ok to like soft corners?

DNG said:
Even our eyes are sharp in the central part of what we see. So, the lens sees as we see in real time.
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Erm, well... although I have all due tolerance for soft-corner-loving perverts, I do like the sharpness of my pictures to extend just a tad more into the field than is the case for the fovea of the human eye. We're talking very few degrees, here. The rest is photoshopped by your brain after stitching from different eye positions.
 
Hello Back Alley:

I have a lens for you: my Voigtlander 180mm f4.5 Telemore. It vignettes, has soft corners and is generally unsharp. It is, of course, a linhof master select technikon.

yours
FPJ
 
Lack of corner sharpness doesn't bother me either. However, I don't like barrel distortion or lenses that are soft wide open... I can admit that. Does that mean I won't use a lens that has those attributes? No, I'll still use them at times.
 
back alley said:
first, let me say that i have nothing against sharpness, even all the way into the corners...

but, i also have nothing against images with soft corners...even landscapes and architectural shots...in fact, i may prefer a touch of softness in the corners for people and street scenes.

am i a bad person? ;)

or a bad photographer?

joe
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Worrying about sharpness is for people who don't understand content.
 
Depends on what I'm shooting. Sometimes -- very rarely -- I really need sharp corners. Slightly more often, but still not 10%, I prefer pics that are sharp all over. Most of the time it doesn't matter, and sometimes, soft corners enhance the picture. Why try to set up rules for all cicumstances at all times? And what does anyone mean by 'sharp' anyway?

Cheers,

R.
 
I often find that the best pictures artistically are the ones that are less than "perfect" technically. In particular if you enjoy shooting wide open and like good bokeh you are going to get soft outcomes apart from the main subject anyway. I often go further and artificially add vignettes (darkening of corners) as I find this is artistically pleasing to me. So in short yes, its OK to like soft corners.

Here's an example where the corners are deliberately soft.

4785629941_9981dbc04a_b.jpg
 
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Is this a question about the Rollei Sonnar, Joe?
At close and middle distances, I love the way it draws the viewer into the picture. The center is bitingly sharp while the corners on film are less so. The transition is so sonnar smooth...

For landscapes at infinity, I'm less thrilled, I think.
 
noimmunity said:
Is this a question about the Rollei Sonnar, Joe?
At close and middle distances, I love the way it draws the viewer into the picture. The center is bitingly sharp while the corners on film are less so. The transition is so sonnar smooth...

For landscapes at infinity, I'm less thrilled, I think.
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jon, not about the 40 sonnar.
i love that lens and in general, the sonnar look.

no, the question was about lenses in general...here at rff there are so many threads about lenses and corner sharpness that i was starting to feel 'out of the norm' in that i actually prefer a soft corner most of the time.
 
back alley said:
jon, not about the 40 sonnar.
i love that lens and in general, the sonnar look.
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It's always struck me that that lens doesn't get more love, esp considering its limited production nature...

back alley said:
here at rff there are so many threads about lenses and corner sharpness that i was starting to feel 'out of the norm' in that i actually prefer a soft corner most of the time.
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Glad to see you've found what works for you! Most of those RFF myths are just that! On the other hand, one of the things that drew me to the 28 cron or the 21 C Biogon was exactly that corner sharpness thing! But in just about everything outside of landscape that I shoot (mostly people), soft corners can be a kind of plus, I think. It's really compositionally-dependent, don't you think?!
 
I'm pretty sure HCB would not have been invited into the f/64 group:

I’m always amused by the idea that certain people have about technique, which translate into an immoderate taste for the sharpness of the image.
It is a passion for detail, for perfection, or do they hope to get closer to reality with this trompe I’oeil?
They are, by the way, as far away from the real issues as other generations of photographers were when they obscured their subject in soft-focus effects.
- Henri Cartier-Bresson - on technique. "American Photo",September/October 1997, page: 76
 
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