PDA

View Full Version : Lens Advice / Opinion: Consistent Look (or that’s not real)



dodphotography
26-Dec-2019, 13:31
A friend and I were having a cup of Joe and curious about photographers and their lens choices... is consistency really a thing? We were curious if photographers selected a suite of plasmats vs dagors vs triplets and maintained those designs through their FL’s to maintain a look. We were even curious if mixing German and Japanese etc really matters.

Do you find yourself matching or mixing? Do you think it’s a tangible difference or just something we do for the sake of doing?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Tracy Storer
26-Dec-2019, 14:45
Back in the days of only film, pros shooting chrome, and lots of labs, it was common for pros doing tabletop or architecture to standardize on one brand of lenses for consistency in coatings for color consistency. (test sheets and "clip tests" resulting in 1/6-1/3 stop pushes/pulls were de rigueur... )
On the fine art front, I know MIchael A. Smith used both Dagors and Artars, so, with so many lenses and so many workers to choose from, YMMV.
I use Dagors for some work, G-Clarons for other work, and Heliars for still other bodies (pun intended, pictures of bodies (and portraits) !) of work.

ic-racer
26-Dec-2019, 15:06
I stop down my lenses so they don't have a 'look.' I prefer the lens to be a transparent part of the reproduction cycle.

Bob Salomon
26-Dec-2019, 15:41
I stop down my lenses so they don't have a 'look.' I prefer the lens to be a transparent part of the reproduction cycle.

And how would that effect color, contrast, distortion, resolution, flare, bokah?

Two23
26-Dec-2019, 16:09
I tend to like using a variety of lenses so I have a variety of presentations to choose from. But yes, those who need the consistency generally did stick with one brand and one type of lens. I'm thinking here of people who shoot color catalog images such as for clothing and also wedding photographers.


Kent in SD

ic-racer
26-Dec-2019, 17:16
And how would that effect color, contrast, distortion, resolution, flare, bokah?
Color, not visible in B&W
Contrast at maximum
Distortion unaffected by aperture
Resolution at maxium
Flare at minimum
Bokah, not a word I have ever heard from anyone viewing my work.

John Kasaian
26-Dec-2019, 17:30
When I buy a lens, I'm just happy if I can afford it:o!

Bob Salomon
26-Dec-2019, 17:35
Color, not visible in B&W
Contrast at maximum
Distortion unaffected by aperture
Resolution at maxium
Flare at minimum
Bokah, not a word I have ever heard from anyone viewing my work.

You should check out some manufacturer’s curves to see what changes aperture makes to color, distortion, fall off and lastly, diffraction.

Naej
26-Dec-2019, 19:17
When I buy a lens, I'm just happy if I can afford it:o!


That is exactly my way of thinking :)

But recently, I bought a Fujinon lens and I let down my Schneider because I prefered the sharpness of the Japan lens over the German lens.

But in my opinion, every lenses have their "soul", depending of its construction and its origin.

Jim Noel
26-Dec-2019, 19:27
During my life I have had the privilege of knowing several well known fie art photographers including Ansel, Al Weber, Brett and Cole Weston, Richard Garrod,Phillip Hyde and others. Although each had their favorites, they had a variety of lenses to apply to different situations. At one time at least one of them bought a full set, 7 lenses, by a single manufacturer to replace those of another company. The next trip I took with him he used some from both groups,plus a couple of other lenses. When I load up to go on a photographic excursion,even for a single day. I generally carry lenses from at least 3 companies.

Bernice Loui
28-Dec-2019, 20:14
Read post# 20.
https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?155445-Easy-Testing-Used-LF-Lenses/page2&highlight=elinchrome

This was one way color consistency was achieved back in the day when color transparencies were the prime method for color image printing. Slight color variations do occur within the same manufacture's lens offering. What most did back then was to color match the entire system for a given lens, film, processing, lighting and all involved. The point of reference tool was a calibration certified color densitometer and certified gray card or McBeth color checker.


Bernice



A friend and I were having a cup of Joe and curious about photographers and their lens choices... is consistency really a thing? We were curious if photographers selected a suite of plasmats vs dagors vs triplets and maintained those designs through their FL’s to maintain a look. We were even curious if mixing German and Japanese etc really matters.

Do you find yourself matching or mixing? Do you think it’s a tangible difference or just something we do for the sake of doing?



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Neal Chaves
9-Jan-2020, 08:07
And how would that effect color, contrast, distortion, resolution, flare, bokah?

Because the style of photography he practices prefers that everything in the image that did not move during exposure be sharp (See "Group F64). Bokah is a secondary consideration.

Doremus Scudder
9-Jan-2020, 11:29
I was at an exhibition the other day and it was so disconcerting to see images taken with lenses from different manufacturers and with different designs displayed side-by-side. My Gawd, the glaring contrast and color discrepancies were enough to make me dizzy! And all that different bokeh; I couldn't even look. I had to leave before I even noticed what the subjects of the photographs were!

NOT!!!

Doremus

Serge S
9-Jan-2020, 12:29
I have a preference for tessars.