Looking at LenScore ratings you mention, the Nikon and Canon prime lenses that dominate are the 400, 500, and 600 super teles. Nothing new, and Nikon's current advantage is just because they are more recent.
Agreed, the super-teles are where NikCanon excel optically.
The difference between a score of 1427 for the Nikon 400 and the score of 1373 for the Canon 400 is apparently not enough to make Canon pros change to Nikon...
That is true, the qualitative difference at the top is negligible.
However, when slightly-better lenses are married to a vastly-superior AF system in the new Nikon pro cameras, I will bet many pros
will see this as a decided combined advantage.
Anyway, this listing is sort of pointless, because it mixes many different focal lengths.
How is it pointless?
The LenScore system is actually the easiest one to use and follow, as well as being the best-conceived. Other rating systems put (say) a Canon 85mm on a 5D Mk II, and maybe a Canon 200mm on a 1Dx, and then compare that to (say) an 85mm on a Nikon D300 ... so how are we supposed to make sense of the results?
By contrast, LenScore uses a single, custom 200mpx sensor over which it mounts every lens it tests, so IMO the results actually mean something when posted because they're tested across the same platform. Let's face it, there isn't a photographer on here who doesn't look at the various measured statistics of his/her equipment.
And anyway, the Otus 85 is still #1:)
Yes it is, and you can see the areas where it excels.
But I am sure your enthusiasm with Nikon is well deserved, they are a good company that makes good cameras and lenses.
I just like knowing where I'm at, optically, before I make a purchase decision.
The funny thing is, most of the lenses I have now aren't even on here (elder AI-S manual lenses).
The only lens I currently have, that is actually on that chart, is the 300mm II, which just dropped from #10 to #11, with the recent placement of the new 600 mm FL ED VR. But, here again, anything over 1000 is considered "outstanding," so I am not too worried about the difference between a 1367 and a 1409 overall rating. You're talking a disparity of 42 points, spanning 10 different categories, or 4.2 points-per-category. Both are above-outstanding scores.
Jack