SQUEEK
...sound of Pandora's box being opened...
I've been looking over my bag of wonderful zuikos and other miscellaneous
lens like items and discovered something of interest. What I thought were
MC lenses are actually SC lenses. (sounds of gasping from the peanut
gallery). The only true MC Zuiko lens in my bag is the 35-shift and
24/2.8. The Tokina ATX 35-70/2.8 is MC and so is the Soligar 200/2.8. But
as I look at the other lenses which include a 100/2.8 and 50/1.4 I'm
surprised to see YELLOW. Now there are other colors, such as green, but
yellow is the primary coating. Of course, we all have learned that the
yellow means SC in most cases.
I was horrified! I immediately went to my files and started pulling sheet
upon sheet of fujichromes out and started weeping when I realized that none
of my prized images were any good now because they were taken with SC
lenses. One image (30 second time exposure at F16) of a waterfall taken
with the 100/2.8 was just too sharp. Another picture (11x17 hanging in my
office) taken with the same lens is just aweful because I can make out the
veins in the blades of grass taken 30 feet away.
Then I realized that all of my beach pictures and backlit shots were trash
too. In tears I pulled out about 50 sheets of images and cried because not
a single shot had any flair or Newtons Rings. "HOW CAN THIS BE" I yelled!
My wife immediately grabbed our daughter and ran out of the house--terrified.
I sat in the middle of the floor a total mess. Thousands of once beautiful
pictures surround me and cover the carpet. Years and years of hard work,
love and time have gone into these images, not counting the thousands of
dollars in film and processing. I'm ruined. I'll just give all of my
camera equipment away, destroy the pictures and resort to life as a drummer.
Why oh why did I use SC lenses for my pictures? Even the public service
advertisements on TV say "Friends don't let friends use SC."
My point is that over the last while now we've been discussing SC vs MC and
people have been posting that they are looking for only MC versions of
whatever lens. Yes, there are minute differences, but most differences
mean very little. I've been extremely happy with the results of my SC
100/2.8 and SC 50/1.4 lenses. Go ahead and berate the 50/1.4 all you want,
but it was sharper than the lens on my old Mamiya 645. If I can quantify
any tangable difference between my SC lenses and the MC lenses it would be
that the SC are just a bit warmer.
Do I fight lens flair? Absolutely! Always have, always will. Frankly, I
don't notice any real improvement with MC except the newtons rings are now
pretty colors.
If you are looking to build a "showcase" collection, fine, get the MC
lenses. If you are happy with some of the finest lenses ever made for 35mm
cameras then consider SC as well as the MC lenses.
Ken (currently sorting 2000 unfiled slides-most taken with SC lenses) Norton
Quincy Illinois.
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