I recently sold an 80mm Schneider Super Symmar XL lens that I bought from Midwest Photo Exchange a couple years ago. The serial number was well past the numbers of these lenses that supposedly had the infamous "soft focus wide open" problem and the lens always seemed to focus wide open just fine to me. The purchaser wants to return the lens. He says that when he opens it up and focuses it on a street light at night he sees a halo around the light that disappears when he stops down a stop or two. He says this means the lens has the "soft focus wide open" problem.
I'm going to return his money, I never want someone to be unhappy with anything I sell on ebay, so I'm not asking whether I should do that or not, I'm going to do it regardless. I also plan to send the lens to Jim at Midwest and ask him to look at it again. But in the meantime, I'm curious - is the halo that this person says he observes when the lens is wide open and focused on a street light at night a true indication that the focus is in fact soft when the aperture is wide open? In other words, is this a valid test for a "soft focus wide open" problem?
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