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I think you're onto something at the end there! The commenter was almost certainly talking about subjectively "nicer" photos that have been made more interestin

I think you're onto something at the end there! The commenter was almost certainly talking about subjectively "nicer" photos that have been made more interesting by the use of flawed lenses. And this isn't an uncommon idea either. It is the idea behind lensbaby, Lomography, and the slightest resurgence of Polaroid.

spekcular 5y ago
My (superficial) understanding is something like: even with modern lens technology, certain design tradeoffs have to be made, e.g. between distortion and other aspects of lens performance. I have heard it said that accepting some distortion makes lenses that take pictures that look closer to those taken by "old school" film photography lenses, and also that Fujifilm deliberately favors relatively more distortion in their lens designs for exactly this reason. I think my original source for this is Thom Hogan's blog – I have not checked the technical specs to verify it (which you can easily do if you're curious by browsing lens review sites). But if it's true, maybe it's useful information to someone here! But, the coatings on modern lenses are amazing...