Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Allan Wafkowski wrote: >>> Ted, you have it wrong on all accounts. This is not a "mine is better > than yours" thing. The kind of testing Erwin does means next to nothing > in real-life situations.<<<<<< Hi Allan,, Good, as I took it to read a mine is better etc etc. meaningless in real life shooting. >>but too many people fail to discern that a lab test is not a field test. <<< I agree and have never taken much countenance in bench testing, merely numbers that generally satisfy and impress the techie folks, but meaningless diddily when your a working shooter more concerned in the content of the photograph than the squigglies per mm. >>> I've heard people make utterly impossible remarks like, "My lens gives > my slides a slightly blue cast." When questioned, the guy said that he > read about the color cast in a test.<<< Well you see sometimes it's detrimental to your health and visual abilities when you read too much. And certainly when you listen to too many "photo experts!" :-) >> I don't know about you, Ted, but with the variables in film and processing, I know I've never seen a tint caused by a lens.<<< It's quite possible lens to lens, different manufacturers. And yes processing can throw tint in. However, a few years back I was shooting with a dozen other photogs all shooting for the same audio visual company in Vancouver, huge operation where the editing room had at least 20 light tables 6 X 8 feet and most times many were covered with slides.......... always Kodachrome, usually K64. I was the only Leica user, the others were Canon or Nikon and I think one guy was doing Pentax. Anyway the chief designer could walk through the tables and pick out Leica slides as easy as picking black & white jelly beans. He could do that whether he knew which shows I'd been working on or not. Why? Because he claimed there were two things that sorted out Leica from all the rest....... "different clarity" as he put it, probably meant contrast or crispness, and the colour! And when you're looking at literally hundreds of slides at the same time on light corrected tables you can see subtle differences of colour. Even lens to lens and I'm not talking with colour filters attached to the lens. And very pronounced at times where a couple of shooters have been working nearly side by each at the same time, same location, same light, same subject.......... just different angles or lens length. So as far as various lenses giving a colour cast there isn't any question, although you may not have experienced it personally, it is a factor lens to lens, manufacturer to manufacturer. >>> I'm going to ship Doug as many slides as I can made decent out of a 36 > roll of Kodachrome using the macro subjects I find around me. I will try > to use common subjects like leaves, bark, etc., under daylight > conditions. Doug has experience he can call upon to help him judge the > slides. No one is asking him to tell us which lens is "better", merely > to tell us if he can see a difference that is inherent to the lenses. I > want to make it clear that this is NOT an argument, but an enquire.<<< But for this to really have any meaning do you not require at least seeing slides shot at the same time with various lenses to be able to see if there is a difference? I mean the Chief designer I mentioned did nothing day after day but look at thousands of slides and literally hundreds all shot around the identical location where it was apparent to recognize differences. In what I think you're proposing, a few slides of various subjects under what will be varying light conditions and changes, is a pretty tough call for any one. Even Doug with all his time in, although someone of his experience will see any variations faster than a person who exposes a few rolls every couple months. I guess I'm still at a loss at what this will actually prove and the effort going into it does have the appearance of wasted time. However, it's your call and your effort and that of Doug's. But what if he finds the lens has a "cold blue" cast? Do you sell it and buy a different lens? Or worse, buy a colour correction filter to compensate what you all of a sudden feel your slides have a cold look about them? And yet up to this point you were very happy with the results. So sometimes you see, too much knowledge can screw up a happy lens feeling or lover! :-) Trust me, even if you don't see any on your slides..... it truly does happen. :-) ted Ted Grant Photography Limited www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html