Super fast 50-58mm shot out wide open

Here is another brief lens comparison. This time I tried eight f/1.2 lenses around 50mm focal length, wide open in the field. In this comparison you can consider sharpness as well as the bokeh.

Results in terms of resolution and contrast are kind of surprising. One of the cheapest 50mm in this test (if not the cheapest) Canon FDn 50 f/1.2, simply outclassed all other lenses, except probably even cheaper Canon FD 50 1.2 SSC that stands well. The most expensive one didn't stay far behind, but it is clearly on the third place.

However, you should take in consideration few things here... Standard 50mm lenses were not always optimized for sharpness.
Many old lenses here, might be simply bad samples, or they might be affected by the age in a different respect - slight haze, that I can't see by eye, yellowing caused by rare earth element etc. that all can result in lower resolution.
Many old lenses also suffer from the old coatings and thus they might produce some slight flare reflection, further lowering contrast.
All kind of aberrations are present, so think about them too.

At the end, I know most of those lenses a bit more than just from the formal tests. Exceptions are Oly and newly acquired Pentax.

Anyhow, I have to say that performance of both Canon FD lenses is simply outstanding especially considering their price. Slight disappointment comes from the least expected performer - Nikkor 50 f/1.2

I would really like to get my hands on three more lenses - Noct Nikkor 58 f/1.2 and Canon FD 55 f/1.2 SSC Aspherical and Canon FD 50 f1.2 L. All three are supposed to be sharper than any lens tested here. 

Of course, I wouldn't say no, if anyone consider to give me Noctilux, Konica Hexanon M 50 f/1.2, Contax 50 f/1.2 or any other super fast legend. But so far - this is what I have...

Sony NEX 7 + Canon FDn 50 f1.2

Sony NEX 7 + Canon FD 55 f/1.2 SSC

Sony NEX 7 + Canon EF 50 f/1.2 L + Metabones Smart Adapter

    

 

 

 

Sony NEX 7 + Olympus G.Zuiko OM System Auto-S 55 f/1.2

Sony NEX 7 + Pentax SMC M 50 f/1.2

Sony NEX 7 + Minolta MC Rokkor PG 58 f/1.2

Sony NEX 7 + Voigtlander Nokton 50 f/1.1

Sony NEX 7 + Nikon Nikkor 50 f/1.2 Ais

And here are crops from two positions, where I was trying to acquire focus. I made at least three shots with each lens and selected here the best crops that I could find. All shots were processed in LR and exported to PS 5.5 for further processing - cropping, composing and downsizing.

100% Crops 1

100% crops 2