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Old 4th July 2013, 09:25 AM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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Default Disappointing Hasselblad Distagon

I use a 50mm Distagon f/4 T* in Synchro Compur for architectural pix (mainly rotten wooden doors in weathered basalt reveals - lots of detail to resolve), on a heavy tripod, cable release, mirror up, f/11, focussing carefully, Delta 100 in Rodinal, 80mm f/5.6 Componon in De Vere 203/Multigrade 500, 16" x 12" or A3. Ought to be really crisp. But the corners were not as sharp as with Canon 50D mk ll with 50mm f/2.
I heard that the older Distagons were not very impressive so I (gulp) shelled out over £800 for a recent lens with dual focus rings and Prontor shuuter. The only improvement was in contrast - 40 years difference in age. I checked corners with 20x industrial microscope - no real improvement. Any comments?

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Old 4th July 2013, 09:58 AM
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photomi7ch photomi7ch is offline
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My first thought was wow! how big are you going to print this picture to need to check it with 20x microscope.
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Old 4th July 2013, 10:47 AM
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I suppose you have checked your enlarger lens ?

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Old 4th July 2013, 10:47 AM
MarcAeonDELETED MarcAeonDELETED is offline
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Check your enlarger lens.
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Old 4th July 2013, 10:49 AM
MarcAeonDELETED MarcAeonDELETED is offline
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Sorry Neil I missed that. Ok, another two pence then, contact print the negative and look at it with a loop.
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Old 4th July 2013, 11:02 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JOReynolds View Post
I use a 50mm Distagon f/4 T* in Synchro Compur for architectural pix (mainly rotten wooden doors in weathered basalt reveals - lots of detail to resolve), on a heavy tripod, cable release, mirror up, f/11, focussing carefully, Delta 100 in Rodinal, 80mm f/5.6 Componon in De Vere 203/Multigrade 500, 16" x 12" or A3. Ought to be really crisp. But the corners were not as sharp as with Canon 50D mk ll with 50mm f/2.
I heard that the older Distagons were not very impressive so I (gulp) shelled out over £800 for a recent lens with dual focus rings and Prontor shuuter. The only improvement was in contrast - 40 years difference in age. I checked corners with 20x industrial microscope - no real improvement. Any comments?
80mm Componon or Componon S?
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Old 4th July 2013, 01:04 PM
DavidH DavidH is offline
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If the corners don't look sharp under a magnifier then no enlarging lens, however good will make them so. Never having used such a lens I wouldn't know what it's capable of, although you'd expect any lens made for a Hasselblad to be exceedingly good.
Have you done comparison shots at a wider aperture? I just wondered if its performance declines at the smaller openings. Perhaps diffraction starts to become a problem at the corners if you go past F/5.6 or 8.
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Old 4th July 2013, 01:49 PM
Mark Snowdon Mark Snowdon is offline
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I have both of the 50mm lenses. I also found the older lens to be unsharp in the corners at wider apertures but have never had any problems with the newer lens which has the floating element (FLE). You have to set the FLE to the focus range you are using, then focus as normal. I tend to use the newer 50mm for landscapes and so it is normally on f16 or f22 where any corner softness may not show up.
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Old 4th July 2013, 04:09 PM
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I also treated myself to a 50mm f4 Cfi Distagon ( NEW in about 2003)and have never seemed to get the 'Exquisite' sharpness from similar ones I have seen in the Hasselblad magazine 'Forum' ( now gone broke) and other magazines. I did try mine at f32 but it must have suffered from diffraction In Scotland I took one at full aperture f4 and it was sharp enough though and that was hand-held !

Scotland 4 by pentaxpete, on Flickr
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Old 4th July 2013, 06:10 PM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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Default Checking Distagon

Quote:
Originally Posted by photomi7ch View Post
My first thought was wow! how big are you going to print this picture to need to check it with 20x microscope.
The 20X microscope was all I had at the time.
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