philip_pj
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 p.4 #5 · Optics: What does Leica do better these days? | |
'it is impossible on the screen or on print, especially after any normal post-processing.'
'last time I did a comparison, 1 or 2 months ago, I could hardly see the difference..'
You don't say what differences you were looking for, PM, or how you assess 'good' quality. I feel genuine sympathy for you and those of your ilk, because we do hear this sad tale from time to time. Maybe it is a learned ability. But here the text gives the game away: last time I did 'A' comparison, meaning one instance.
I would suggest you need at least ten well-considered compositions to get even a cursory result of each lens's strengths and weaknesses. Bear in mind that each time you do this, you see new things about the lens you might have preferred but which now comes up second best to the comparator. Here are some suggestions, from one who shoots many lenses side-by-side, for years.
We need to look firstly at the content and lighting of the image and select *representative examples for our style and range of work*, set up identically for each lens, then examine in a decent CM'd monitor:
(i) color from the lens (casts, balance, oddities, richness, tonal gradation / posterising), and
(ii) how color behaves in post,
(iii) the contrast levels (compare histos),
(iv) the bokeh formation and interaction with the main subject,
(v) the highlight handling (and problematic CA, which needs no peeping),
(vi) the focus fade character front and back,
(vii) the volume of the images,
(viii) across-frame fade, in tone and contrast and resolution, and
(vix) the depth cues in off-plane content.
Add to that, if you shoot people, many other variables:
(x) skin tone handling, facial shaping (tone roll-off), imperfection handling (in-lens and in-post), strong highlight handling. This link below shows the very digital look that Zeiss was promoting as recently as 2018:
https://lenspire.zeiss.com/photo/en/article/can-you-use-big-gear-on-the-street-taking-street-portraits-of-strangers
So that is my Big Ten, more or less, reflecting my priorities. There are many more, like performance at various apertures, and subject-camera distances, across genres too.
Provided for suggestion, not a criticism of your current process or anything else people might find offensive - we have to add these things nowadays. The real challenge is finding any review that addresses these critical inputs to image quality. cheers, and all the best.
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