Ah yes the famous 'nifty fifity', one of my favorite lenses.It's always one my ancient Nikon F.
Excellent sharpness, On a D3, the 50mm f/2 is always sharp edge-to-edge. The images are sharp at f/2. however there's veiling from spherical aberration which lowers contrast. This is greatly improved by f/2.8, and contrast is perfect at f/4 and smaller.
There is some minor Minor barrel distortion (bulging). If it bothers you, it cleans right up from film scans or FX digital with a value of +1.4 in PhotoShop's Lens Distortion Correction Filter.
And the focussing is so smooth. The focus ring flicks with one finger, without play, slop, grittiness or any need for damping. Lenses like these make modern lenses, even off-brands like the Zeiss-branded Cosina-made lenses, feel like poop by comparison.