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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Chromatic aberration

The Leica R 80mm Summilux will show some blooming, CA and lack of contrast wide open. Stop it down to f2 and you'll see a remarkable improvement. It's known for its "romantic" qualities wide open, particularly for portraits. I have every Leica R from 15mm to. 280mm and this lens is unique in its character - a lot like a Superspeed.

It's a great lens and focal. You just need to understand its characteristics.

M
 
Thank you guys.
Mark, this is the exact reason I bought and had this lens and the 35, 50 and also 100mm macro, converted to Cine mod. I look forward to learning what this lens can do and how to use that knowledge to create some really great images. I know it will take some time to really understand what this lens set can do.
One of the biggest reasons I bought all the Leica glass was that I liked the friendly warm feeling of the images.
Now if I can only find a 19mm V2 to complete the set.
 
BTW, your test was an extreme situation and one you wouldn't normally do in a production. You need to light the subject in front of bright windows or bring the window level down. The lack of contrast in the subject is the result of veiling flare at the wide open stop. At f2, you'll see more contrast and sharpness, but that won't change the fact that you have way too much difference in exposure between the subject and the windows.

As for Leica glass, you can still pick up a 24mm (latest version) for a reasonable price and I would recommend that to fill in between the 19 and 35. It's not quite as sharp as the 28mm V2, but a better 'tweener" focal between the 19 and 35. I have no complaints about mine. The 180mm APO is another nice lens if you can swing it. Good luck finding a V2 19mm. That was actually the first Leica lens I bought because I knew they were scarce. They, like the best lenses in each focal are becoming hard to find and spendy.... Glad I built my set when I did. For example, I bought my 15mm Super Elmarit for 6K (very clean copy) and within 3 months they were selling at 9K!

Buy now, smile later.

M
 
I am not an expert but I have seen CA too often. In stills it can be almost eliminated with software (e.g. DxO). But stopping down is not going to solve your problems. Some lenses have consistent CA, some get worse the more you stop down. Not a simple problem. I saw a bit of CA in Jarred's thread where he posted stills of a lizard. BTW some CA happens only with digital sensors.
 
I wasn't addressing CA with the Leica 80mm Sumilux so much as overall contrast, sharpness and veiling flare. CA is primarily a lens issue. One reason why Leica built several APO lenses. Pretty much anything over 90mm.

It's about getting all wavelengths of light resolving together correctly at the focal plane -- film or digital sensor.

For example, the older 19mm Elmarit exhibited a fair amount of CA in situations similar to the images that were posted, but the V2 does not sine Leica corrected it in the new version.

M
 
I would recommend staying on the lookout for the Olympus 21mm F2.0 as well. Faster than the Leica and extremely well corrected. Another classic lens which is definitely on par quality wise.
 
Finner said:
Well what I can tell you for sure is when I read the script it was pretty acurate to jessie james life from the white pages of shooting and not fast paced. If the studio or producer could read it and not see that the movie would be slow they would have to be total itiots so I doubt anyone from the studio that was remotely attached to the project would have thought it was going to be a young guns flick. I suspect someone lead you wrong with that information Jason.

Also reports I heard is in post the director drove the studio crazy and they were unhappy with their choice in him because he was so difficult. This would not suprise me as I know many of the actors were totally frustrated with the director. I saw on 2 seperate ocassions both Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck very upset with him. On both occasions the director had pushed the take count over the 30's "Casey was finally yelling tell me what you want for a performance and I will give it to you"and when it happened to Pitt "he started saying look I can give you what ever you want you just have to make up your mind" until finally Bad told the director "This next take is what I feel it should be so you get this last one and I am done" Brad then proceeded to give the performance gave his own cut and walked straight off set. These are just a few things I saw and I was just called in for extra camera day shoots. Now I know one of the directors tools is multiple takes to get an emotional performance but from what I saw and the rest of the crew thought it was simply a new director over his head that really did not know what he wanted.

