I’ve just come across this lens simulation plugin for Blender: https://blendermarket.com/products/lens-sim [blendermarket.com]

Conceptually, I love the idea of simulating light passage through a vintage lens, for example, using real-world data for the glass elements. I have two questions:

1. Would something like this be possible using the Karma lens shader? I don’t see why not, but I may be missing something important in the implementation that doesn’t translate.

2. More importantly, is something like this even worth it? Without question, it would add overhead to the render time. And I’d be curious to hear from experienced people in the film/VFX/compositing world whether all of this is something 100% achievable in post, with no benefits whatsoever in trying to bake the lens characteristics into the render itself?

In my opinion/experience it’s usually better to have flexibility and more freedom in comp, but I know there are also instances (I have heard this discussed with regards to in-camera vs. post motion blur, for example) where greater realism can be attained by baking something into the render itself. So I’m wondering whether this is one of those occasions.

Curious to hear if anyone has any experience with this kind of thing, or any insight. Thanks!