Nikon lenses 70 to 200 - sharpness comparison

[armand]

Continuing some shaprness testing at short distance in the telephoto range 70mm to 200 mm.
The lenses involved: 24-120 F4, 70-200 F4, 70-300 F3.5-F5.6, 85 F1.8G, Samyang 135 F2.

I'll go over the conclusions with some comparative shots.
The 70-300 that I have has a pretty bad decentering so corners are not going to be that reliable but at 70 and 85 in the center is better or as good as any from above zooms.

70 mm
24-120 vs 70-200

The 24-120 has both center and corners a touch worse at all apertures

[armand]

85mm
24-120 vs 70-200 vs 85

24-120 vs 70-200
- center: about the same, maybe a touch worse on the 24-120
- corners: 24-120 has slightly worse corners

70-200 vs 85
- center: the zoom is a little worse at all apertures
- corners: the zoom remains a worse but less difference compared to the corners
Caveat - at this distance the 85 behaves more like a 70-75 mm

[armand]

135 mm
70-200 vs 135

Center: the zoom has significantly better sharpness, no question about it, at all apertures, slightly less different at F16 vs F5.6-F11
Corner: the prime has better sharpness at F5.6-F11, less difference than the center is in the favor of the zoom. At F16 they are close with the prime maybe still being ahead

Caveat – the 135 behaves closer to 120