I hope the film is good too Jason but if it is good from what I heard and saw it will not be due to the director.
Click to expand...

Not to revive an ancient post, but guess Brad Pitt and Andrew Dominik made up! They just teamed up again and worked on Killing Them Softly.
 
Mark Pedersen said:
BTW, your test was an extreme situation and one you wouldn't normally do in a production. You need to light the subject in front of bright windows or bring the window level down. The lack of contrast in the subject is the result of veiling flare at the wide open stop. At f2, you'll see more contrast and sharpness, but that won't change the fact that you have way too much difference in exposure between the subject and the windows.

As for Leica glass, you can still pick up a 24mm (latest version) for a reasonable price and I would recommend that to fill in between the 19 and 35. It's not quite as sharp as the 28mm V2, but a better 'tweener" focal between the 19 and 35. I have no complaints about mine. The 180mm APO is another nice lens if you can swing it. Good luck finding a V2 19mm. That was actually the first Leica lens I bought because I knew they were scarce. They, like the best lenses in each focal are becoming hard to find and spendy.... Glad I built my set when I did. For example, I bought my 15mm Super Elmarit for 6K (very clean copy) and within 3 months they were selling at 9K!

Buy now, smile later.

M
Click to expand...
Yea, I know better than to not fix the ratios but this was just a quick test to see how far you can ask the lens to go and it seems by the response that it was effective in finding out a few things about the glass and why the issue.
Next time Ill set up lights and all and run the test again but I know by now with all the info that I will probably always experience some amount of CA in this kind of situation unless I really bring the windows and subject a little closer in EV.
 
I did see that ebay 19mm but still looking for the right lens. Ill know when I see it.
Thanks for the 24mm advice. I had a 24 I just missed a week or so ago on ebay. Had to work and by the time I responded it went for just $10 more than my last. I would have bid larger if I had the time but who knows.
Thank you all for the info. by the way.
Really helps me know that the lens is working properly. Still getting use to the new glass.
And Ill keep an eye out for the Oly glass to.

But leaning toward keeping it all Leica and similar serial/ factory date to help with matching. Or should I not worry about serial and build dates to match lenses for coatings and all.
Seems logical to some degree.
 
Russ,

Not sure what you're looking for "the right lens". What are your criteria? That's a rare lens and a reasonable price... I'd buy it if I were you.

If you are bidding on eBay, I highly recommend you use Bidnapper.com. You set your highest bid and let it do the rest. It will bid the lowest price possible to beat other bids so you pay the lowest amount possible up to your bid amount. It works great.

Also not sure what you mean by "Oly" glass? If you mean APO that means it is an Apochromatic lens. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apochromat

Highly recommend you check out Erin Puts reviews of Leica R lenses. Just google him. He reviews each focal range in a series of PDFs you can download. Also download his compendium of Leica Lenses: http://www.furnfeather.net/books/pdf/llcforweb.pdf

You need to do your research on Leica Glass to be a knowledgeable buyer. Leica produced several versions of its lenses over time. The later versions are always the best. You can identify the versions by their nomenclature and serial number range. In general buy the latest serial number you can (newer lens) but don't get too hung up on it.

In terms of matching, Leica R lenses are remarkably ALL well matched to each other, so you don't need to worry about having similar serial numbers... just focus on finding the best versions of the lenses in each focal, and try to find higher serial numbers, but again, overall condition of the lens is more important.

Hope that helps. It took me quite a bit of time do all the research and troll for the best lenses... but it was fun and informative.

OK, I'm done now. :)

Have fun.

M
 
Steen Linde said:
Hi Red-guys

Do you have any experiences with chromatic aberration using the camera with the available lenses.
I shoot a lot in HD, and here you see it all the time.


Steen Linde
__________

Picturewise Film
Denmark
Click to expand...


