A current thread on the resolving power of lenses has got me thinking about how to compare the resolution of lenses using MTFs in terms of line pairs. Here is an attempt to rationalise this, which may be wrong. So, if it is wrong or it is of any use, please comment. The basic idea is to use the data that the Photozone and lenstip sites give for the maximum resolution of a lens and the observed resolution at different f-stops in terms of line pairs.
We know that if you get closer to a subject, you get better resolution. From simple optical theory, the resolution depends upon (1/distance) from the subject because the size of the image depends on 1/distance. If you are at half the distance, the image will be twice the size and you have effectively doubled the resolution of the lens. So, if you have a lens that has half the the resolution of a perfect lens, then if you stand at half the distance away as you would with a perfect lens, you would obtain the same resolution as would the perfect lens. So, I calculated the ratio of observed/maximum for different lenses and multiplied the ratio by the stated focal length. This then gives the effective telephoto length. In the following Table, the effective focal length is the distance you would have to stand from the subject to get the resolution stated by the manufacturer. OK, I know there are caveats depending on AA filters, breathing, stated focal lengths being an exaggeration etc, but there some interesting trends.
Lens focal length f number Effective focal length (mm)
400L 400 5.6 324
400L 400 8.0 330
100-400L 400 5.6 325
100-400L 400 8.0 330
300L f/4 300 4.0 235
300L f/4 300 5.6 254
300 f/4L+1.4xTC 420 5.6 265
300 f/4L+1.4xTC 420 8.0 273
300 f/2.8 II 300 2.8 282
300 f/2.8 II 300 4.0 293
Sigma 150-500 370 6.3 257
Sigma 150-500 370 8.0 265
Sigma 150-500 370 11.0 273
Sigma 150-500 500 6.3 261
Sigma 150-500 500 8.0 299
Sigma 150-500 500 11.0 315
The Sigma at 500mm gives only the resolution of a 300mm lens. Adding a 1.4xTC to the 300mm f/4 gives only an effective 1.1xTC. The 400L and 100-400L are equivalent to a perfect 330mm lens.
The agreement between lenstip data and photozone was pretty for overlaps - I used a maximum of 46 for the lenstip data.