Bluish image from old lenses?

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RFaddict000

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It is not about RF lenses, but I thought people here could help.

I acquired a Rolleiflex f3.5 about 2 years ago. From its serial number, I know it was made in 1952. All the images that made with color film have a bluish cast. I can usually correct them in Photoshop. But sometimes they got so bad that I could only make them into B/W to be usable. I tried a Hoya UV filter but it didn't help. I scanned the film myself so I know they were scanned right.

My question is, is that a common thing among old lenses which were made when color film was unheard of, or I just got a bad sample?
 
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Set the shutter to it's largest aperture and the B setting, open the back and hold the camera up to a white background and look through the lens. That should tell you if there is a color cast to your lens. I've never heard of a blue cast. I would think that it would have to be pretty bad to leave that much color on your pictures. I would be more inclined to look at the film as the source. Have you tried other films?
 
I've certainly noticed it out of doors with uncoated lenses: veiling flare out of doors tends to be blue. Indoords, under tungsten, it's yellow, for the same reason. A lens hood (shade) will help quite a bit.

Cheers,

R.
 
What time of the day are you taking the pictures. Early in the morning or late afternoon can have a blue cast because of the temperature.
 
I have a couple of old lenses with very blue coatings which don't give a cast to the pictures. Equally my contact lenses are blue but don't colour my vision blue.

But why don't they? Given if one looks through a blue filter all appears blue, why does the effect not occur with blue (contact) lenses?

(Sorry this further question is of no help to the OP...).

Regards,
D.
 
D.O'K. said:
I have a couple of old lenses with very blue coatings which don't give a cast to the pictures. Equally my contact lenses are blue but don't colour my vision blue.

But why don't they? Given if one looks through a blue filter all appears blue, why does the effect not occur with blue (contact) lenses?

(Sorry this further question is of no help to the OP...).

Regards,
D.
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Because God sets our brain to Auto WB, it's the same reason you see tungsten light as “normal” whereas film sees it with a red cast.
 
Looking through the back of the lens as suggested before hopefully will reveal the answer. I have seen lenses with internal haze do this. in particular, a Summarit. Once the lens was cleaned, the color shifted was gone.

A yellow shift is not uncommon on older lenses, some due to radioactive glass used and some due to the Balsam cement used.
 
"Color Corrected" or "colour corrected" usually means the lens is corrected to bring light across the spectrum into focus on the image plane. Simple lenses made for black and white film did not have to worry about color dispersion. Most lenses in since the 1930s are color corrected, with a few exceptions.
 
Thanks for all the replies.
I looked through the lens with B setting against some white envelops as well as some outdoor scenes. Curiously, I didn't see the blue cast, at least not as bad as I see in the scanned images.

This image was taken recently with a Hoya UV filter on at about 6 pm here. The actually lighting is actually quite grey, as it was drizzling. I used a sekonic to meter. The film is Fuji ProII 400.
4543346272
4543346272
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chanhongsiu/4543346272

This one was taken a year ago in Bar Harbor. It should be about noon. The film is Kodak Portra 400.
4543346220
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chanhongsiu/4543346220

I actually tried Kodak Ektar100 and the blue cast is not as bad. So it was the film? But I don't have the same problem iwith the Portra or ProII in other cameras.
4543346220
 
To tell you frankly, this looks like a bad film or scanning. This is what I get from most films when using Epson 4490, for example, and I correct that in Epson-scan before scanning with histogram tools, but maybe I am wrong and this is film.
 
D.O'K. said:
I have a couple of old lenses with very blue coatings which don't give a cast to the pictures. Equally my contact lenses are blue but don't colour my vision blue.

But why don't they? Given if one looks through a blue filter all appears blue, why does the effect not occur with blue (contact) lenses?

(Sorry this further question is of no help to the OP...).

Regards,
D.
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When you say 'blue coating' do you mean by reflected or transmitted light? Because a coating that reflects blue will transmit yellow...

Cheers,

R.
 
Ah, but if the coating works is I understand, then the reflection from the glass surface and the reflection from the coating should form a destructive wave and therefore disappear, no? the reflected colour would be a small amount of the constructive wave formed from the transmitted colour that was in phase.

my head hurts now, that’s enough thinking for one day
 
looks like bad WB adjustment. When scanning, images tend to have a blueish cast because of the orange base of the film that has to be compensated. it looks like this compensation wasn't properly done. just open it in photoshop and do auto levels, should work it out :)
 
OK. Forgive me if I go too technical.
I looked up the data sheets of the three films I tried. If my interpretation is correct, the Fuji Pro400 and Kodak Portra 400VC that gave me worst blue cast are more sensitive towards the shorter end of wavelength, whereas Ektar100 is less sensitive. So it seems the blue cast is a combination of the lens and the film. What do you guys think?

Here are the data sheets. I am talking about the Spectra-dye sensitivity curves.
Ektar100:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e4046/e4046.pdf
Portra400VC:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e4040/e4040.pdf
Fuji Pro400H:
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/professional_films/pdf/pro_400h_datasheet.pdf
 
Yes, auto levels almost correct that. But almost.

I am not sure if the scanner automatically adjusts between film, otherwise I was always using the default color options. As said in my previous message, I tend to think that it is the spectrum sensitivity of the film plus the chromatic properties of the lens that result in this bad WB with default scanning options.


umcelinho said:
looks like bad WB adjustment. When scanning, images tend to have a blueish cast because of the orange base of the film that has to be compensated. it looks like this compensation wasn't properly done. just open it in photoshop and do auto levels, should work it out :)
Click to expand...
 
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Sparrow said:
Ah, but if the coating works is I understand, then the reflection from the glass surface and the reflection from the coating should form a destructive wave and therefore disappear, no? the reflected colour would be a small amount of the constructive wave formed from the transmitted colour that was in phase.

my head hurts now, that’s enough thinking for one day
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Dear Stewart,

If it worked perfectly there would of course be no reflection at all, and if it worked perfectly at all wavelengths the reflection would be neutral; but any colour in the reflection implies that the reflector is working as a dichroic filter to some degree.

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Stewart,

If it worked perfectly there would of course be no reflection at all, and if it worked perfectly at all wavelengths the reflection would be neutral; but any colour in the reflection implies that the reflector is working as a dichroic filter to some degree.

Cheers,

R.
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I’m not really sure, I’ll reflect on it and do a doodle or too


Reflect!!! sorry
 
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