[rollei_list] Re: OT? Lens Film Compatibility

Thank you Dennis, that was very generous of you to respond so thoroughly. It is helpful - I'm trying to piece together all this information, as I move forward with shooting and processing, to help isolate and eliminate variables. It's quite fun. And thank you Michiel, that simple rule of thumb will help too, especially as I begin to compare the S Xenar in my Rollei 35 with the D.Zuiko lenses in my Oly 35RC and Trip 35.
Dennis, since do a lot lens comparisons, have run any with the Olympus compact 35 vs. the Rollei 35?
As for the Planar in my Rolleiflex 2.8C, I can complain about that one bit. Everything looks good through that lens, even overexposed HP5+. 

Elias

On May 20, 2007, at 1:33 PM, dpurdy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
No one has responded to your question so I will put in my thoughts since I am a compulsive tester of films and developers and lenses. The only way the 400 speed film would be harsher and grainier with your Rollei 35 is if you over exposed more with it. Sharpness and grain are very affected by density and it is most noticible in blank grey areas like the sky. Also grain can be easily increased by letting the film get hot or sit in the 
camera a long time.  Other than that I don't think one camera/lens can
give more grain on film than another.
The only lens film compatibility issue would be flare or color related. Slow films are known to be generally contrastier so it might be better to 
use a slower film in a lens that cuts contrast with flare.  Or higher
saturation film in color.


I appoached the lens quality question a short while ago, though more
obliquely than you, and got very little reponse. I believe there are two 
issues with lenses, not mentioning the speed issue.  Sharpness and
contrast. There are several things that affect those qualities and some people in this list have a great understanding of the issues, but from a 
user point of view it is a matter of sharpness in the corners and the
middle and at wide fstops and contrast overall (I wont mention Bokeh).
That has been discussed quite a lot everywhere and in general you could say that most lenses overcome their shortcomings when you stop them down 
to the middle stops.  "Better" lenses will get sharp overall at wider
stops and stay sharp at smaller stops. I am not sure what lens is in the Rollei 35 but I am sure that the Sonnar lens in the 35S or SE is "better". And the Planar and Xenotar lenses are "better" than the Xenar and Tessars 
if you want to shoot with wide fstops.  Though I have got to say that
looking at people's work on line it is amazing how often the Rolleicord Xenar images look exceedingly sharp. Maybe Rolleicord owners tend to own 
good scanners.

As to contrast I believe that contrast in the lens is always good.  I
tried to broach that question before but got little repsonse.  I don't
believe you can design low end film exposure into a lens except through flare. So if one lens is contrastier than another then it must have less flare. So if one lens gives more shadow density than a similar lens it must be lower contrast as well because it is built through flare. And if 
a lens tends to flare more than another then the highlights will lose
contrast too.  So even though you might like the results of a less
contrasty lens for getting better film speed and being more "atmospheric" 
and interesting, as far as clean clear light transmission I think that
better coated lenses or lenses that flare less will be contrastier and
thus sharper and with better saturation. Though those qualities might be 
considered boring by some and not condusive to a certain feeling in
images, and pleasing qualities are totally subjective.
I am just a photographer and not an expert and I might be wrong about some of this, but that is how it seems to me. I hope it is somewhat helpful. 
Dennis




I was noticing that 400 speed grain and sharpness is harsher from my
Rollei 35 than from my Canon SLR (FD lenses), or rolleifelx, but 100 speed film looks really good from my Rollei 35. Is there such a thing as lens & 
film compatibility? Are some lenses better or worse for faster film?
Maybe this is too big of a question, but what makes a great lens great? 
What should I be reading to learn more?

Thanks,

Elias
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