Alternative Center Filters for Rodenstock 75/4.5 Grandagon N?

[rdenney]

On the contrary, the information provided was relevant to your question, but in a general sense. Your question was also answered, or at least parts of it were, but maybe nobody has used the exact combination you were curious about.

For example, you learned that the letters after III mean more than cosmetic changes, as you had assumed. You also learned that lenses of similar design have similar falloff, and are likely to be served well enough by any filter intended for that design that mechanically fits, even from a different maker.

The thread is still working on the issue of cross-brand compatibility, which is precisely what you asked about.

A lot is us here (and not just here) are old and curmudgeonly. Several of our chief curmudgeons have participated in this thread. Sometimes we ask them to reel it in. But I for one don’t see the problem in this thread—the topic may be broader than you supposed and other readers may have need for the more general discussion even if you don’t. I would commend to you continued participation, though perhaps with a bit thicker skin and less baggage from what are apparently past encounters. There is much to be learned from our old curmudgeons, even if the meat is sometimes a bit salty.

Rick “with all due respect: OPs do not own threads” Denney

[brucetaylor]

Acapela, if you’re still here, there is a great feature under “settings,” called “edit ignore list.”
You can specify the annoying curmudgeons that irritate you and never be bothered with their long winded argumentative replies again!

[Drew Wiley]

Well, maybe some of us curmudgeons do spend too much time comparing our old war wounds. But there's nothing quite like learning from the School of Hard Knocks; so one can either spend a lot of money on an expensive filter and possibly end up disappointed, or perhaps learn something useful from old war stories. Not every answer would be honest if it was cut and dried. There are an awful lot of "it depends" in relation to large format lens usage. For one thing, center filters are optimized for a specific limited f-stop range, which might or might not match your personally preferred depth of field usage. Certain CF's of the correct thread and even specific for a particular lens require an intermediate spacer ring not supplied with the filter itself or the bulge in the front lens element will actually rub the back of the filter - a potential disaster! The 120 SA was one of these. You sometimes need to read the fine print.

[Bernice Loui]

Rodenstock E67 center filter (67mm) for 75mm f4.5 Grandagon, 35mm, 45mm, 55mm f4.5 Grandagon. Noted filter factor is 0.45.


Rodenstock E67 on 75mm f4.5 Grandagon.



Rodenstock E67 on 55mm f4.5 Grandagon.



The Rodenstock E67 might work on the Schneider 110mm f5.6 SSXL, have this lens not tried this due to the front element of the 110mm SSXL being SO close to the front lens barrel. If there is not sufficient clearance between filter and front element, bad stuff will happen.


Bernice

[Bob Salomon]

Rodenstock E67 center filter (67mm) for 75mm f4.5 Grandagon, 35mm, 45mm, 55mm f4.5 Grandagon. Noted filter factor is 0.45.


Rodenstock E67 on 75mm f4.5 Grandagon.



Rodenstock E67 on 55mm f4.5 Grandagon.



The Rodenstock E67 might work on the Schneider 110mm f5.6 SSXL, have this lens not tried this due to the front element of the 110mm SSXL being SO close to the front lens barrel. If there is not sufficient clearance between filter and front element, bad stuff will happen.


Bernice

While all of these lenses are 67mm the Apo series used a different center filter then the 75mm or the 90mm f8.

[Dan Fromm]

While all of these lenses are 67mm the Apo series used a different center filter then the 75mm or the 90mm f8.

Yes. The center filters R'stock recommends for Apo Grandagons have greater density at the center than the ones recommended for Grandagons and Grandagon-Ns. 2 stops vs. 1.5. I've never found a CF recommendation for the old 58/5.6 Grandagon; I b'lieve it wants a 67 mm filter with 1.5 stop central density.

[r.e.]

The Heliopan is virtually identical to the Rodenstock.

Thanks for this information. I'm looking to purchase a centre filter for this lens. It's helpful to learn that the Heliopan 67/86 and the Rodenstock 67/86 are interchangeable.

Re Schneider, David A. Goldfarb says this in another thread (boldface added):

"I've compared the III to the IIIb and the difference is 1/4 stop. I use the III on my 90/8 Super-Angulon, 75/4.5 Grandagon-N and 55/4.5 Apo-Grandagon.* There are times when I'd like a stronger center filter, but it's something of a subjective thing, since even the dedicated filters don't correct 100% for falloff. If they did, they would have to be darker than most people would tolerate."

That makes it sound like both Schneider centre filters will work, but that Goldfarb may prefer the "look" of the III, which he says also has slightly less of an exposure penalty. Re his last two sentences, Schneider does say in its literature that vignetting is not fully compensated, "to avoid too long exposure times and with consideration of the exposure latitude of the film emulsions".

Link to David Goldfarb's post: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...l=1#post244210

More generally... My impression, after reading a good number of threads on the subject of centre filters, is that the main reservation is their cost. As I understand it, I'll have to stop down this lens to at least f/9 for a centre filter to work mechanically/optically. Sounds OK to me. After that, the exposure compensation appears to be about 1 1/2 stops (Bob Salomon suggests in another thread that it may be 1 1/3 stops). Maybe it's because I shoot video, where neutral density filters are a fact of life, but I'm not terribly fussed about the penalty.

If I want to add further filtration, it appears to be a matter of experimenting with Lee100 square filters (100mmx100mm), which I have, and screw-in filters that are 86mm or, with an 86mm-95mm step-up ring, 95mm in diameter. The latter interests me as an option because I have a Nikkor-W f/6.5 360mm lens that takes 95mm filters.

The trick is finding a centre filter that's in good condition optically and that I can afford

If anybody has suggestions or views that differ from what's in this post, I'd love to read them.

* Dan Fromm's Schneider table in the following article would also appear to suggest the III: Center Filters for Large Format

[Dan Fromm]

r.e., some time ago I published the defiinitive, until someone writes a better one, article on center filters. See http://www.galerie-photo.com/center-...at-lenses.html

[r.e.]

r.e., some time ago I published the defiinitive, until someone writes a better one, article on center filters. See http://www.galerie-photo.com/center-...at-lenses.html

I was adding a reference to your article while you were posting See my post just above yours, in particular the asterisk that I've added to the quote from David Goldfarb and the comment at the end of the post.

[Dan Fromm]

r.e.,

Don't pussyfoot around. I didn't suggest, I stated firmly.

About buying centerfilters. I now have four, the most expensive cost $225 delivered. One is a Schneider CF III.

I was patient, kept on looking and looked everywhere plausible. Google searches found a few. Some dealers still have websites and don't list their inventories on venues like eBay.

For example, Google just found this Schneider III https://fotohandeldelfshaven.nl/prod...crew-in-boxed/