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7 laws of lenses

kvbarkley
VIP
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
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
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 less lenses then before!

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

"All the variety, all the charm, all the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow", Leo Tolstoy;
"Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase" Percy W. Harris
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