Update: as a reader pointed out, this information is inaccurate. We are leaving the original article up since it’s already in search engines, but here is the update from reader James Backer.
our post regarding the FE 90 Sony lens is INCORRECT! The FE 90 is rated by DXO at the 14th sharpest lens tested and places 26th Overall in the DXOmark overall score! This misinformation started with Sony Alpha Rumors and keeps spreading from blog to blog…. Please note that DXO has the FE 90 Macro at 32 P-Mpix for sharpness and there are 13 other lenses that have tested as sharper. The problem is that DXO does not update lens sharpness data when they test the same lens on a ‘new’ camera body that was not available when the initial testing was done, the data is available but it does not change the result / overall order from the original testing.
Below are 2 links to prove this. They are the 55mm and 85mm Otus tested on the D810 and have a respective 33 P-Mpix and 35 P-Mpix sharpness rating (they rated lower on the D800 which was the original test camera used when the lenses came out).
http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Carl-Zeiss/Zeiss-Carl-Zeiss-Apo-Planar-T-Star-Otus-85mm-F14-ZF2-Nikon-mounted-on-Nikon-D810__963
http://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Carl-Zeiss/Zeiss-Carl-Zeiss-Distagon-T-STAR-Otus-55mm-F14-ZF2-Nikon-mounted-on-Nikon-D810__963
DxO Mark, the industry’s legendary un-biased camera and lens testers, have reported that the Sony 90mm f2 Macro G OSS is the sharpest lens they’ve reviewed.
DxO Mark states
Achieving an extremely high overall DxOMark lens score of 40 points on the full-frame 36-Mpix Sony A7R, the new FE 90mm f2.8 Macro is an outstanding performer optically. It has exceptionally high acutance (sharpness) wide open and very good sharpness across the frame, and vignetting and chromatic aberration (CA) are generally well-controlled.
Optimum performance is reached one to two stops down from the maximum aperture, where sharpness is highly uniform across the entire field including the corners, and where CA is low and vignetting is negligible. Sharpness starts to fall by f/8, but uniformity remains excellent through to f/22. Transmission at maximum aperture is measured at T2.8.
It was CameraTimes.org though that noticed just how sharp the DxO tests revealed the lens to be.
They reported
I noticed on the DxOMark interactive graph that the new Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS lens is actually the sharpest lens in their database, even sharper than the Sony FE 55mm f.1.8 ZA lens.
It’s amazing! Maybe the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 is the best macro Lens for Sony users, but it doesn’t mean that the Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens is Sony’s best lens. According to the DxOMark sensor test results, Sony FE 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens has outstanding optical performance (40 points score). It is the second best Sony FE lens currently that has tested, just two points behind the Sony FE 55mm f.1.8 ZA lens.