Boris, I have never heard criticism of a 50 or 100 mm macro lens for optical performance. It seems to be a simple matter to design for good performance. Still, some are, of course, better than others.
KEH right now has several of the FA 50 F2.8 Macro -- marked down. Take a look at Boz's comment about it and the F predecessor (same optics). He calls it the best 50 macro ever made. My former lab has one and I thought it was superb. It is actually pretty small (not too much larger than the current D FA 50 F2.8), and is made of metal. Put it on a DSLR, and you can stand back a bit more from your subject than you can in 35 mm. Being metal, it is a bit heavy -- a little over 100 g. more than the D FA 50, if I recall. Boz will have the figures. It is small enough to be easy to travel with. Joe
