85mm f/1.4D color rendition - a little green?

[whatdoineed2do]

I've had the 85mm f/1.4D for many years and always always loved this lens - yes its noisy and a little slow a focusing but in a portrait sitting, its great.  My copy is incredibly sharp even wide open.

I shoot D800/D300 raw and then use a WhiBal to color correct the images;  with my other lens, setting WB against the the WhiBal (used in separate setup shot) always seems to give me correct skin tones (this is shooting with electronic flash). However with the 85mm, even after WB color correction, the skin tones tend just a little towards green.  This is with a Spyder color calibrated monitor.

Does anyone else find this green tint with the 85mm f/1.4D or is something else going on with me?

[elsa hoffmann]

I have not experienced this - but I use my 85 f1.4 exclusively in studio

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

I've had the 85mm f/1.4D for many years and always always loved this lens - yes its noisy and a little slow a focusing but in a portrait sitting, its great.  My copy is incredibly sharp even wide open.

I shoot D800/D300 raw and then use a WhiBal to color correct the images;  with my other lens, setting WB against the the WhiBal (used in separate setup shot) always seems to give me correct skin tones (this is shooting with electronic flash). However with the 85mm, even after WB color correction, the skin tones tend just a little towards green.  This is with a Spyder color calibrated monitor.

Does anyone else find this green tint with the 85mm f/1.4D or is something else going on with me?

I measured the whibal once and was not really happy with it, maybe this is the culprit? Whibal lacks some blue and has a little bit too much green (yellow line)



I only use Spectralon or white PTFE since then w/o issues...

[whatdoineed2do]

Thanks .. that's interesting - the reason I asked the Q is because when I set WB against WhiBal with other lenses like the 105mm/2.5 AIS, the skin tones look good.  Only with the 85mm/1.4D does the skin tones look like it has the slight greenish tint.

[Erik Lund]

Seems to be the standard here; Best white balance target is white PTFE

Bjørn also recommended this for shooting in UV.

I find that these 'color issues' with lenses is quite overrated though,,, so very seldom bother to use a WB target,,,

[MFloyd]

I have no 85mm f/1.4 but I tested all my other lenses by using Spyder Colorchecker in order to apply an adjusted colour balance for each (of my Nikkor) lens(es). But when I analysed the results (adjustments in Hue, Saturation, Luminance), the results were so consistent, that I abandoned the idea to apply a "lens specific" colour balance.

[David H. Hartman]

However with the 85mm, even after WB color correction, the skin tones tend just a little towards green.

How about applying a CC025M filter to the AF 85/1.4D? That's what you get with a Nikon L1Bc filter.

Dave Hartman

[pluton]

Seems to be the standard here; Best white balance target is white PTFE

Bjørn also recommended this for shooting in UV.

I find that these 'color issues' with lenses is quite overrated though,,, so very seldom bother to use a WB target,,,

Lenses from different manufacturers, and from different eras of the same manufacturers, can have color transmission differences.  Sometimes it can plainly be seen by comparing the lenses by eye...looking at a well-lit white sheet of paper through two lenses side-by-side often shows noticeable differences.  Of course the film/sensor/processing rendering may not exactly match the perception of the human eye/brain.
 IF shooting raw digital, the color cast issues from the old days are relatively trivial today. 
Many photographers who have commented on the differing color cast of lenses are shooting on AWB, which seems like it would add unnecessary complexity to the analysis. 
whatdoineed2do, are you shooting AWB in your comparisons?

[pluton]

How about applying a CC025M filter to the AF 85/1.4D? That's what you get with a Nikon L1Bc filter.

Dave Hartman

I love the L1Bc filter. I determined years ago that there is too much green in the world, and that filter does it's [very]small part to take away just a little bit of the excess green... to nudge the color in the right direction.

[Jakov Minić]

I have been using the 85/1.4 AF-D more than any other lens over the years.
I am in awe with it!
The only time I see ugly color rendition is when I open the RAW images in ACR or Bridge.
In ViewNX 2 the color renditioning is much warmer and to my liking. Try it

[pluton]

I have been using the 85/1.4 AF-D more than any other lens over the years.
I am in awe with it!
The only time I see ugly color rendition is when I open the RAW images in ACR or Bridge.
In ViewNX 2 the color renditioning is much warmer and to my liking. Try it

True:  ACR/Lightroom's default 'off the shelf' raw conversions are somewhat ugly.

[David H. Hartman]

Is there a way to install a roots supercharger,  maybe a 6-71 GMC Blower on top of Capture NX-D?

Dave Hartman

[oldfauser]

Is there a way to install a roots supercharger,  maybe a 6-71 GMC Blower on top of Capture NX-D?

Dave Hartman

+1 funny...

Art