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7 laws of lenses

kvbarkley
VIP

The online Photographer's 7 laws of lenses:

https://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2019/02/mikes-seven-laws-of-lenses...

 

I won't mention any names but:

"Ctein's Axiom indicates that you can detect differences in testing that you cannot see in photographs, and, if you can't see them in photographs, then the differences don't make a lens "better" than another."

5 REPLIES 5

Waddizzle
Legend

“The sharpest lens in the world is a tripod.”

 

IMG_0035.JPG

 

Most especially when you are using the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM on a tripod.  BTW, I think I used my T5 and an EF-S 10-22mm lens to take this shot , which was, of course, mounted on a tripod.

[EDIT]. Judging from the tripod foot, this looks like the 100-400mm.  

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

ebiggs1
Legend

"...if you can't see them in photographs, then the differences don't make a lens "better" than another."

 

A point which most on this forum and elsewhere ignore.  I have always maintained that thought. If you can't see it does it really matter?

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and several lenses!

One of the things that I noticed and is important to me is color rendition.  Some lenses are better than others and I do notice it in my pictures.


@CaliforniaDream wrote:

One of the things that I noticed and is important to me is color rendition.  Some lenses are better than others and I do notice it in my pictures.


Most lenses have comparable quality and price range may have small differences that can be measured, but barely seen by the eye.  I have noticed a bigger difference shooting with and without lens filters, though.  

 

Clear filters work the best.  UV, CPL, and ND filters seem to interfere with Auto WB and light metering a little more than I like.

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"The right mouse button is your friend."

I liked the article and like it's presentation style.   As one who does not tend to pixel peep I judge a photo on whether it will work for my purpose: be it on a screen, the web or a print, large or small.   If the gear lets me deliver what I am looking for, then I am happy.

 

The definition of a good picture is a rather nebulous one I think. When one looks at the quality of an image there is a big difference between judging one intended as fine art compared with a portrait, architectural, street or war photography image.  They all have different purposes, contexts and constraints. 

 

Many people go on about clarity, distortion etc. as absolutes in judging an image, but then I look at one like Robert Capa's  iconic image taken amongst the beach obstacles at Utah Beach, regarded as one of the important images of the 20th Century and if I viewed in in the context of technical performance alone it would have ended up in the bin.  Yet the very elements that make it less technically perfect render a sense of the chaos, fear and intensity of the moment.  Capa himself said at the time that his hands were shaking, but in the end it is a very celebrated and respected image.

Capa at Utah.jpg

That is what makes photography an art, and one reason why people will inevitably continue to debate image quality.

 

In the meantime I shall just continue to potter along and take images that make my eyes smile...Smiley Very Happy


cheers, TREVOR

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