low contrast lenses?

Abhinay

Abhinay

Member
most of my clients/cinematographers are worried about using digital cameas for outdoors! because of limited latitude/ dynamic range.
are there any low contrast lenses avilable? For a very sunny high contrast scenes with details hidden in the shadows and much of the scene are highlights,
the scene is beyond the dynamic range of the sensor and as a result of using a low contrast lens,
we can compress the dynamic range at the level of the lens.
doese the nikons have lower contrast than canons? how about good old manual lenses?
thanks in advance!
 
There are definitely differences amongst lenses with variances in contrast. It's mostly in the coatings on the lenses. Over the years they have gotten better but the older lenses from yester years most definitely exhibit low contrast. Which lenses u ask? That's a tough one. I suggest going to camera meet ups or garage sales and try yourself. Or as the previous poster suggested, put on a low contrast filter.
 
You could also experiment with changing the Gamma curve. A Pro-Mist Filter might also resolve the contrasty situation

Best,

Jan
 
Usually vintage glass like Canon FD, some OM lenses, lomo, only a couple of c/y zeiss like the legendary 21mm and 35 f/1.4..
For outdoor full on daylight I like to use cine-d gamma with DRS1-2. those setting really bring out the dynamic range and are low contrast. It adds noise but in full on daylight the noise isn't visible, just stay away from filming in the shade with those settings.
 
Your best bet is using reflector fill or fill lighting to tighten up the ratio from highlight to shadow.
Changing the Gamma curve on the camera would be my second move.
A Ultracon or a promist just contaminates your blacks with a small amount of flare bleeding into the blacks
giving the feeling of less contrast and it reduces detail in your shot. Yes it may help but at a cost of some image quality reduction. If you want to keep the highest image quality use fill lighting or a reflector fill when ever possible.
 
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Don't confuse a low contrast lens with contrast lowering flare in front of the lens from a contrast filter. The two are not the same, and you will ultimately have a more difficult time adding contrast back in if you choose to use of a contrast filter instead of a lower contrast lens.

Leica lenses (including the now famous Dalsa 4K lenses) are quite low-con. Cooke as a general rule has more contrast that the Dalsa lenses and Zeiss (master primes in particular) have perhaps the most contrast if you're talking about HD or Cinema optics. These are generalizations and do not represent all products across all lines.

This of course doesn't mean you can't shoot a low-con or high-con scene with any of the lenses I listed, it just changes your working practices on set and in post.
 
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