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Can a lens have a colour cast?

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biggles267

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Hi, some time ago I bought a 2nd hand copy of a Canon 85mm 1.8. From the very first photos with it, I felt that the images it produced didn't have the right colours. They seem to be rather cool, with a lower temperature. Sometimes I'll take a set and think the colours are pretty OK, other times it really stands out.

When I use my other lenses I don't get this, including my 60mm macro which I also bought 2nd hand - when I use it, I know from experience that the colours are going to appear accurate every time, nice and warm and no seeming colour cast. Is it possible for this lens to be colour inaccurate, and if so would it be a fault with the lens (how would that be possible?), or are all 85mm 1.8's like that? Or is this not possible and I must be imagining it, or is it just a factor of the ambient light at the time which is causing it?
 
biggles267 said:
is it just a factor of the ambient light at the time which is causing it?
Click to expand...
Almost certainly yes. Lenses can impart a very slight colour cast - Sigma lenses are notoriously 'warmer' than Canon lenses - but this should be handled by auto white balance so you probably wouldn't even notice it.

It's easy to test, especially as your two lenses are not too far apart in focal length. Simply switch your white balance to daylight (or a fixed colour temperature) instead of AWB so the camera doesn't try to adjust for any differences, and take the same shot with both lenses. Make sure the light is constant between shots - you'll need to be especially careful if there is scattered cloud about as it can make a HUGE difference to the ambient light colour.

To answer the other part of your question, there's no fault which could case a change in colour, at least not in modern glass.
 
biggles267 said:
Hi, some time ago I bought a 2nd hand copy of a Canon 85mm 1.8. From the very first photos with it, I felt that the images it produced didn't have the right colours. They seem to be rather cool, with a lower temperature. Sometimes I'll take a set and think the colours are pretty OK, other times it really stands out.

When I use my other lenses I don't get this, including my 60mm macro which I also bought 2nd hand - when I use it, I know from experience that the colours are going to appear accurate every time, nice and warm and no seeming colour cast. Is it possible for this lens to be colour inaccurate, and if so would it be a fault with the lens (how would that be possible?), or are all 85mm 1.8's like that? Or is this not possible and I must be imagining it, or is it just a factor of the ambient light at the time which is causing it?
Click to expand...
In digital photography, colour is what you choose it to be. With film it was much more difficult; although it could be corrected in negative reproduction (prints), with transparencies you were stuck with it. With digital images any differences you see on screen can be very easily changed in processing using white balance or tint controls.
Neil
 
biggles267 said:
Hi, some time ago I bought a 2nd hand copy of a Canon 85mm 1.8. From the very first photos with it, I felt that the images it produced didn't have the right colours. They seem to be rather cool, with a lower temperature. Sometimes I'll take a set and think the colours are pretty OK, other times it really stands out.
Click to expand...
Does the color difference look something like this??
Which one of these is the L lens, can you guess?









--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©
 
and take the same photo with WB locked in and the colors will be different

or compare sigma to many canon etc.
biggles267 said:
Hi, some time ago I bought a 2nd hand copy of a Canon 85mm 1.8. From the very first photos with it, I felt that the images it produced didn't have the right colours. They seem to be rather cool, with a lower temperature. Sometimes I'll take a set and think the colours are pretty OK, other times it really stands out.

When I use my other lenses I don't get this, including my 60mm macro which I also bought 2nd hand - when I use it, I know from experience that the colours are going to appear accurate every time, nice and warm and no seeming colour cast. Is it possible for this lens to be colour inaccurate, and if so would it be a fault with the lens (how would that be possible?), or are all 85mm 1.8's like that? Or is this not possible and I must be imagining it, or is it just a factor of the ambient light at the time which is causing it?
Click to expand...
 
I attended a Canon camera seminar in Cleveland nearly 40 years ago (1972) and the Canon rep at the time talked about how hard Canon worked to get the color casts of all of its (FD) lenses to be the same. That's one of the things that sold me on Canon back then.

Now that's not to say that Canon still works that hard on making all of the lenses in the product line the same, although it seems that way to me with the five Canon lenses I do have (but no L lenses). However it does say that yes indeed all lenses have color casts. Some are cooler, some are warmer.

--
Steve Leibson

Shooting with Canons for 35+ years
 
If there is a color variation from lens to lens, it will be very much less than the range of correction available from either of the following .
  • The best fix is to shoot a neutral reference card in the same lighting as the subject. Use that to define a Custom Color Balance in your camera.
  • Use Photoshop or other package to correct the color.
Regards, Bill
 
neilgc said:
No 2 is overexposed; that's all I can see.
Neil
Click to expand...
quite correct. It was the same lens 18-55 IS, slightly different focal length (41 versus 49), and 2/3 aperture exposure difference.
Still it makes a dramatic change of color temperature on the building.

So, all in all, color temperature difference of lenses is mostly negligible compared to all the differences you generate from sensors, different screens, and even printing.

--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©
 
photonius said:
neilgc said:
No 2 is overexposed; that's all I can see.
Neil
Click to expand...
quite correct. It was the same lens 18-55 IS, slightly different focal length (41 versus 49), and 2/3 aperture exposure difference.
Still it makes a dramatic change of color temperature on the building.

So, all in all, color temperature difference of lenses is mostly negligible compared to all the differences you generate from sensors, different screens, and even printing.
Click to expand...
Naugthy Photonius :-) Do I get a prize?
Neil
 
Canon is a little more blueish , My Sigmas are warmer but a lot of it is determined by F stop and what / where you are shooting .
At about F 8 the lenses are the same at same FL .
My 35-350 is warmer at 100 mm than the 28-135 .

This rarely has any effect on me because I change 95 % of shots I print . I shoot raw +jpeg and prints from JPEG [ at costco ] seldom come out like on monitor .
--
1st it's a hobby
7D gripped XTI gripped
Canon - efs 10-22 , 17-55 , ef 18-55 IS
EF 28-90 , 28 @ 2.8 , 50 @1.8 , 28-135 IS
L's 35-350 , 70-200 MK II IS
Quantaray lens 70-300 macro
Sigma 135 - 400 , 180 MACRO
2X III , Life Size converter
KSM filters for all
kenko auto tubes , EF 25
 
neilgc said:
photonius said:
neilgc said:
No 2 is overexposed; that's all I can see.
Neil
Click to expand...
quite correct. It was the same lens 18-55 IS, slightly different focal length (41 versus 49), and 2/3 aperture exposure difference.
Still it makes a dramatic change of color temperature on the building.

So, all in all, color temperature difference of lenses is mostly negligible compared to all the differences you generate from sensors, different screens, and even printing.
Click to expand...
Naugthy Photonius :-) Do I get a prize?
Click to expand...
Sure,
I bestow upon you the honorable
"Fake Color Cast Detector Prize".

Throughout the world you will be recognized for your mental capacities. Kings and Queens will be jealous.
neilgc said:
Neil
Click to expand...
--
Life is short, time to zoom in ©
 
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