It’s all about the imperfections. This is similar to the modern audio recording industry. There are a ton of new high-end clean condenser microphones that have

It’s all about the imperfections. This is similar to the modern audio recording industry. There are a ton of new high-end clean condenser microphones that have extremely good and flat frequency response, and some of them are surprisingly inexpensive. All you have to do is to add some “character” in post-processing by applying an emulator that can mimic classic microphones like the Neumann U87. Heck you can even go so far as to emulate the recording console itself in order to reproduce characteristics of 60s,70s, and 80s mixing desks, compressors, limiters, preamps, and the like. These things add imperfections and distortions that are somehow pleasing to humans, and I am guessing that is similar to what these lenses do. At the end of the day, you should probably just use what works. Ignore the hype, name-dropping, and brand snobbery. Plug in your shit and twist knobs until it sounds good. I usually avoid emulators and go this way, as it (usually) produces the best results for what I’m trying to achieve. I’m definitely not a photographer, but I am assuming that it would be similar in that domain.