Hoping for some help from the collected experiences here:
I'm doing some research on nineteenth century cameras and lenses and am wondering how good the lenses actually were (are). I have some examples of the results from lenses used to produce stereographs (roughly 3" to 5" focal lengths). 30 to 40 lppm is entirely possible looking at first generation (contact) prints. What about other lenses and other formats? 5x7, 8x10, or mammoth plate (17 x 22") lenses.
The challenge here is that negatives (wet plate) almost never exist, only the albumen (contact) prints. And many of these prints are likely second or third generation prints from copy negatives with the degradation of the image sharpness.
Any information, test results, qualitative impressions would be greatly appreciated.
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