On 21 Jul 1998 05:17:34 -0700, Martin Krieger wrote:

>What is the best 50mm (or so) Nikkor--in terms of contrast, sharpness to
>the edge, resolution (again to the edge),... independent of f stop,
>autofocus...
> I happen to have a Nikkormat FTn, as well, hence the non-AI request,
>as well as current. And for my purposes, macro is secondary.

You may find my Nikkor evaluation list interesting, under
"I babble" on my web page... If I had to choose one best,
for contrast/resolution only, it would be either the 55mm f2.8
or the 50mm f1.8 AI/AIS (larger, metal-barrel version). BTW,
both will fit older Nikons just fine. The differences in most
Nikkor normals show at stops wider than about f4 - below that
the differences are generally quite subtle.