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>As somewhat of a novice, I have been both enlightened (and entertained) >by the recent battle of who makes the sharpest lens, whether it is >Leica, Zeiss, Canon, Nikon or whomever. Of course, the actual >resolution on the print depends a lot on how well the photographer >focuses. So my question is this: For someone with 20/20 corrected >vision, do the 2X eyepiece magnifiers really help or are they more >trouble than they are worth since you have to flip it out of the way
>to see everything?
You bring up some interesting questions. I am a lens quality nut
(therefore, I use Nikkors ;-), and do a lot of lens checking (and,
both pleasure and work related photography). IM(NS)HO, whether a
lens can resolve 56 or 80 lines in the center at f5.6 (for
instance) is irrelevant - focus is rarely accurate enough to
make the difference noticeable (unless the subject has enough
depth to have SOMETHING correctly focused, you make a large
enough photograph [and examine it closely enough] to see the
difference, and the camera is held steady enough [and the subject
does not move] to realize the higher resolution on film). What does
matter is good wide-aperture performance (which can aid focusing and
allow lower-light photography with good quality), off axis performance
(which is so poor in MANY lenses that it is quite relevant - to me, a
lens that is soft anywhere in the frame at a given aperture [and focus
distance] cannot be considered sharp at that aperture [and focus
distance]), contrast, freedom from flare, distortion, etc. (with
sufficiency and evenness of resolution and contrast across the frame
[at apertures I want to use] being of primary interest to me).
Back to your original question: I think a good (simple, cheap, easy
to use) 10X magnifier used on your slides and negatives will help
you get sharper photographs by teaching you a bit about what you did
wrong when you have unsharp photos (due to motion, bad focus, poor lens
[or poor aperture selection] - usually in that order). A 2x camera
magnifier is too awkward for any but the slowest types of photography -
if you cannot see the VF sreen sharply, look at other cameras
(most Nikons have sharp VF optics ;-). If that does not help, a visit
to a good (and patient) optometrist may be in order.
Hope this helps.