Sharpest zoom lens less than $1k ?

James O'Neill wrote:

My vote would go with FA77 ltd [which I have], or FA43 [which I don't but I think has numbers its side ] If you want to photograph gnarled old men the FA77 is brilliant.

I don't photograph kids or women with it, it's SO sharp it's unflattering and I have to apply softening in PP. I use my 50mm FA f/1.4 for 80% of my portrait shots. Sharp, but not to the point as rendering each skin blemmish in near 3D like the 77.

I'm also getting very good results with my old 90mm Tamron (AIUI the current AF model is the same optical formula).