Using a 47mm XL

[Henry Ambrose]

For a literal interpretation over the entire sheet of film you will want to use the center filter.

Really.

[Ed Richards]

Straight from the camera, 47mm, f16, no filters at all, 4x5, TMY-2, scanned, resized and sharpened, no adjustments on lighting or fall off:



The little black spot in the lower left is the camera shadow, and one on the right side is a tree that I thought was out of the frame- it is a pain to keep out of the image.:-)

This is an abandoned house on the Mississippi Coast that was never rebuilt after Katrina. The dark shadows in the foreground are other trees just out of the frame. This was very directional early morning light.

[Steve Hamley]

Since Ed has posted one with the 47mm, here's one with the 55mm Apo-Grandagon. I think you can see a similar falloff, but it looks more pronounced because of the even sky and the color transparency. I think the falloff actually helps with the impression of "explosion" of the flame azalea on the Appalachian Trail. Interestingly, the lens was only about 12-18" from the small shrub. I did not use the center filter because it was very windy and I couldn't stand the loss of speed, or I would have done a with/without pair.

So once again, the question of a center filter has to be decided by the photographer and the effect he or she wants. I'd hesitate to lay a 4x5 chrome of an evenly lit interior with this falloff on a picky person's desk, but falloff can work for you even with color.

Cheers, Steve

[Ed Richards]

Chrome does emphasize the fall off because of the contrast. But I think fall off looks more dramatic with color than black and white because the color changes with falloff, while with black and white the grey just gets darker.

[Henry Ambrose]

Fall off -can- look nice.
Not always though.

[Gary J. McCutcheon]

This may be a good place to ask this question regarding the 47mm XL and its use on a Linhof Technika. I have a Super Technika V and have been considering upgrading to a Master Technika 2000 in order to use the flap on the top of the body to get more rise. I can get about 5mm rise inside the body before it hits the bubble level. Based on what I've read here, it would be a waste of money to upgrade the body only to find lack of coverage anyway?
Anyone use this lens with the Technikas that can illuminate this issue? It looks like even 5mm of rise on 4x5 would be well into the edge of the image circle. Any other information on this combination would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Ed Richards]

Could you even focus this on a Technika? I have not tried the wide angle adapter, so that might do it. You can get 5-9mm movement, but I have not tried it yet because I need a recessed lensboard first.

[Bob Salomon]

Could you even focus this on a Technika? I have not tried the wide angle adapter, so that might do it. You can get 5-9mm movement, but I have not tried it yet because I need a recessed lensboard first.

Yes, on either the original Linhof Wide Angle Focusing Device or the current Helical Focus Mount for the 47mm when used on a IV, V or Master Technika. On the Master Technika 2000 or the current 3000 no adapter is needed. For the IV through the Master Linhof offers 3 different Helical Focusing boards, one each for the 38mm, 47mm and the 58mm.

Neither is a recessed board. On the Wide Angle Focusing Device a Linhof 23 board is used. The Helical Focus Mount comes on its own special board and for the 2000 or 3000 the 001120 Linhof flat lensboard is used.

[Ed Richards]

Final verdict

It is a keeper. Once I got alignment issues out of the way - no problem there - and got a recessed lensboard - which did help - I could shoot a new set of test negatives. I identified two problems with my previous test shots. For most lenses, I just shoot a landsape with buildings and trees, and the trees provide the fine detail. I realized, after doing comparisons with the same scenes shot with really sharp lenses, that field of view is so dramatically wider that the usual detail I would look for now falls at or below the resolution level. Second, because of the falloff, and because I tend to go for thin negatives, the detail in trees was being lost as the falloff pushed the fine dark detail below shadow density. Correcting for all of that left me with uniformly sharp negatives. It covers the whole 4x5 even at f8, but the falloff is probably worse. There is a little room for movement at 16/22, but not much.

Bottom line, this is a bugger to use well, and without a center filter, you need to think about falloff and shadow density at the edge, not the center. But there are somethings it will do that nothing else will. I will add a center filter when I find a cheap one, and a Linhof comfort board when I hit the lottery. But for 650 rather than 1250 for a really specialized lens I will not use often, it is a good balance.

If anyone has a gem they want to sell me for $750, I have a few more hours before I have to return this one.:-)

[BetterSense]

Couldn't a center filter be made with some litho film? I mean has anyone tried making one out of litho film or with inkjet transparency film, and seen how well it worked? I don't understand why they have to be so expensive.