Lens design and resulting colour saturation

[Rob-F]

However, on reading about lens design approaches (especially pre-computer), it seems to have been part-science/part-art. There are now several special lens design applications and it appears designers use a suite of software packages in their approach.

In addition to part-art, I believe another way to say it is part-intuition. While I'm sure that the availability of computers has facilitated lens design, they lack the designer's intuitive facility. Without intuition and imagination it seems to me that the computer would be of little value. One might compute until the cows come home and not accomplish anything new!

 

[telenous]

Apparently the lens of the Lomo LC-A results in saturated colours, according to Lomography, and to be fair based on what I’ve seen I’d say it’s fairly true. By contrast, the Leica glass that I have produce natural results.

I’m interested to know how lens design can alter / effect the colour from neutral to saturated.

I am not sure about Lomo but the Minox cameras, after which the Lomo takes, have simple-design Tessar (4 element) lenses. They are not the sharpest but noone will complain for contrast. Contrast and saturation are related.

Leica's earlier lenses were optimized for resolution, not contrast. That accounts for the fairly neutral rendering. If you try a Tessar-type lens from Leica, like the classic Elmar 50/3.5, you see again high contrast and saturation.

 

[markjwyatt]

Schneider-Kreuznach lenses form the 1950s/60s had really nice color rendition and saturation. This was taken with a 35mm f2.8 Curtagon on a Kodak Retina IV. Film was Fuji Superia 400 XTRA.


Life Guard by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

In B&W it comes out as contrast (50mm f2.8 Retina-Xenar, so Schneider's version of the Tessar), Tri-X:


Wood House by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr