Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:47 AM 4/7/98 +0000, you wrote: >LUGgers - > >As many of you know by now, I uses Leica R6's and a Nikon F5. I only have >one Nikon lens (the 50/1.4 AF-D) and have found this lens to yield "too The image of tail wagging dog comes to mind. :-) >lens problem, but a film problem. This argument suggests that a lens cannot >ADD contrast to an image, it can only allow as much light to pass to film, >thanks to better coatings and flare control. In other words, a high >contrast lens is a "good" thing. Of course, a "good" thing in theory may be >not so good in practice with high contrast slide films, right? Contrast in a lens is totally unrelated to contrast in film. High contrast lenses give us nice sharp looking pictures, and good separation in "local contrast" - that is, there's good contrast in the shadows, in the highlights and the mid-tones. So a contrasty lens is a good thing, even with contrasty film. But in the Leica vs. Nikon discussion you bring up, the contrast in the Leica lenses in shadows are great, and allow for a better tonal modulation, thus smoother looking tonal relationships. I'm certainly not the most articulate on this point, but I'm a doer, not a theoretician. >I am very interested to hear comments from the group on this issue of lens >vs. film contrast. While it is clear that we should all buy the camera and >lens system that we like best with the films we like best, I remain >interested in learning more about whether, all other things being equal, a >lens that yields images of higher contrast has better coatings or control >over flare than a lens that produces images of lower overall contrast. I think it's more important that the overall performance of a lens works together to make great looking pictures. And in my experience (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Contax, Leica, Linhof, Hassleblad, Rollei, Schneider, Rodenstock, Nikkor, Fuji - the 6x8 camera which is stupendously good) Leica does it better than anyone. But that's just my opinion. ========== Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch He doesn't have much of a reputation, or so I've heard.