What brand of 35mm SLR lenses do you prefer for slides?

[chip j]

I'm thinking of color rendition, esp. of Canon & Nikon lenses. Thanks

 

[Dan Fromm]

They are both very bad.

So tell me, chipper, what do my preferences and experience have to do with what's right for you?

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Since brand or marque is the most important aspect of making a great photo, I choose my lenses carefully.

For slides, I choose Soligor lenses - but only those made in the first half of 1966.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

I'm thinking of color rendition, esp. of Canon & Nikon lenses. Thanks

Not relevant.
You must first have a thorough understanding of how slides render colour — each name will have a different effect e.g. Velvia has a different colour rendition from Provia and again from Ektachrome and is far removed from Kodachrome.

 

[ic-racer]

The same brand as the camera body usually. For example Rolleiflex lens won't fit on Nikon body, etc.

 

[chip j]

How do they look on the SAME film? is what I mean. I have a choice & I'd like some personal views before I do expensive testing. This should be known as the JOKETRIO site.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

How do they look on the SAME film? is what I mean. I have a choice & I'd like some personal views before I do expensive testing. This should be known as the JOKETRIO site.

Buy one of each lens as a start and find out!

 

[MattKing]

They will all work well.
If you are aiming toward publication, consistency will have some value, so for a particular project consider remaining within the same brand.

 

[Eric Rose]

During the stock photography heyday Nikon ruled. That and Hasselblad.

 

[narsuitus]

Custom-made DIY brand

 

[macfred]

No lens - I saw phantastic pinholes with slide film !

 

[Theo Sulphate]

How do they look on the SAME film? is what I mean. I have a choice & I'd like some personal views before I do expensive testing. This should be known as the JOKETRIO site.

Yeah, we know what you meant. Even assuming there is a noticeable difference among Canon, Leica, Nikon, etc. (and I do not believe there is), only you yourself know the "look" you're trying to achieve.

You've brought up this "brand thing" before. All the top brands are good. Save yourself some anguish (and money) and go with a system you already have and like. If you're considering different systems that you have, a roll of film for each system should be adequate to test the various lenses you have. That would not be expensive.

 

[Soeren]

The Grey matter behind the viewfinder has more influence on look, rendering and greatness of any photo than whats in or in front of the camera. The all to different light situations, tones of color etc we encounter make the slight difference in good optics insignificant. And it doesn't matter how good your system is in capturing the breathtaking scenes/colors/decisive moments if the photographer fails to see them in the first place

 

[film_man]

How do they look on the SAME film? is what I mean. I have a choice & I'd like some personal views before I do expensive testing. This should be known as the JOKETRIO site.

Considering there are differences within a manufacturer's line you'll have to talk specific lenses. I mean cheapo Canon lenses are just as good/bad as cheapo Nikon lenses. L glass is more saturated and contrasty, expensive Nikon stuff is more contrasty and saturated too than the muddy cheap stuff. Old MF stuff will look different to new AF stuff. So it really depends.

 

[guangong]

Taking the question somewhat seriously, in the old days, beginning in the 60s, Hasselblad, Leica, Nikon made a point of advertising that their lenses rendered color consistently from lens to lens. Now shoot b/w almost exclusively but back then only Kodachrome and Agfachrome. Mainly Kodachrome, but I preferred Agfachrome for people and some landscapes.
Nowadays you use what you can get and be happy with it. All that consistency stuff was for publication before days of computer. Has anybody seen a recently published color photograph that wasn’t Photoshopped to death?

 

[FujiLove]

If you're planning to project the slides rather than scan them, you are creating the 'finished' photograph, and hence I'd recommend looking at lens distortion and metering with this medium. Look at distortion charts to determine whether particular lenses are prone to barrel or pincushion distortion. I'd also highly recommend using an incident light meter in preference to one built into the camera.

And in answer to the original question, I've heard good things about Minolta lenses.

This was shot on Provia 100F using a Minolta 28mm f2.8 MD lens. Straight Pakon 135 scan with a small correction of verticals and boost to the contrast. The colours are spot-on when compared to the slide held up to daylight...on my wide gamut monitor.

FYI the above lens isn't particularly distortion-free, but it does render good colour. At least, there's no discernible difference that I can see compared to the Zeiss lenses on my Hasselblad.

 

[FujiLove]

The Grey matter behind the viewfinder has more influence on look, rendering and greatness of any photo than whats in or in front of the camera. The all to different light situations, tones of color etc we encounter make the slight difference in good optics insignificant. And it doesn't matter how good your system is in capturing the breathtaking scenes/colors/decisive moments if the photographer fails to see them in the first place

This has been said a million times, and is obviously true. But that's not the point. With all these types of threads, what's being asked is: Ceteris paribus [the question].

 

[Soeren]

Well in the day Profesionals would buy huge stocks of one batch of film, test that and filter accordingly so...... .....

 

[narsuitus]

The camera lens and the slide projection lens should be the same brand and a matching set of apochromatic lenses instead of the more common achromatic lenses.

 

[bunip]

The camera lens and the slide projection lens should be the same brand and a matching set of apochromatic lenses instead of the more common achromatic lenses.

... and, if possible, same day manufactured

 

[faberryman]

How do they look on the SAME film? is what I mean. I have a choice & I'd like some personal views before I do expensive testing. This should be known as the JOKETRIO site.

To the extent there is a noticeable difference, the choice is entirely subjective. Only you can determine which you prefer.

 

[ciniframe]

Given the breakneck pace at which Fuji is discontinuing film this question probably has some urgency for the OP.

 

[John51]

Using an image search can help although you do have to double check once you've found an image you like to make sure it was actually taken with that brand of lens.

"velvia + nikon lens"
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=velvia+nikon+lens&atb=v78-5__&iax=images&ia=images

"velvia + om lens"
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=velvia+om+lens&atb=v78-5__&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

 

[removed account4]

pentax with or without a home made attachment has never let me down

 

[jim10219]

This is a difficult question to answer, which is why the OP is getting so many snarky responses. I don't blame people for not taking this question too seriously. After all, the difference in color balance between various brands of lenses isn't huge. And the differences changed over the years as they changed the formulas for their coatings. Then there's also saturation and sharpness to consider, which vary between lens to lens, and aren't so much brand related. And beyond that, there are a ton of other variables in play.

However, the difference is real. Between older Nikon and Canon, I'd go Canon if color were the only consideration. Nikons tend to be a little more neutral, which doesn't wow me as much in a slide. That being said, if you shoot primarily wide angle, Nikon is generally thought to have better wide angle lenses available. If you shoot primarily telephoto, Canon is thought to have the edge here. If you're buying third party lenses like Zeiss or Sigma, then brand of camera body doesn't matter (outside of functionality preferences).

Also, if you're scanning the slides, then I wouldn't worry about lens brands. The type of scanner and the way you process them will have a much bigger impact than the brand of lens. And if you're projecting them, then you might also want to consider the lens you project with, and the material you project onto, as these will also play a role.

Though all of that being said, if I wanted colors to really pop in a slide, and I was looking for the brand that did the best, I'd probably go with Pentax or Minolta. I really like the reds form the old SMC Pentax lenses and the blues from the old Minoltas. The down side is, neither one made a truly stellar manual focus wide angle lens, in my opinion.