Below is an example. It's a throw-away photo, but the rendering is what caught me. The focus is off and the subject is soft. But I loved the look - it has enough detail to get the point across, but the unimportant details aren't able to be rendered.
Now all of the sudden I'm smitten with the idea of playing with a '40's or '50's era lens.
@pjonori I like the look of Saul Leiter’s and Fred Herzog’s photos. I wonder how much of what I like is the lens and how much is the film?
I’ve tried a couple 1970s Minolta lenses on my Fuji and the look is different from modern lenses.
@two21 Today's lenses are designed to have contract and sharpness turned up to 11. The older lenses were, simply due to technical limitations, subtler and softer.
Also, those lucky bastards had Kodachrome.
@pjonori I share the sentiment. Having every option under the sun can be a distraction.
On the other hand using something new (or old, or just different) can help you think about how you take photos differently.
For reference, the 80 year old lens: https://instagram.com/p/BldrHR3FgQL/
@emorydunn Wow, yeah - that's stark contrast (sorry, pun intended) from modern lens performance. Thanks for sharing - it's definitely intriguing!
I think if I was going to do something like this it would be after I finish my current projects and I'm starting with a blank slate. The main concern is that I go out with a different lens and (inevitably) miss a shot for an ongoing project.
So maybe it's a good fit if I ever end up taking on a project in a different locale.
1st world problems.
@pjonori Agreed, for ongoing projects it’s good to keep things consistent. This is why it’s easy to add more projects without necessarily finishing previous ones.
@emorydunn It's also high time to wrap one or more of them anyway. I've said my piece and it's time to move on.
@emorydunn I'm really conflicted to be honest. I'm allergic to acquiring new gear - it's often just dead weight and cognitive noise...
I'm also really neurotic about using the same equipment through my work to keep a consistent visual tone. Same camera, same lens, same aperture, etc. I don't even like to change the ISO past two stops.
So using an entirely new lens would be a pretty significant leap. Cold feet are starting to settle in.