Too wide of a lens used...?

[Cor]

Hi,

Due to circumstances I shot a subject (an open bridge) with a too wide of a lens, I used my f5.6 65mm SA while the scene could have been captured with my f8 90 mm SA. So when printing I did not use the whole negative but a part of the 4*5 negative. I was wondering if I would re shoot the scene with the 90 mm lens (from the same position), and print the whole negative, would the print be the same ?

I think in theory it should, but in practice I wonder, the "distortion" and the spatial relation ship between the foreground, lamp posts, open bridge and trees in the background I feel are different between the 65 mm and 90 mm.

Apart from re-shooting and testing myself; what would you think or experienced ?

thanks,


best,

Cor

[fotopfw]

If you shoot from the exact same point, the perspective of a 65 and 90 are exactly the same, the 65 just covers more. When you have to crop that, quality will suffer, question is, if that's noticeable, so what's the degree of enlargement?

[Cor]

If you shoot from the exact same point, the perspective of a 65 and 90 are exactly the same, the 65 just covers more. When you have to crop that, quality will suffer, question is, if that's noticeable, so what's the degree of enlargement?

yes, I realize that the loss of quality when not using the complete negative, and thus enlarging more is perhaps the biggest drawback; I usually print my 4*5 negatives on 30* 40 cm paper, sometimes (rarely) 50*60 cm. I do not think this enlargement noticeably suffers. The negative in question is Maco Ir film, and I used f32 to get everything sharp, this combination is not the sharpest anyway.

Best,

Cor

[Corran]

Perspective is only controlled by the camera (film) position, not lens. Some lenses may have inherently more or less pincushion or barrel distortion (lines not being straight) but likely that is not an issue for either of your lenses - and they are even the same design.

[Cor]

Thanks !

Got quite some distortion at the edges, ie leaning in traffic lights etc. But that was to be expected, since I had to point the camera up to record the open bridge parts which were vertical now. The 65mm f 5.6 has some coverage, but I use it on a flat board on a Linhof Color (still mange even than a 1-2 cm raise). Anyway these traffic lights were excluded from the print anyway, but than I got a bit in doubt, although I knew in theory it should not matter.

best,
Cor

[Corran]

If you a bit adventurous, you could correct some of the perspective distortion caused by tilting your camera/film up in the darkroom by tilting your baseboard or easel. DOF can also be controlled via tilting the lens on your enlarger, so that the tilted paper isn't half out of focus. Depends on how tilted you were! I've done this to correct very slight errors in my horizontal perspective or when I ran out of image circle.

[Cor]

I have seen the trick in books, but I rather not mess with the alignment of my enlarger, even though it is Durst L1200 Laborator, and did not wanted the leaning distracting verticals in the final print anyway.

Best,

Cor

[AA+]

I think your best advantage would be to use the longer focal length lens and render the camera back more vertical than with your previous shorter focal length lens.

Best wishes --- Allen Anway

[Drew Wiley]

Phrased less technically, especially wide lenses do lend more of a "stretched" look from the center outwards, like a rubber band pulling the scene by its corners. This is unrelated to either barrel or pincushion distortion per se, and simply comes with the territory of certain lenses, so to speak. I find that look quite annoying, regardless of the film format involved. There is also going to be more illumination falloff from center to edge with a shorter lens of equivalent design. If necessary, that can be corrected with a center-graduated neutral density filter. I've always thought of 65 and 75mm lenses on 4X5 as last resort options when photographing cramped interiors like kitchens and bathrooms. But some people are addicted to them. I'm personally addicted to the look which longer lenses provide, and try to back away somewhat if possible. That automatically provides a large image circle without risking a stretched or warped look.

[ic-racer]

If you are unhappy with the resolution of your cropped image, you should re-shoot it so it fills the whole frame.
The perspective of all lenses is the same. Perspective only changes when you move the lens with respect to the subject.