Lack of Sharpness; need Help!

[Woodturner-fran]

1. Check your loupe is focussed correctly for your eyesight (if it has diopter adjustment) - check using newsprint or the etch marks on the ground glass. You really always need to check the focus on the ground glass with a loupe. This checks your own eyesight/focussing ability.
2. You could measure the distance from the lensboard to the inside of the ground glass. Then insert a DDS with a darkslide pulled and measure the distance again. The 2 measurements should be within 0.5mm of each (I think!). This checks whether the ground glass is in the correct plane.
3. Look at overall stability of your setup - shutter times are long for LF compared to medium format or 35mm. Lots of scope for shake due to wind etc etc.

[Mark Sawyer]

A misadjusted loupe won't make an out-of-focus image on the ground glass come into focus, it just makes it hard to focus your eye on the ground glass. As it's happening with two lenses, I'd guess either out-of registration ground glass (although something should be in perfect focus, in the foreground or back ground); a Fresnel screen mounted in the wrong place could also put the registration out of focus. It could also be an unsteady tripod, or something you're doing at the time of exposure that moves the camera slightly, like tugging the cable release when you press it, not using a cable release, using too stiff a cable release, holding the darkslide as a lens shade and letting it touch the camera...

I'd also hold your lenses up to a light and look through them backlit for haze, but it's not likely on two modern lenses.

You've got some elimination to do...

[gmfotografie]

Hi my friends,

i did a test shoot today without wind and try to do my best (following your advices).
I scanned with an Epson V750 without sharpening.

100% Crop




I think the best way to show you the negative is doing a "normal" scan without sharpening.
Most of you are experienced looking at a V750 scanned picture... to less sharpness?!

[gevalia]

Ken Lee (poster here) has info on his web site about pulling in just the green channel when scanning. http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/te...nningGreen.php It may be your scanner setup. Oops, sorry, I just re-read your original post and you said you viewed your negatives using a loupe so the scanner platen height is not an issue.

[Andrew Tymon]

What aperture and shutter speed did you use when you made the image?

[pasiasty]

"Sharpness" is a subjective impression depending mostly on resolution (how minute details are recognisable in the picture) and local contract. I am afraid that using a standard film, standard developer and - last but not least - typical lens, you won't achieve much higher resolution than you did; and that there is no much purpose, unless you aim in printing huge enlargements to be seen from very short distance.

As for apparent (subjective) sharpness - you may consider either analogue or digital sharpening; the former using unsharp mask, the latter - using one of available algorithms, including digital unsharp mask.

[gmfotografie]

thank you for your help.

it seams to be that my very short cable release is the bottleneck :-)

i put my iphone on the camera and used the app -set my camera- with a movement control.
my 25cm iron cable release transfers every small movement. si i have ordered a 50cm in plastic design.. hope it will be better

best michael

[E. von Hoegh]

thank you for your help.

it seams to be that my very short cable release is the bottleneck :-)

i put my iphone on the camera and used the app -set my camera- with a movement control.
my 25cm iron cable release transfers every small movement. si i have ordered a 50cm in plastic design.. hope it will be better

best michael

I use a pneumatic release, it has a 1~meter long tube connecting the bulb to the slave cylinder which screws into the shutter. On some lenses I need to use an angled extension on the slave, to keep the cylinder clear of the lensboard/front standard, but it's worth it because the pneumatic arrangement transfers no motion to the camera.

[Lachlan 717]

I have 1m long cables on each of my lenses and tend to make sure they're hanging slack when shooting. However, I was watching Clyde Butcher shooting, and it looked like he was using a 30cm/12" release. So, maybe the release's length doesn't matter, as there's nothing wrong with the sharpness of his photos!!

[Leigh]

So, maybe the release's length doesn't matter...

The only factor that affects release length is the distance from your hand to the shutter when releasing it.

The release should hang slack. If it's pulled at all, there will be camera motion and problems.

- Leigh