Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/12/16

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Subject: Re: [Leica] lenses suited for b&w vs. color
From: Doug Herr <merlin@flyingemu.com>
Date: 16 Dec 2000 02:11:32 -0800

On Fri, 15 December 2000, "Dan Honemann" wrote:

> 
> LUGgers,
> 
> Do you find that some lenses are ideally suited for producing b&w images,
> while others are best for color?
> 
> I'd guess, for instance, that the 75/1.4 is a better b&w lens, while the
> 90/2 apo is more suited for color.  Likewise, the pre-asph 35's would be b&w
> lenses, while the asph's would be better for color.
> 
> Curious, as always,
> Dan

Dan,

Me experience with weaker lenses is that they may be marginally acceptable for color, especially where the photo is more about color than about image detail, but with B&W I can't hide the lens' faults behind pretty colors.

The old 300mm Nikkor-P is a good example.  It had very noticable lateral chromatic abberation which I could hide with monochromatic images:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt/HBIRD.HTM
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt/SUBLOG.HTM

With B&W it was much more difficult to hide the color fringing because monochromatic photos often look drab and lifeless as B&W, while B&W photos (mine, anyway) had to rely more on detail and contrast to be successful.

Doug Herr
Sacramento
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/telyt
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