MFlenses - A new life in a digital age
MFLenses 2026

Manual Focus Lenses Forum

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
DiskFreeVault safely moves Mac apps and data to external storage.
Spotlight

Featured partner placement for the forum front page.

Lenses with extreme saturation
Post new topic Reply to topic
View previous topic :: View next topic  


Post
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:56 pm
Post subject: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Post
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 10:56 pm
Post subject: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Hello everyone,
within a year, i should start a movie using a canon 5d camera. It's mainly an horror movie, and i want to give it a look & feel of 70's movies (suspiria, Orio must know this one Smile ), or technicolor movies, i mean with over-saturated colors.
I red part of the forum and i saw the mir20 & the volna -3 should be ok for that.
Sharpness is not the main key here because @ 1920*1080 we are not really at high resolution compare to a single photograph.
The film will be (probably) shot in interiors.

Any idea of what i must buy ?

Many thanks !

Heathcliff.


Post
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:36 pm
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:36 pm
Post subject:
Reply
The Kaleinar 100 has very deep saturation too


patrickh


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:12 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:12 am
Post subject:
Reply
Contax Zeiss glass with T* coating - no doubt.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:25 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:25 am
Post subject:
Reply
Any genuinely high contrast lens. You cannot increase saturation at lens level, you can only lose it...

In any case Technicolor is not high saturation, and budget 70's films were rarely ever shot on the genuine (special camera three strip black and white dichroic separated) process, but are usually CN, only dubbed to Technicolor for theatrical release (as Technicolor dye transfer positives are much less prone to fading). The impression of high saturation in films of that vintage is generally due to poor separation and hence the omnipresence of colour casts - that should not be too hard to replicate in editor software.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:32 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:32 am
Post subject:
Reply
Suspiria, great! Profundo Rosso and Phenomena are worth watching as well, and there is a wonderful soundtrack album from those Dario Argento movies, from an Italian progressive band named "Goblin".

Concerning the saturation, if you can get hold of a Mamiya/Sekor SX 28mm F2,8, it´s the most "colourful" lens I know.

This is an example from this lens. It´s straight out of cam, no contrast/white balance adjustments, nothing. Only resized.



Perhaps you like it, it comes in M42 mount.


Regards

Benedikt


PS: Yes, I had a dirty sensor on that day... Confused But as I said, this is not the edited version.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:37 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:37 am
Post subject:
Reply
Regarding the MIR-20, it has the most intense colour saturation I ever seen in a lens. unfortunately, it also displays an equally intense flare in the corners opposite to light direction. This is not visible on a crop camera, but since you are using a 5D, you don't really want that I think.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:25 am
Post subject: Re: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 4:25 am
Post subject: Re: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Heathcliff wrote:
It's mainly an horror movie, and i want to give it a look & feel of 70's movies (suspiria, Orio must know this one Smile ), or technicolor movies, i mean with over-saturated colors.


I have several Contax Zeiss *T lenses, and the one that gives that over-saturated and uber-contrasty look is Sonnar 85/2.8. Besides it, Rolleinar / Voigtlander AR 85/2.8 (QBM mount) is also famous for saturation. Nikkor 200/4 (Ai, Ai-S) also has this super-saturated look. Among wide angles, hmm... Yashica ML 28/2.8 has nice saturation, but I wouldn't call it oversaturated. That's about it - among more than 50 lenses I have...


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:20 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:20 am
Post subject:
Reply
my experience does not compare with that of many members here,
but from my lenses I thought the Nikkor-N.C Auto 24mm f2.8 to produce most saturated colors ( here the photos I have taken with it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kuuan/sets/72157622548503162/ )


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:49 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:49 am
Post subject:
Reply
Won't you be able to boost saturation using the internal camera settings, the same as you can if you are shooting a jpg? Assuming you can, then you will be able to pump in more saturation from that than any lens will give you.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:16 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:16 am
Post subject:
Reply
kuuan wrote:
my experience does not compare with that of many members here,
but from my lenses I thought the Nikkor-N.C Auto 24mm f2.8 to produce most saturated colors


Beat me to it kuuan, when I started reading this thread this was the first lens I thought of.
It may not be the best fl for video, 24mm maybe too wide, but for autumn landscapes this is my lens of choice. Sharp too!

Unfortunately, it needs a little grinding to mount on 5d. There is a wide metal tab on the rear of this lens that prevents
mounting on the 5d.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:15 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:15 am
Post subject:
Reply
I've never compared lenses directly, but these two surprised me:

Vivitar Series 1 VMC 28/1.9
Yashinon DS-M 50/1.4

As for AF lenses, my old Sigma 8/4 (3 generations older than the curent 8mm model) is stunning, too.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:08 am
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:08 am
Post subject:
Reply
Bruce wrote:
kuuan wrote:
my experience does not compare with that of many members here,
but from my lenses I thought the Nikkor-N.C Auto 24mm f2.8 to produce most saturated colors


Unfortunately, it needs a little grinding to mount on 5d. There is a wide metal tab on the rear of this lens that prevents
mounting on the 5d.


Ai and Ai-S versions don't need it. They mount on 5DmkII just fine - I use them both with two different types of adapters, no problems at all.


Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:22 am
Post subject: Re: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Post
Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:22 am
Post subject: Re: Lenses with extreme saturation
Reply
Heathcliff wrote:
and i want to give it a look & feel of 70's movies (suspiria, Orio must know this one Smile ), or technicolor movies, i mean with over-saturated colors.

Any idea of what i must buy ?


I'm sorry but I think this is the wrong approach. Save the money for that lens and go for a professional editing software, this will offer you much much better and more options and control over the look of that and any other movie.

For the "real stuff" have a look at Autodesk Combustion or better Autodesk Lustre.
Both programs support full HD and better up to 4k resolution. I think they have a trial.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=5562401

I use both tools for 3D animations and I'm glad if I can help.

Edit:

Just a very quick sample, done in combustion, with very minor adjustments:

original File, Zeiss Planar 100/2


combustion, film capsules:


Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:55 pm
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:55 pm
Post subject:
Reply
thanks for all your answers, i'll check all that.

Carlsson you're right, that's the better way to do... but i do't want to spend month & month in post-production, so that's why i asked for the lenses, this way there will be less work after. But i definitly agree it's not the best solution. I'll have a look at combustion anyway.


Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:58 pm
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:58 pm
Post subject:
Reply
I have found, with just about any good lens I've used, that saturation is more a function of exposure than it is of the lens itself. Now, I'm talking film here, but I have images I've taken over the years from both cheap and expensive lenses, and lenses priced in between, that exhibit great color saturation.

So, as long as I'm shooting with a lens that I know will deliver good contrast, I don't concern myself about saturation. Especially since it's so easy to bump it up some in post processing.


Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:40 pm
Post subject:
Reply
Post
Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:40 pm
Post subject:
Reply
***So, as long as I'm shooting with a lens that I know will deliver good contrast, I don't concern myself about saturation. Especially since it's so easy to bump it up some in post processing.***

Indeed...and I also find important is lens/film/scanner combo for quick excellent results, I was pleased how these shots came out with super tak 35mm f3.5 and Fuji 800 press using a MTL3, and after scanning just needed sharpening in Photoshop.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn172/chakrata/afterwashing024.jpg
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn172/chakrata/pentax35mm12.jpg
Post new topic Reply to topic
Page 1 of 1