution is diffraction-limited by
f5.6-8, so this can be used as a reference when
judging the lens performance under other
conditions (assuming the film/processing and
lighting have not changed during the test...).