Re: [Leica] lens quality and beauty

[LP6@aol.com]

Irwin Putts has posted:  

<<  Would pictures by HCB be better if made with modern lenses? That is not a
relevant question. Would Matisse have painted better pictues if he used
different quality  paints or a different quality canvas?  Artistic or
aesthetic aspects are not at stake here. Why not ask if Salgado's pictures
would be worse when made with older equipment? >>

This interests me and has prompted the following:  please forgive the
necessary length!  
							Introduction:
(((((Note:  the key concept I work with in values research centers on our
definition of "the good" in anything.  By "good" I mean concept (definition)
fulfillment. Using concept fulfillment as our starting point we can measure
good.  This has lead us to a modern science of value and valuation. In any
event I offer the following observations for discussion: ))))))
							The Question?  
1.  A good result (beauty of the photo capture) is a matter of  concept
fulfillment.  i.e., HCB struggles to fulfill his own concept of beauty at the
moment of picture taking!  To the degree that he fulfills his concept of a
good photograph, he has fulfilled the criteria of photographic beauty and
goodness.  Slince HCB is an expert in his field,  his concept and definition
of a good scene to photography is better than average.  Therefore he has to
struggle to fulfill his concept of as good photographic result more or less
depending on his level of skill (expertise) in the situation.  To the degree
that he is successful he delivers beauty and goodness in a photograph.
However, rendering a good photograph remains a matter of concept fulfillment
whether it be HCB or you and me.   How universally recognized the result is
often is a function of the expertise of the photographer.  Goodness and beauty
lie in HCB's concept fulfilment, using him as an example.  The selective
pressures of evolution shape our minds to be in some degree of resonance with
HCB's struggle leading to some degree of universality of response to his
photo; but, goodness and beauty aren't democratic entitiesl
						What is a Good Lens?
2.  A good lens is one that fulfill the expert's concept of a good lens.
Again goodness and beauty of lenses are concept fulfillments.  Using the
expert's concepts we reach a greater consensus and people will buy such
lenses. (The optical expert is more capable of valuing good lens, defining
good lenses (in this area of reality) and his effort at concept fulfillment is
more highly prized and valued by the rest of us.  Yet, if a rank amateur at
lens design made an effort to produce a lens, the result would be good and
beautiful in proportion to his own individual concept fulfillment. 
		                          A Good Lens Continued:
3.  In making a lens free of the optical flaws, of concern to experts in this
field, we will have attained a result having a high degree of  (expert)
concept fulfillment,  Such fulfillment is the only basis for asserting that we
have before us a good lens (empirical verification comments on how close we
came to concept (definitional) fulfillment).  
						Optical Tools and Pictures:
4.  The better the optical tools the HCB's of the world have at their disposal
(e.g., new vs. old lenses) the greater their ease and efficiency of achieving
fulfillment of their concept (definition) of a good photo in any given moment.
					Do Better Lenses Make Better Pictures?
5.  Would better lenses have made a given HCB photo better (more good)?  The
question has to do with whether HCB might have achieved a higher degree of
his concept fulfillment (in the photographic moment)...given he had better
equipment? 
			      			A Possible Answer?  
6.  This question is interesting:  I would offer the suggestion that  HCB's
struggle with concept formation as well as concep fulfillment to place within
the context of the equipment he then used and was familair with.  He had a
green thub with it, so to speak.  Offering him one of our new aspherics would
alter the equation totally:  the new lenses would interefer with his concept
formation (see a scene he was to capture), and later concept fulfillment
(resulting photograph).  His exquisite expert sensitivities, the fabric of his
creative moment,  could be so thrown off  that HCB might be expected to
produce inferior photographs with new lenses.  
						   Not Fair You Say?
7.  That not fair you say?  Obviously we'd have to give HCB an opportunity to
adapt to the new lenses, get a feel for them, so to speak....and then would he
be taking as picture that would be more good, more beautiful?  Again, it is
all a matter of concept fulfillment:  HCB would have to engage in concept
formation and then an execution of image capture (hit the shutter) that would
offer some measure of concept (his) fulfillment wherein lies good and beauty. 
        		       Retrospective vs. Prospective Improvement?  				
8.  Modern lenses we're highly familiar with can only offer us improved tools
with which to seek concept fulfillment or the photographic fullfillment of our
imaging value expectations (definitions) in the moment.  I suspect the better
the tool the greater the ease of achieving concept fullfillment....the greater
the ease of taking a picture that achieves our definition of a good picture in
a given photographic moment.  

Best of Value Vision,

Leon
LP6@aol.com