Lenses and color reproduction

In this particular case I don't think either one is "better". However I know for certain that lenses can affect colour, because I use my Sigma 18-50/2.8 and Canon 50/1.8 MkI for 'table top studio' work and when I switch between them I do get slightly warmer colours from the Sigma. Nothing that can't be fixed in a moment in Lightroom, but it's there.

I don't know what lenses you have, but the first photo looks better. The colors seem to pop out more. Reminds me of photos I've seen from the 50 1.2, although it's hard for me to tell what focal length this is.

I'm guessing 40 stm top, 17-40 bottom.

Steve Balcombe wrote:

In this particular case I don't think either one is "better". However I know for certain that lenses can affect colour, because I use my Sigma 18-50/2.8 and Canon 50/1.8 MkI for 'table top studio' work and when I switch between them I do get slightly warmer colours from the Sigma. Nothing that can't be fixed in a moment in Lightroom, but it's there.

Yes, warmer or cooler colors are real. Even with recent lenses. The 100L f.e. looks warmer than my other canon lenses. You would thing it's a Sigma in a blind test...

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevebalcombe/

Would say A, but that could be due to 'normal' variation.

Abu Mahendra wrote:

Please post both histograms.

Fell free to download the images and analyze them in photoshop or similar software

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>> I am already lovin' the Canon EF 35L II lens! <<

Scott Larson wrote:

Older Sigma lenses are notorious for having a "warm" color. Their elements have a brown appearance that I've read is from the coating. The front element of my old Sigma 17-35mm looks like a brown bubble. I kind of liked the warm look for shooting indoors with a flash but outdoor shots tended to look slightly warm and needed correction.

Makes me think that Sigma did this on purpose. I found slightly orange UV-filters on several "antique" lenses from the film days. Makes kind of sense to give all images a nice warm look, if your possibilities for color-correction are so limited.

I remember my first Sigma 28-70mm f2.8 also had a green bias when shot wide open.

Abu Mahendra wrote:

Kreitmann wrote:

Abu Mahendra wrote:

Please post both histograms.

Fell free to download the images and analyze them in photoshop or similar software

Well, the exposures are not identical so the minute, split-hair differences could be just that. I would say that real-world the two lenses are color-wise identical.

The exposure settings were identical, the light did not change, the shots were taken within 30s. So, if there is an exposure difference, this could be a) not perfect aperture blades or b) different t-stop.

And there is a 1% difference, I just measured the gray patch. You surely have an excellent eye for detail.

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>> I am already lovin' the Canon EF 35L II lens! <<

Not too many seem to care about my experiment. So, thank you to all who voted.

*drumroll*

Sample A was: EF 28mm 1.8 USM

Sample B: EF 24-70 2.8 USM L

If I would have said that the old, lowly 28mm had better color than the mighty L, oh boy. Even suggesting that they are in the same league, as the poll suggests might have lead to someone calling me crazy.

Light level is slightly different.  Seems as if "brightness" is higher on bottom image, making comparison difficult.

Rainbow21 wrote:

Light level is slightly different. Seems as if "brightness" is higher on bottom image, making comparison difficult.

I don't think that comparison is difficult because of the light level. It is because the colors are very similar. There is no meaningful difference. That was my point in the first place:

All lenses you can buy now for any "real" camera brand are sufficient if you look at how they render color.

I found one EOS lens with obviously worse color: http://www.canon.com/c-museum/en/product/ef261.html This was the first EOS kit lens ever. Not a pro level lens, almost 30 years old by now. This lens had muddy and muted colors, (compared to a EF 35mm IS USM, which is considered to be great).

So, 25 years ago, there was a reason to be concerned about how your lens reproduces color. Today, if you spend >100$€ you will be fine, every time.