Re: dreamy Nikon lenses
I *think* Nikon was making lenses (for other cameras) long before
they made their first camera body (late 40's?).
Have to agree with all the comments about the sharper than sharp
multi-coated lenses around these days. Sometimes I see photographs
that are much sharper than anything I've ever viewed in real life.
I also love those soft lenses.
Diana
On Jul 17, 2008, at 5:41 PM, Christina Z. Anderson wrote:
Yup.
Re: Nikon--she was a dyed in the wool Nikon user but it is
possible before the 50's she used other cameras.
Re: Kodachrome. When I pulled apart a slide it said Kodak safety
film (it's positive, not neg of course). Then I pulled apart a
bunch more and finally found Kodachrome written on it. The color
is really luscious in all these, but there is a difference in the
early 40's Kodachrome images into the 50's and then the later 50's
on to 70's. The later shots are super sharp and saturated so my
uneducated guess is, it was a lens change on her part. But heck,
she could have been shooting Pentax at the the time for all I know
as I wasn't born back then and even if I was I didn't take note of
cameras until long after. I just know that when she died I
inherited the Nikon.
I guess I have to agree with Don B. that the look of Kodachrome is
very seductive.
Chris
A couple of questions:
Are these definitely 35mm slides? tha
Why do you think a Nikon was used?
The effect sounds like a soft focus lens but I don't know of any
specificallyl made for 35mm still cameras during the period. Nikon
did have a version of the lens made by Rodenstock and called an
Imagon but that was later.
Uncoated lenses do not produce fuzzy images due to the lack of
coating. The most common result is an overall haze which for color
film lowers saturation and can affect color purity. Some uncoated
lenses also produce "ghost images" of bright objects. The most
common reason for haloes around bright objects is residual
spherical aberration. Very few lenses were coated up to about 1946
when the vacuum coating methods developed during WW-2 became
widely available. Kodak did coat some of its premium quality
lenses using a different method as early as about 1940 and lens
coatings were used for some lenses made for the Technicolor
company in the late 1930s. For instance Technicolor supplied
coated projection lenses for _Gone With the Wind_.
The film was certainly Kodachrome if the slides were made
before 1946 and very likely to be Kodachrome if made later.
Kodachrome is still available although Kodak has been trying very
hard to kill it for several years. Early Kodachrome was known for
brilliant colors and high contrast. No other film looks quite like
it. The effect was similar to Technicolor of the period.
One property of Kodachrome is excellent dark storage longevity.
Compared to Ektachrome or Anscochrome its dark storage lifetime is
many times as great and much Kodachrome made in the 1940's still
looks pristine. Ektachrome has better resistance against fading
during projection but the older stuff was quite short lived.
Because Kodachrome does not have the dye producing couplers
incorporated in the emulsion layers it requires a very elaborate
processing method. Originally this was done exclusively by Kodak
although in later years they licensed independant labs to process it.
AFAIK all Kodachrome in all sizes was coated on safety
(cellulose acetate) support.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com