'Normal' lenses were once-upon-a-time standard issue with the sale of a camera. This makes them turn up regularly (some more than others) on the used marketplace, and as more people use these fixed-focal gems, the more popular they are becoming. I am lucky enough to own 18 different lenses in the 50-58mm range, and as a chronic comparer, I can't resist matching them up against one another. Even though on cropped-sensor digital SLR cameras like mine, these have a short-telephoto view, they will long be known as 'normal' - hence the Normal Lens Shootout.

16 of my 50-58mm focal length lenses were ranked from 1-16 based roughly on overall usage and experience with each. They were then slotted in a single-elimination bracket to determine the best among them all.

(1) SMC Pentax-A 1:1.2 50mm (Advanced via a win in the Semi-Finals)
(2) Asahi Optical Co. SMC Takumar 1:1.4 50mm (Advanced via a win in the Semi-Finals)
(3) SMC Pentax-FA 1:1.4 50mm (Lost in the Semi-Finals)
(4) Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 1:1.4 50mm (Lost in the Semi-Finals)
(5) Nikon Micro-Nikkor 1:3.5 55mm (Lost in round 2)
(6) Fuji Fujinon 1:1.8 55mm (Lost in round 2)
(7) Sears Auto 1:1.4 55mm (Lost in round 2)
(8) SMC Pentax-F 1:1.7 50mm (Lost in round 2)
(9) Asahi Optical Co. SMC Takumar 1:2 55mm (Lost in round 1)
(10) Nikon Nikkor-S Auto 1:1.4 50mm (Lost in round 1)
(11) Asahi Optical Co. Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 1:1.8 55mm (Lost in round 1)
(12) SMC Pentax-M 1:1.7 50mm (Lost in round 1)
(13) Asahi Optical Co. Super-Takumar 1:1.4 50mm (Lost in round 1)
(14) SMC Pentax-M 1:2 50mm (Lost in round 1)
(15) Asahi Optical Co. Auto-Takumar 1:1.8 55mm (Lost in round 1)
(16) KMZ Helios 44M-4 1:2 58mm (Lost in round 1)