Apparently Zeiss’ Biogon T* 2.8/25 ZM lens for Leica M is ludicrous in at least one department.
From issue 24 of Zeiss Camera Lens News, released today:
"The result was a whopping 400 lp/mm on film, recorded with the Biogon 25 at f/4 in the center of the image. This value, 400 lp/mm, corresponds to the maximum resolution theoretically possible at f/4; in other words it represents the calculated ‘diffraction limited’ performance at this aperture…"
Um, seriously: holy shit.
Of course this is only one specification, and I’d personally be more interested in rectilinearity (the lack of which drives me utterly batshit when I’m after sharp photos) and chromatic aberration, but this is just insanely impressive.
(lp/mm = line pairs per millimeter)