Jonas B
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
nehemiahphoto wrote:
In experience, some lenses are stellar for b/w. I didn’t know the ZA 50/1.4 was considered one, but I found this pretty quickly after shooting it for not long.
I think there is the very high contrast hyper clean looks like I got out of the 35 Lux FLE. The ZM 35/1.4 and Leica Q2 lenses I’d also qualify as being here. That works well with minimal posting, I you don’t need to push files a ton in post to make them pop, and the files don’t get crunchy like when you push a flat lens to look micro-contrary.
Then there is the old school, SA type lenses. I always find the old Mandler lenses produce epic b/w whites for my tastes. My Contarex 85/2 was great for this.
And there’s some lenses that are in between. The Pentax 31 ltd was simply gorgeous. I found the BPM could give a little bleed and SA in b/w in a way that didn’t really work for color. The 35i + BPM gave me results I loved.
My general experience is, lenses that are great in color are great in b/w. No matter what era, maker or rendering style. And I used the same pre-sets across all lenses and bodies. Similar to color, I find it’s usually fine tonal high frequency separation or complimentary palate + SA (vintage glass).
And on film, I find some of my lenses I don’t like as much for b/w on digital are flipped and great. Like my CV’s. But I found my 31 ltd less desirable on b/w film when trying Tri-X400, Across100, Ilford Delta etc.
Every photo below is shot with a different lens  ...Show more →
Thank you for the images and for elaborating on the topic. Fun to see an old Amazon. The kid portrait is processed much in a way i would have done it - i like it when you have the whole grey scale. Contrast but not too much.
I have, or used to have, some of the lenses you mentioned. The Mandler type lenses were great and my favorite was the Lux 80/1.4 R. I had the Summilux-M 35/1.4 (pre FLE) - great images, beautiful but I didn't like the midzone dip and exchanged it for a Voigtländer 35/1.2. The latter was sharp from left to right but the images were bland, kind of boring when compared.
The SMC-P 31 Ltd is great for black and white, too much LoCA and fringe for color images but I like it and still own it.
I agree about the part about a good lens for color is usually a good lens for B&W as well. I guess, again, it has to do with contrast and tonal separation. The Lux 80 did very well stopped down but i also liked it wide open but for other reasons.
Above: 18 years ago with the 31 Ltd. Today i may have processed it just a little differently.
|
