David Mullen ASC
Moderator
In theory, a lens designed for a smaller sensor / film frame has to have a higher MTF (to put it bluntly, when you have fewer total millimeters to work with, you want a lens that resolves more lines per millimeter) to match a lens with a lower MTF on a larger sensor / film frame...
...In practice, lenses vary in terms of sharpness, regardless of what format they were designed for. There is no guarantee that a lens made for a smaller format has a higher MTF than a lens made for a larger format. The lens maker may have made the sharpest lens they could at the time, they may have made something less sharp but more affordable, who knows? For example, just because a lens was made for a 16mm camera doesn't mean it is sharper than a lens made for a 35mm camera. The Zeiss Super-Speeds made for 16mm cameras are not necessarily higher in resolution than the Zeiss Super-Speeds made for 35mm cameras.
...In practice, lenses vary in terms of sharpness, regardless of what format they were designed for. There is no guarantee that a lens made for a smaller format has a higher MTF than a lens made for a larger format. The lens maker may have made the sharpest lens they could at the time, they may have made something less sharp but more affordable, who knows? For example, just because a lens was made for a 16mm camera doesn't mean it is sharper than a lens made for a 35mm camera. The Zeiss Super-Speeds made for 16mm cameras are not necessarily higher in resolution than the Zeiss Super-Speeds made for 35mm cameras.