New-Nikkor 55/3.5!!!

[Erik Lund]

What Nikon (or Non-Nikon) lens of around 55mm focal length would you go for if best performance at 1:1 was desired?

TIA.

Not 1:1 but for sure 'best performance' I have only used one a few times, Birna has been kind enough to lend it to me 

Here is Lens rentals on the Coastal Optics:
 The Coastal Optics UV-VIS-IR 60mm Macro for Nikon is a specialty lens used for forensic, ultraviolet, and infrared photography. Key features include:

• Nikon F mount
  
• Not your standard macro lens
  
• Designed for ultraviolet and infrared capture
  
• Near-perfect optics
  

Not Your Standard Macro Lens. The Coastal Optics UV-VIS-IR 60mm Macro is very much a specialty lens. If you don’t know what it is, just move along, move along. If you want a great Macro lens, save a lot of money and rent one of the other ones. This is a very expensive optic used for special purposes only.UV/IR Capture. The Coastal Optic 60mm Macro is, first and foremost, a lens used for forensic photography. It’s equally outstanding in ultraviolet light, infrared light, and in the visible light spectrum. It’s completely apochromatic from 315nm to 1100nm wavelength.Nearly Perfect Optics. This is arguably considered one of the most distortion- and aberration-free lenses made, and is used as a standard against which other standard-range lenses are measured.Nikon F Mount. This lens comes in Nikon F mount and Nikon F mount only. If you’d like to use it on another system or mount, you’ll need to use an adapter. If you’re using it for scientific purposes, you probably already know that’s a bad idea, as adapter tolerances are like a 55MPH speed-limit sign on the interstate.

[Roland Vink]

What Nikon (or Non-Nikon) lens of around 55mm focal length would you go for if best performance at 1:1 was desired?

TIA.

The AIS 55/2.8 micro on a PK-13 tube (27.5mm) should be better than the AI 55/3.5. The 55/2.8 micro has floating elements so when it if focused all the way out it should be better configured for close range photography than the 55/3.5. Note: don't use the 55/2.8 micro on the PN-11 (52.5mm) for 1:1 shooting. In this set up the lens will be "focused" near infinity so the optics will work against you and won't be well configured for macro shooting.

I don't have experience with the AF models. The AF 55/2.8 micro has the same optics as the AIS 55/2.8 but the 1:2 reproduction ratio was extended to 1:1 by redesigning the floating trajectory. I'd guess performance would be similar near infinity but at close range the amount of correction is different - not sure which turns out to be best near 1:1.

The article here suggests the AF 60/2.8 micro should be better at 1:1 since it was designed to focus from infinity to 1:1 from the start:
https://imaging.nikon.com/history/story/0074/index.htm

The same article goes on to say: "The AF-S Micro NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED is equipped with two aspherical lenses and one ED glass lens that do an incredible job of correcting axial chromatic aberration, and spherical aberration and coma especially with shooting at close distances."

So I'd say the AF-S 60/2.8 micro should be best at 1:1.

[Roland Vink]

Wow, really?  My impression is that the f3.5 is easier to focus. although Ai 50s are definitely easier to focus than the Ais versions, f1.8 or f1.2.

I have both, and they really are the same