35mm f/2 Nikkor resolution check

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35mm f/2 Nikkor resolution check

A resolution chart was attached to my easel as a target. Since these tests are relative, the size and distance of the resolution target is not critical. I wanted to test the lens at a distance I often shoot from, about six feet. So the camera was placed two meters from the easel and aligned to a mirror attached to the target. The camera was set to Aperture priority, no sharpening, normal curve and auto white balance.
For the photos in the left column below, the Raw files were processed with Adobe Camera RAW to correct the white balance by clicking the white in the center of the target with the white point tool. The exposure was dropped 10% and the brightness was increased by 50%. The contrast, shadows and saturation tools were not changed, and the sharpening and noise reduction tools were set to zero. In Photoshop proper, a 480 pixel by 480 pixel section was croped from the center of the image, converted to sRGB and saved as a 'best quality' Jpeg.
In the right column are processed photos. They were all shrunk by 10% using bicubic sharper, curved to increase the gamma and set the black point, color balanced, and sharpened. Sharpening consisted of a two stage USM of 400:0.2:1 on a darken layer, and 180:0.2:0 on a lighten layer. They were then saved as 90% jpeg files.

At f/2 the lens is very low in contrast and cannot resolve the 80 line section of the target.

At f/2.8 the contrast is much better and the 80 line section of the target is just barely resolved.

At f/4 (above) and f/5.6 (below left) the lens had reached it's greatest sharpness.

Closing the lens further began to degrade the image until at f/22 (below right) it looked similar to the f/2.8 image, but with more contrast:

A resolution chart was attached to my easel as a target. Since these tests are relative, the size and distance of the resolution target is not critical. I wanted to test the lens at a distance I often shoot from, about six feet. So the camera was placed two meters from the easel and aligned to a mirror attached to the target. The camera was set to Aperture priority, no sharpening, normal curve and auto white balance. For the photos in the left column below, the Raw files were processed with Adobe Camera RAW to correct the white balance by clicking the white in the center of the target with the white point tool. The exposure was dropped 10% and the brightness was increased by 50%. The contrast, shadows and saturation tools were not changed, and the sharpening and noise reduction tools were set to zero. In Photoshop proper, a 480 pixel by 480 pixel section was croped from the center of the image, converted to sRGB and saved as a 'best quality' Jpeg. In the right column are processed photos. They were all shrunk by 10% using bicubic sharper, curved to increase the gamma and set the black point, color balanced, and sharpened. Sharpening consisted of a two stage USM of 400:0.2:1 on a darken layer, and 180:0.2:0 on a lighten layer. They were then saved as 90% jpeg files.

At f/2 the lens is very low in contrast and cannot resolve the 80 line section of the target.

At f/2.8 the contrast is much better and the 80 line section of the target is just barely resolved.

At f/4 (above) and f/5.6 (below left) the lens had reached it's greatest sharpness. Closing the lens further began to degrade the image until at f/22 (below right) it looked similar to the f/2.8 image, but with more contrast: