A photographer soon learns that his own visual focus is far different than the actual photographic focus on the film. The human eye is very sensitive to yellow and green, whereas film responds to violet and blue. There’s a term for this; it’s called chromatic aberration. This means that the eye is better at distinguishing the sharpness of a green image – which makes it easier to focus on a setting such as the one shown here.
There is a solution and it’s one that almost makes sense. Camera lenses can be corrected to account for all sorts of aberrations – but the closer we get to perfection, the less pleasing the picture. Aberrations and gradations in the filmed image often make the image appear more life-like. In other words, the perfect lens may ruin the experience. This calls to mind the contemporary sharpness delivered by digital cameras, and its perceived superiority to film.
“Perfection is the enemy of the good.” ~ Voltaire
Location: Coquitlam, British Columbia
Date: January, 1984
Source: Pentax ME Super with Kodachrome 64 slide film
