bobofish
Two-fisted Atom Smasher
I've been having some rough times lately, so I thought maybe a fun discussion would cheer me up. Anybody up for it?
Seeing that rangefinders range far and wide in make model and format, there's been a whole lot of lenses made, by every possible manufacturer. A lot of discussion is given around the net to what particular lens they like best, but I'm curious what people think about different "footprints" of different lens companies. Leica, Angenieux, Zeiss, Zunow, whatever. What's your favorite lens company, or lens line, and why?
Also, over the years I've gotten to see and make a lot of photographs with different lenses from Japanese, German, French, etc. lenses, and I've seen that on the whole (but obviously not exclusively) different countries have slightly different philosophies on lens design; specifically, how the lens should paint the picture. Sometimes it seems to me that that design philosphy fits right into what you would expect from the culture, sometimes it seems in direct contrast.
Perhaps I'm a fool, but I've always thought Japanese lenses tend to emphasize vivid colors as their sine qua non; German lenses on the other hand fixate on contrast and resolution. There's a lot of lenses out there (and I don't mean to close this just to rangefinders) from Rodenstock, Cooke, Kodak, etc. that seem to me to display different philosophies of photography, and it would be interesting to me to see what you guys think about that. Are French lenses and the footprint they give better, or German lenses, or Japanese, etc.?
disclaimer*
(I don't mean "better" absolutely, just rather what you prefer for your photographs, or the photos you look at; obviously there is no one better scenario, and there's always a time and a place)
Let fly, boys and girls.
p.s. I suppose I would be remiss in not letting you guys fantasize, while thinking about this, about the best lens for your camera....if you were CEO of Earth, what lenses would you have created for your favorite camera?
(For me, for example, I would love to see more Angenieux lenses for Leica M, but I would also love to see Rodenstock jump into the fray)
Seeing that rangefinders range far and wide in make model and format, there's been a whole lot of lenses made, by every possible manufacturer. A lot of discussion is given around the net to what particular lens they like best, but I'm curious what people think about different "footprints" of different lens companies. Leica, Angenieux, Zeiss, Zunow, whatever. What's your favorite lens company, or lens line, and why?
Also, over the years I've gotten to see and make a lot of photographs with different lenses from Japanese, German, French, etc. lenses, and I've seen that on the whole (but obviously not exclusively) different countries have slightly different philosophies on lens design; specifically, how the lens should paint the picture. Sometimes it seems to me that that design philosphy fits right into what you would expect from the culture, sometimes it seems in direct contrast.
Perhaps I'm a fool, but I've always thought Japanese lenses tend to emphasize vivid colors as their sine qua non; German lenses on the other hand fixate on contrast and resolution. There's a lot of lenses out there (and I don't mean to close this just to rangefinders) from Rodenstock, Cooke, Kodak, etc. that seem to me to display different philosophies of photography, and it would be interesting to me to see what you guys think about that. Are French lenses and the footprint they give better, or German lenses, or Japanese, etc.?
disclaimer*
(I don't mean "better" absolutely, just rather what you prefer for your photographs, or the photos you look at; obviously there is no one better scenario, and there's always a time and a place)
Let fly, boys and girls.
p.s. I suppose I would be remiss in not letting you guys fantasize, while thinking about this, about the best lens for your camera....if you were CEO of Earth, what lenses would you have created for your favorite camera?
(For me, for example, I would love to see more Angenieux lenses for Leica M, but I would also love to see Rodenstock jump into the fray)
