Heliar 50mm f2 too magenta for skin tones?

[Andrew L]

I've just been looking at some snaps that I took over the Easter break with the 50mm f2 Heliar on my M3. Evertthing looks fine and dandy with one significant caveat, the skin tones on my (caucaisan) friends look way too red. BTW, I used Fuji Superiar 400 and it has never given me problems like this before.

In a weird way it looks almost as if I've something like used infra red film or the wrong filter to bring out the veins on peoples' faces.

I like the saturated images the lens produces and the bokeh is tolerable but the way skinn tones are rendered bothers me.

Has anyone else expewrienced this?

PS: I am not going to post the images

Andrew

 

[kully]

Did you scan these in, get the printed? I've not had any problems with Superia 400 and the 50/2.

 

[Andrew L]

I got got them processed at my local Snappy Snaps which is pretty good. It's a pretty weird thing. I have a shot in my wife where she is in the shade and her skin tones are really warm, almost ruddy. In reality my wife is so pale her skin is almost blue.

I think a half baked theory that it is easiest to spot the character of a lens by looking at how it render skin tones. Similarly, I think it's easy to spot a digital shot by the skin tones.

Anyway, I am slightly baffled, not to say disappointed, by this excessive redness.

 

[kully]

Andrew, have a butchers at this gallery: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=6722

It's all Heliar 50/2 + Superia 400 and then scanned in with no colour correction (other than what the LS-50 + Nikon Scan does).

Is this what your faces look like? How do the rest of the photos look?

I'm intrigued now, I think I had the same problem as you when I was using Vuescan but I thought it was down to my being totally crap at using it and switched back to Nikon Scan.

 

[Andrew L]

I there is something simliar going on in images 2587 and 2579.

I remember taking some shots with the Heliar, outside on a cloudy day (ah, England), and I got some really warm skin tones. I put it down to a printing error or something but now I'm wondering whether the lens has a tendency towards magenta?

Incidentally, I don't think it's the lab or the film. I'm a huge fan of both. Praise be to Snappy Snaps in kentish Town - lovely people 🙂

 

[pvdhaar]

Incidentally, I don't think it's the lab or the film. I'm a huge fan of both. Praise be to Snappy Snaps in kentish Town - lovely people 🙂

It takes a single day in a glove compartment of the car baking in the sun to have Superia 400 turn magenta... Just a thought..

 

[Andrew L]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the thought. I am pretty sure that I have kept the film suitably cool enough. Over the years I have great results from Superia. Every now and then I try out other emulsions, just for the sake of comparison, but I always come back to Fuji.

I think that this lens is on the warm side. I'm certain that I have read this else where. The thought of using a lens that is warmer rather cool appeals but not at the expense of slightly florid skin tones 🙂

 

[pvdhaar]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the thought. I am pretty sure that I have kept the film suitably cool enough. Over the years I have great results from Superia. Every now and then I try out other emulsions, just for the sake of comparison, but I always come back to Fuji.

I think that this lens is on the warm side. I'm certain that I have read this else where. The thought of using a lens that is warmer rather cool appeals but not at the expense of slightly florid skin tones 🙂

Yep, Superia is a great film. Very consistent, which is amazing for a consumer oriented film. And magenta isn't exactly flattering for skin tones indeed. I guess you could do a test roll, alternating between lenses on the same subject and checking the results.

And as an afterthought.. it doen't have to be you who's mishandled the film. I'm always wary of places like zoos and amusement parks, where films are sold from kiosks baking in the sun..

 

[Avotius]

I use superia 400 with whatever I got too, never had a problem, the one problems I have had is reala where everything looked purple, but then I found out that reala really didnt like the kodak developer at this one place, I took it to a fuji shop, no problems