peterm1
Veteran
It's what you see in that image. I do not know how to explain it exactly but will give it a shot. To my way of thinking there can be (of course it is not always present as you cannot control for all factors and variables) a certain "smoothness" in gradation that I like. And if you look at the image in question, the shadow areas provide nice variations in lightness and dark without any hint of harshness.
Sonnars can also display a characteristic I have read about in old magazines from the 1950s where the image is described as being sharp but having a certain softness in the rendering (which I think has to do with the way Sonnars can depict transitions from one tone to another as mentioned above). These features may be more apparent when the lens is shot open or fairly open. More modern lens designs tend to err towards being almost excessively or clinically sharp. But I like "character" lenses which add a certain something to images. We have lost that to some extent with modern highly corrected computer designed lenses which have removed some of the critical residual aberrations upon which those characteristics rely.
This color image of my cat was shot with a Sonnar and I think it displays (some of) the kind of tonal qualities I am talking of.
