It's not the lens, it's me?

**Armin Seeholzer** · 4-Oct-2013, 04:53

Have you considered that focus may shift with stopping down the lens?

I would also focus at f11 as I do it with all older lenses. Many of them have a small amount of Focus shift, when you stop them down! So use the same f stop as you taking the shoot!

Cheers Armin

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:29

Originally Posted by Tobias Key

Have you considered that focus may shift with stopping down the lens?
Also a rough check on DOF master and I would guess you have less than 1cm depth of field at your camera settings. That's narrow enough that you could accurately focus on an eyelash and stand a fair chance of the eyeball being out of focus. In other words a [add the expletive of your choice] nightmare.

Yes, quite right; my problem is when viewing through the GG or loupe I don't get a clearly defined "in focus" moment.
The mechanics are indeed a nightmare.
Thanks, Tobias.

Originally Posted by gandolfi

Well - I have never used loupes when focussing... (and sometimes that gets me into trouble)

I think I see motion blur on the bottom ones... Your wife is alive! And even if you and she are thinking she stays still very well - 3 secs are a "lifetime"... especially when smiling - when holding her head up straight with no extra support....

Practice! again and again. You certainly have a great model for your quest!

Thank you, Emil; I can live with motion blur, that's ok. But if I can't focus properly (my fault or the lens' fault), it takes away the fun.

Originally Posted by SergeiR

Ari, try flash. Then you guaranteed to not have movement during exposure and can move swiftly to other posssible conclusions.

Sergei, I thought of that yesterday, then I remembered that I sold my Dynalites

The alternative is to shoot still-life, which I did.
Thank you.

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:30

Thank you, Armin; that is what I tried yesterday, results coming later.

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:32

So I shot this scene yesterday (Ilford FP4+, f11,5)

I shot it on both Ilford FP4+ and some old X-ray film I have lying around.
Two exposures focus on the girl's eyelash at f11.5 (same f-stop I used for focusing).
Two exposures focus on Elmo at f32.5
I won't bore you with more details, so the 100% crops are below.
Thank you all very much.

**Geoffrey_5995** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:33

I'll just add that using a lens cap for a shutter can be tricky. I do a great deal of wet plate photography and taking the lens cap on and off incorrectly can cause camera shake, which is increased when the focus is racked out. Also, as beautiful as your wife is, she probably moved during exposure, this is quite common. In wet plate a posing brace stand is used to keep the subject still. You might want to try having your wife stand against a wall to insure she is still or use a brace of some sort. Perhaps also use a hat or larger lens cap that is easy to remove and replace. Try these methods to determine if it is the lens or the way you are uisng it. Are you using a loupe to insure sharp focus? Hope this helps.

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:34

X-ray film, f11.5

FP4+, f11.5

X-ray film, f32,5

FP4+, f32,5

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 06:40

Elmo at f32,5 is nicely sharp on FP4+ film, and the girl is ok too at 11,5 on Ilford film.
The focusing, however, took a long time, and I ended up using my best guess, only possible with a non-moving subject.

So I'm inclined to think that I am part of the problem (my eyes are terrible these days), and the lens is harder to focus than other lenses of similar design and vintage.

Thanks again to everybody, I really appreciate your input, opinion and expertise.

PS-I'm not sure what I accomplished with this exercise, besides seeing the limits and qualities of this lens, and realizing that I need to put a lot of work into using it and getting used to it.

Thanks for your patience.

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 09:34

Originally Posted by Geoffrey_5995

I'll just add that using a lens cap for a shutter can be tricky. I do a great deal of wet plate photography and taking the lens cap on and off incorrectly can cause camera shake, which is increased when the focus is racked out. Also, as beautiful as your wife is, she probably moved during exposure, this is quite common. In wet plate a posing brace stand is used to keep the subject still. You might want to try having your wife stand against a wall to insure she is still or use a brace of some sort. Perhaps also use a hat or larger lens cap that is easy to remove and replace. Try these methods to determine if it is the lens or the way you are uisng it. Are you using a loupe to insure sharp focus? Hope this helps.

Geoffrey, I saw the slight shake that happens with the lens cap shutter, so I made the lens cap fit the lens a little bit looser to avoid that problem.
I suppose normal working methods will have to change when using this lens, such as having the subject lean against a wall.
Yes, I have two loupes, a 5x and 12x, but the focusing is still very difficult with both loupes.
Thanks for your suggestions.

**eddie** · 4-Oct-2013, 10:36

har har har. i got to the party late. i was gonna say model movement.....

now get back out there and shoot some more with this lens!

**Ari** · 4-Oct-2013, 10:51

Originally Posted by eddie

har har har. i got to the party late. i was gonna say model movement.....

now get back out there and shoot some more with this lens!

Nope, if you had to focus with this lens, you'd also say "where's the point of sharpness?"
But given your, and most others' here, experience with these lenses, you probably wouldn't look for such a sharp point of focus to begin with.
Yes, my model did move, in all likelihood, but the lens is still hard to focus.

I do promise to use the hell out of this lens, though