Color rendition: best and worse lenses

It is clear that some lenses render colors better than others.
For example, I never liked the greens in photos taken with the 18-55 kit zoom in full daylight, and for years I blamed the sensor of my XT... until I finally got a 85L.
On the same XT body the 85L was a revelation. And I was more impressed by the colors than the sharpness !

However I can not rationalize this difference because it is not so apparent in all shots. It also seems to depend on lighting conditions (glass performance changing with color temperature ?) and the angle to the light (very subtle flare washing the colors out ?).

QUESTIONS

1) Do you have more technical details about this subject ?

2) What are the best lenses as far as color is concerned, and what are the lenses to avoid ? Samples are greatly appreciated.

The low end consumer lens tend to have the worst color, where the L have the best in some cases. I haven't owned many lens, just whats in my sig and the 70-200F4L IS as well as sigma 24-70 2.8 EX, the sigma by far had the worst color being too muddy and warm for my tastes.


Good processing can make up for alot of things.

^^ that's my experience too, Sigma looks a bit yellow (warmer) to me than Canon, which are more natural..especially the L's

But what do you mean by best color? Neutral, saturated, low contrast, slanted toward anything in particular? Very subjective to most people. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Leica, Zeiss, etc. all handle colors differently. One reason I have so many lenses.

i agree this is subjective, but to my eyes the 24L has the best color of any of my lenses.

gasrocks wrote in post #6878623
But what do you mean by best color? Neutral, saturated, low contrast, slanted toward anything in particular? Very subjective to most people. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Leica, Zeiss, etc. all handle colors differently. One reason I have so many lenses.

This question is legitimate.
By best color I mean most neutral.
In theory, if a glass is not perfectly neutral it will filter some light frequencies, and these are lost forever.
In a mathematical sense, less information is captured by the lens and lost information can not be recovered with image processing.

For example, if you shoot through a red filter then all frequencies that are not red are lost forever and can not be recovered.
In a less drastic way, a non-totally-neutral glass (e.g. yellowish) will lose some light frequencies - forever.

My point is: amongst different lenses rendering colors in a different way there will be only one most neutral "best lens": the one capturing most original light information resulting in a more natural image.
You may then simulate all other lenses by filtering that image.
What do you think ?

CheshireCat wrote in post #6878069
It is clear that some lenses render colors better than others.
For example, I never liked the greens in photos taken with the 18-55 kit zoom in full daylight, and for years I blamed the sensor of my XT... until I finally got a 85L.
On the same XT body the 85L was a revelation. And I was more impressed by the colors than the sharpness !

However I can not rationalize this difference because it is not so apparent in all shots. It also seems to depend on lighting conditions (glass performance changing with color temperature ?) and the angle to the light (very subtle flare washing the colors out ?).

QUESTIONS

1) Do you have more technical details about this subject ?

2) What are the best lenses as far as color is concerned, and what are the lenses to avoid ? Samples are greatly appreciated.

The reason that L especially primes have better color is they have greater contrast. The BEST Canon lens as far as sharpness and color that I've shot with is the 200 2L. Probably the 85L 35L and 24L all close seconds.

Go in and have a look around.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=506386

Coastal 60mm macro lens is probably as neutral as you will ever get.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #6885120
The reason that L especially primes have better color is they have greater contrast. The BEST Canon lens as far as sharpness and color that I've shot with is the 200 2L. Probably the 85L 35L and 24L all close seconds.

Go in and have a look around.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=506386

One of my favorite threads and yes, the 200 f/2 is amazing...
Too bad I must be content with my 85L

I agree contrast is an essential quality, but I think it takes something more than contrast to render such beautiful colors.

CheshireCat wrote in post #6885468
One of my favorite threads and yes, the 200 f/2 is amazing...
Too bad I must be content with my 85L

I agree contrast is an essential quality, but I think it takes something more than contrast to render such beautiful colors.

The 85L is one great lens.

Contrast is just one quality.

gasrocks wrote in post #6885259
Coastal 60mm macro lens is probably as neutral as you will ever get.

Very interesting: UV-VIS-IR APO with no focus shift.
Too bad it sells for $4500 !
It would be great to see a comparison vs the best L lenses.

I can tell you that most M Leica and Hasselblad Zeiss are better than most Canon Ls.

Not the correct forum to mention this on but there are many, many lenses out there that are better than most L's. Look at my gear list. The Costal 60 is amazing.

gasrocks wrote in post #6886454
Not the correct forum to mention this on but there are many, many lenses out there that are better than most L's. Look at my gear list. The Costal 60 is amazing.

Absolutely!!!!

working with color negatives in an RA4 process darkroom has taught me that color rendition between lenses is largely a moot point. if one lens is slightly "warmer" than the other, tweak your white balance! if I shoot with daylight negative film under tungsten light with one lens that has an 80A correction filter over it and one that doesn't, I can tell you right away which "renders" the color more neutrally.

color rendition is dependent on how you match your materials to your light source.

now, contrast and saturation, yes. I have no argument that those qualities are all over the board from lens to lens.

*
EDIT: I'm just waiting for attacks to begin with this claim.