To what has been said all I can add, is that CA (Chromatic Aberration) is an artifact that comes strait from the way a lens is designed, much to do as with most artifacts with the fact that various Glass Elements are stacked together inside a lens, and only BUT the absolute best glass, such as Leica Summilux C. Primes and Arri/Zeiss Master Primes, have this artifact extremely well controlled, but this effect is not controlled in the same way in all focal, as it varies its strength form focal to focal depending greatly also on the amount and positioning of their Glass Elements, as well as Spherical elements and Floating elements with in the design it self.

Personally, I don't make too much of a fuss about some artifacts as they are within the characteristic of each Lens Manufacturer, and the capability of each Camera Sensor to read them, yet some are indeed less desirable then others, at the end of the day one must make a decision based on Economic and Work needs and possibilities, test and choose accordingly.
 
KETCH ROSSi said:
To what has been said all I can add, is that CA (Chromatic Aberration) is an artifact that comes strait from the way a lens is designed, much to do as with most artifacts with the fact that various Glass Elements are stacked together inside a lens, and only BUT the absolute best glass, such as Leica Summilux C. Primes and Arri/Zeiss Master Primes, have this artifact extremely well controlled, but this effect is not controlled in the same way in all focal, as it varies its strength form focal to focal depending greatly also on the amount and positioning of their Glass Elements, as well as Spherical elements and Floating elements with in the design it self.

Personally, I don't make too much of a fuss about some artifacts as they are within the characteristic of each Lens Manufacturer, and the capability of each Camera Sensor to read them, yet some are indeed less desirable then others, at the end of the day one must make a decision based on Economic and Work needs and possibilities, test and choose accordingly.
Click to expand...

Chromatic aberration has more to do with coatings or the lack of them. The famous magenta green cross you will see on tree limbs against a bare sky, has to do with the filtration of wavelengths. Many Canon lenses for instance are coated with a greenish tint. The purpose of this is to compensate for CA and to emphasize skin tones. Zeiss is much cooler, so you will often see a more magenta hue to their coatings. It has a more clinical look which provides greater contrast, but there is often more CA as well.
 
Chromatic aberration has to do with how the various compounds in lens glass will refract different wavelengths at slightly different angles. Pretty much all translucent compounds do this to some degree, so arranging some elements to cancel out the refractive discrepancies in others is key to reducing CA in lenses. The function of coatings is to prevent diffusion of light and generally enhance light transmission. They can absorb/reflect parts of the visual spectrum to varying degrees, but won't cause CA on their own.
 
THat is exactly what I am saying, that CA has to do with the glass elements, and as other artifacts which can be suppressed by the design and positioning of each element as well as utilizing aspherical elements, all to counter fight each reflection and each detraction and artifact till dissipates almost entirely as in High End Cine glass, as for Canon and other Still glass it is not done as drastically do to build and cost, also do to mechanical positioning.
 
CA can be reduced quite a bit in post with this process:
– Split the image into it's color channels
– Scale them slightly differently according to CA (center scale, of course)
– Put them together again

We had pretty good results with this on a shot of an ancient ship against the sky.

Most pro software should be able to do this. Another possibility is an edge detection filter and de-saturation of only the contrasty edges.
 
Uli Plank said:
CA can be reduced quite a bit in post with this process:
– Split the image into it's color channels
– Scale them slightly differently according to CA (center scale, of course)
– Put them together again

We had pretty good results with this on a shot of an ancient ship against the sky.

Most pro software should be able to do this. Another possibility is an edge detection filter and de-saturation of only the contrasty edges.
Click to expand...

Just chiming in, I do a lot of CA correction in post since I have a slew of old Angenieuxs, and actually enjoy turning these underdogs into great performers. I have found
occasional to scale the color channels not from the center but moving the anchor point around for better results. This holds true for old zooms and new still zooms.
Even though I find that it is easy to correct CA that appears in the focal plane toward the edge of the frame, it is the defocused fringing of the lens which appears
in front and behind of the focal plane which separate the great lenses from the mediocre ones.
 
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