Originally posted by K-9 Your crops were of eyes that were scaled very large in the originally framed shot. They took up about 60% or more space of your frame than Malakola's. You're enlarging a tightly framed head shot and comparing it with an enlargement of a small eye in a much further zoomed out portrait. You simply can't compare different size area of a frame like that.
To be fair, you would almost have to compare your eye with Malakola's first shot's entire face. That's a more accurate crop size comparison. You can't compare cropped eyes to cropped eyes with shots that have totally different sized eyes, and at much different distances from the lens! Subjects further from lens are not going to have better resolution than subjects closer. The person in your frame was much closer than his.
I still say the true test is using the lenses on film bodies and shooting transparencies of the same subject. Then, let a lightbox and loupe reveal the winner.
Well, this has evolved from a simple question!! I never said the 50mm was not sharp. You are the one claiming that lens is sharper, so we've shifted the focus of the discussion as a result.
We were discussing a specific group of images, not the lens. Obviously I don't have the full images to do a proper crop from Malakola's images so your insistence to achieve a potential level playing field with a specific set of standards in place is quite difficult. It's now more of a "what if" situation - therefore in that case it's pretty much a moot point to go further. I noticed the remaining images were pretty much dismissed, which is too bad.
The hummingbird is a much, much smaller subject in comparison, yet it is quite sharp. I have much longer focal length where the subject is much further away and it's definitely a sharper image, so I am unclear as to your logic about "Subjects further from lens are not going to have better resolution than subjects closer." Technique and lens quality do have an impact in the image quality. Besides, the hummingbird's eye is much smaller than a human's eye...
No worries and thank you for the discussion - I wish you the best! Take care.
Regards,
Marc