I don't know about the 50mm F1.4 lenses, but in Ivor Mantale's
"Collecting and Using Classic SLR cameras", he has this to say on the
F1.8s. This is a caption for a photograph -
"The mechanism of my Waltham pocket watch. This is, in fact, one of a
series of five similar shots taken with a succession of M42 cameras
and lenses to demonstrate the point that there is not as much
difference as photographers imagine between the results obtained
under controlled conditions from expensive lenses and those
delivered by simple lenses. At a Photographic Collectors Club of Great
Britain regional meeting during the autumn of 1994, I produced four
12" x 16" enlargements of shots of this watch taken with a 50mm
f/2.9 Meritar, a 50mm f/2.8 Domiplan, a 50mm f/2.8 Tessar and a
55mm f/1.8 Super-Takumar, all on the same film with identical
lighting, processing and exposure. I also produced the lenses and
asked some twenty members to say which shot came from which
lens. The Super-Takumar was undeniably the sharpest when viewed
very carefully, but there was little difference between any of them,
and nobody provided a completely correct answer, despite generally
held views about each of the lenses. Lack of time had prevented me
from printing this fifth version, which subsequently proved to be even
sharper than that from the Super-Takumar."
"Shot with Olympus FTL fitted with 50mm f11.8 F Zuiko, exposure
1/2 second at f116, on Ilford FP4, developed in Aculux and printed on
Ilford Multigrade III."
So a Zuiko is the best.
If you don't know this book, it is a wonderful guide to cameras that
you need, and in some cases may not have previously known
existed. However, while praising the FTL, the author has strange
views about the OMs. He says, "So devoted are followers of the OM-1
series of cameras that it is almost politically incorrect to say
anything against Olympus in public. ...... I would not choose one."
Mike Bloor
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