Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/2 H pre-Ai, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 pre-Ai ~ Macro Comparison

Something in an article on Nikon's Thousand and One Nights site caught my attention.  They said, referring to the Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/2 H -

"...We should also mention that the drop in performance for close-up work is small, and not only is the high quality maintained at the closest focusing distance of 0.45m (1.5ft.), but the lens also produces high quality when used on a bellows or extension rings for macrophotography..."

I happen to have a copy of the pre-Ai 50mm f/2 as well as a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 which is also pre-Ai.  So I thought it might be interesting to see how the two lenses compared.

Setup ~

• Sony A6000, 2 second delay, 100ISO
• Big Beefy Manfrotto tripod
• Straight-through Nikon to Sony E adapter
• Lenses -
• Nikon Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 pre-Ai
• Nikon Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 pre-Ai
• Two tourist "0 Euro" as flat subject-matter
• Rawtherapee (no sharpening) to convert from AWR to jpg

Comparison ~

Here is the scene setup.



Here is the comparison.

[If you click on the image it'll take you to the Flickr hosting site. Once there, look at the file at full resolution. In many cases the differences between lenses is small and likely can't be seen until you take a squint at the comparison at 100 percent.]



Comments ~

Note: Keep in mind that when dealing with macro subjects that the slightest field curvature in a lens will cause the edges of the frame to not be in focus.  However, if you either focus at the edges (which isn't exactly useful for keeping the center of the frame sharp) or stop the lens down to (as in this case, f/8) you will often see that the edges are, in fact, quite sharp.

Wide open the 50mm Nikkor-H f/2 pre-Ai is slightly soft in the center of the frame and very soft at the extreme edges.  Starting at f/2.8 the center is actually acceptably sharp.  This continues all the way through f/8 (and likely beyond, but I didn't test for the smallest apertures).  The edges of the frame become progressively sharp as the lens is stopped down.  Around f/8 the resolution begins to approach that of the Micro-Nikkor.

The Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 pre-Ai, by comparison, is very sharp from wide open across the entire field.  To me this remains an absolutely brilliant general purpose optic.

What I take from this comparison is that, yes, the Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 is mostly stable when focused at macro distances.  Like most non-macro lenses, it suffers from field curvature.  This makes the lens an interesting challenge when working with flat documents.  Yet when dealing with bugs, morning dew-drops and other potentially interesting subjects in a non-flat real world the lens is, as advertised, quite good for macro work.

Note 2: I have enjoyed reading Nikon's Thousand and One Nights series.  Their comments on early lens design, the trade-offs they made, and results they were seeking are, for me, very informative.  Their writings have helped me consider lenses more deeply than just the shallow one-dimensional considerations of "sharpness" and "resolution" that I've been overly prone to for the past 20 years.