Is it just me, or is what is going on with lenses these days a bit strange?
It seems to me we have lens manufacturers in a sharpness arms race (probably driven by Sony), where we are getting large, heavy, overcorrected and clinical lenses with zero flaws or softness. To the extent, where Canon releases a special version of their 85mm 1.2 with a defocus coating to smooth things out a bit since they corrected out most of the SA from the old 85 1.2 design in the base version. And now it seems soft focus and other filters that add aberrations are very much back in style because many of these new lens designs are found to look too clinical if you just shoot them naked.
Isn't a bit strange to spend double the price for a larger, heavier, hypercorrected lens and then spend even more on filters (or a special coating) to reintroduce the corrected flaws so the rendering is more forgiving or appealing?
Just a thought, anyone else noticing this trend?
It seems to me we have lens manufacturers in a sharpness arms race (probably driven by Sony), where we are getting large, heavy, overcorrected and clinical lenses with zero flaws or softness. To the extent, where Canon releases a special version of their 85mm 1.2 with a defocus coating to smooth things out a bit since they corrected out most of the SA from the old 85 1.2 design in the base version. And now it seems soft focus and other filters that add aberrations are very much back in style because many of these new lens designs are found to look too clinical if you just shoot them naked.
Isn't a bit strange to spend double the price for a larger, heavier, hypercorrected lens and then spend even more on filters (or a special coating) to reintroduce the corrected flaws so the rendering is more forgiving or appealing?
Just a thought, anyone else noticing this trend?