Hi--

>I am a professional photographer who usually works with Hasselblad
>equipment. Hoewever for some small assignments I'd like to use 35mm but
>want to maintain great image quality. Normally I won't need to go over 5x7
>but occassionally an 11x14 or 16x20 might be needed.

Hmmm, I think for highest quality, I would not go over about 5x7 with 35mm... Good quality in large prints can be had (due to the greater
normal viewing distances with bigger prints), but the larger formats
hold up better tonally and in sharpness with close inspection when
making larger prints... I prefer 35mm, though, because of the greater
freedom in shooting in low light, and for the greater range of optics available (and the larger gear is generally too heavy and awkward
compared with 35mm).

>In your opinion which lenses are sharper those for the Nikon N90S or those
>for the Canon EOS 1N or A2 systems?

Ummm - I prefer manual focus, and the N90s is not ideal for that (the F3,
F4, F5, 8008, and FM/FE/FA have sharper VF's for MF...). Short of the F5,
AF is not satisfactory for me. If one compares the entire lens lines for
image quality, I prefer Nikon (very few marginal lenses in a huge line
of new and old lenses). If one compares only the top-grade lenses from
the two lines, they are probably close enough to ignore the differences,
and Canon makes a few unusual and useful lenses not made by Nikon - and
the other way around. I have seen too many poor samples of Canon lenses
in FL's that I would want to own to choose Canon (Nikon requires less
"cherry-picking", I think, since a higher percentage of the lens line
is good, from what I have seen). Also, the camera viewfinder quality is important to me, and I think Nikon (mostly...) does better here.

>Thank you for your input. I just read your article on the Nikon lenses and
>was concerned that none scored more than 5.5..
>
>Sincerely, johnw
>John M. Walcott, M.Photog., CPP
>Walcott Studio
>229 N. Ludington St.
>Columbus, WI 53925
>home phone 414-623-2893
> "John Walcott"

You may want to check out the latest version of SLE(MN) on my
web page, under "I babble" - do read the text, which explains why
there are no lenses above about a "5" (about as good as commercially-produced lenses get - I gave a couple of truly
unusual lenses a bit above a "5", since they have virtually no
faults in practical use [most lenses have some reservations about
their performance...]). Since all lenses are compromises, no lens is perfect, though if you restrict the range of allowed conditions
(green light only, one focus distance, one aperture, unlimited
money, etc), one can make a nearly perfect lens (maybe a "6.9"...;-).