Not exactly the answer to your question, but related, nonetheless.
Working from ancient Kodachromes which I have scanned, I now have a renewed respect for my old 4/200 Nikkor (non-AId) which I considered sort of so-so with film at the time I owned it; feel very pleased with the penultimate 500 mirror reflex Nikkor that I underused when I had it; am convinced my original 2/50 was every bit as good as my latest 1.8/50 and that my 3.5/135 Nikkor was better than my new 2.8/135 Nikkor. The new 2.8/24 Nikkor seems better than the old one I had.
All those lenses were and are non autofocus. The only reason I changed them was because I made the male menopausal error of thinking that leaving 35mm for 6x7 would increase my stock earnings. Naturally, I picked a moment when digital capture was sweeping the board, rendering the change pointless. Eventually, I reverted to film Nikon but with a greatly reduced armoury of lenses. Buying into digital with the D200 was relatively painless because it works perfectly well with the few manual lenses I have today.
Thinking about my renewed enthusiasm for the old lenses via the old Kodachromes, I believe that this has to be due to the twin facts of scanning and digital printing. It is simply a more rewarding process which brings out the best of a lens as much as it does the worst.
Rob C
