Macro Lens Tests

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At present, I have about 60 lenses that can be used for macro and high-magnification imaging. Over the last couple years, I have performed a moderate amount of testing on virtually all of them. I only recently expanded my lens testing procedures to add numerical detail about corner sharpness. I will add more lens reviews to this list as I finish additional testing on my other lenses.

Numerical testing is performed by way of Imatest (imatest.com). Because macro lens testing is performed at various magnifications (for me at least), and commercially available test patterns are made to work at a single magnification, I had to develop my testing procedures to account for that limitation. The bottom line is that I have to do a lot more work to get a similar amount of information.
I test the lenses in the macro magnification range from 1:4 to well beyond 1:1, depending upon the lens and its usable range. Numerical testing in this magnification range is generally ignored with most lens reviews that you find on the web.

Glossary of Definitions

Commonly seen lens mounts/adapters

Note: This page will not be updated with new lens tests. New lens tests can be found on the "New lens tests" page that can be accessed by hitting the "back" button above and hitting the appropriate link on that page.

Bellows Lenses:

Minolta 12.5 f/2 bellows

Leitz Summar 24mm f/4.5 bellows

Leica Photar 25mm f/2 bellows

Canon 35mm f/2.8 bellows

Olympus 38mm f/3.5 bellows

Olympus 38mm f/2.8 auto bellows

Minolta 50mm f/3.5 auto bellows

Zeiss Luminar 63mm f/4.5

Nikon Macro-Nikkor 65mm f/4.5

Olympus 80mm f/4 auto bellows

Pentax 100mm f/4 bellows, M42 mount

Nikon 135mm f/4 bellows


Microscope Objectives:

Zeiss Luminar 2-5x

No-name cheap 4x/0.10 achromat

Nikon CF Plan 4x/0.13 160/0 Phase

Nikon PlanAPO 4x/0.20 160/0

Nikon BD Plan 5x/0.10 210/0

Nikon 5x measuring objective

Nikon E Plan 10x/0.25 160/0 LWD

Nikon M Plan 10x/0.25 210/0

Nikon M Plan 20x/0.40 210/0 LWD

Enlarging Lenses:

Fuji Fujinon-m 25mm f/2.8

Schneider Componon 28mm f/4

Spiratone 35mm f/3.5

Schneider HM Componon 45mm f/4

Schneider Componon-S 50mm f/2.8

Nikon El-Nikkor 50mm f/2.8N

Nikon El-Nikkor 75mm f/4

Schneider 80mm f/5.6 Componon

Nikon El-Nikkor 105mm f/5.6

Nikon APO El-Nikkor 105mm f/5.6

Schneider Componon 135mm f/5.6


Macro Lenses:

Sigma 50mm f/2.8 DG macro

Nikon micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI

Nikon micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 AIS

Nikon micro-Nikkor 105/4 AIS

Nikon micro-Nikkor 105/2.8 AF-S VR

Nikon micro-Nikkor 200/4 AF ED-IF

Non-macro lenses (used for macro):

Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AIS

Nikon 35-70mm f/3.3-4.5 AIS

Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AIS


Reproduction/Duplication lenses:

Nikon Nikkor-O 55mm f/1.2 m=1:5

Zeiss 74mm f/4 S-Planar m=1:1

Rodenstock APO-Rodagon D 75mm f/4 1:1 fixed

Rodenstock APO-Rodagon D 75mm f/4 1:1

Nikon Printing-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8

Nikon Printing-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 A verison


Miscellaneous lenses:

Leitz Macro-Cinegon 10mm f/1.8

Kern Macro-Switar 26mm f/1.1