Got my Apo Sironar Digital 70/5.6 (aka Digaron-W 70) for a week now.
It is mounted in a T/S lens panel (Cambo).
My first thought was… big and heavy.
Then again… who cares
I am still learning the lens… so my conclusions so far and my short report are most likely not final.
I've ordered the lens with the focus indication slightly rotated towards the T/S indication.
First, I often shoot from relatively high levels so I am glad that I don't have to look over the camera… with the rotated focus indication I rather look from the side.
Too, the tilt knob would make looking at the focus indication even more difficult… unless you'd look at the focus indication straight from above.
So… it helps!
f5.6: center incredibly sharp; edges already really good (on my P45)… I'd consider f5.6 totally usable (without movements)
f8: best aperture (without movements)
f11: slighty diffraction limited (still excellent) - probably best aperture for large movements
f16: clearly diffraction limited. However with large movements at the edges literally the same as f11… maybe even better.
I use f16 from time to time for large movements with my Digitar 47XL as the image is more homogenous… the correction of sharpness falloff looks more even with f16 as the center of the image is not so brutally sharp (in relation to the edges). With the 70mm I have to see…
Too, if you need f16 for DOF… there's no reason to fiddle around with focus stacking or so… I am finding f16 still totally usable.
Color cast is of course less than with the 47XL… the lens is longer and due to the design the rear lens is not as close to the sensor.
No centerfilter required… light falloff is really moderat… even at large movements - 5mm rise & 20mm lateral here:
Here are 2 stitched test images with lateral shift of 20mm. The amount of shift is indicated at the top of the 100% crops.
Scene - f11 | distortion corrected with Alpa Lens Corrector. Distortion is not much but it is visible with large movements:
The middle row of the stitched captures (red = sensor plane of the P45):
100% crop of the marked part of the image (i.e. center of the lens circle to 20mm shift) with sharpening: click
100% crop without sharpening: click
The second one from a wide distance - f16:
100% crop with sharpening (it was quite windy … so better look at the building, not at the shrubs and trees…): click
Looks very good to me so far...
Focussing on the Cambo WRS groundglass works good (with a loupe). To be precise... distances up to around 30 meters or so are relatively easy to focus (in uncritical light). Beyond it gets difficult... I've already taped additional markers on the lens; hope that will work fine as I really hate to carry around a laptop just to check focus...
.
It is mounted in a T/S lens panel (Cambo).
My first thought was… big and heavy.
Then again… who cares
I am still learning the lens… so my conclusions so far and my short report are most likely not final.
I've ordered the lens with the focus indication slightly rotated towards the T/S indication.
First, I often shoot from relatively high levels so I am glad that I don't have to look over the camera… with the rotated focus indication I rather look from the side.
Too, the tilt knob would make looking at the focus indication even more difficult… unless you'd look at the focus indication straight from above.
So… it helps!
f5.6: center incredibly sharp; edges already really good (on my P45)… I'd consider f5.6 totally usable (without movements)
f8: best aperture (without movements)
f11: slighty diffraction limited (still excellent) - probably best aperture for large movements
f16: clearly diffraction limited. However with large movements at the edges literally the same as f11… maybe even better.
I use f16 from time to time for large movements with my Digitar 47XL as the image is more homogenous… the correction of sharpness falloff looks more even with f16 as the center of the image is not so brutally sharp (in relation to the edges). With the 70mm I have to see…
Too, if you need f16 for DOF… there's no reason to fiddle around with focus stacking or so… I am finding f16 still totally usable.
Color cast is of course less than with the 47XL… the lens is longer and due to the design the rear lens is not as close to the sensor.
No centerfilter required… light falloff is really moderat… even at large movements - 5mm rise & 20mm lateral here:
Here are 2 stitched test images with lateral shift of 20mm. The amount of shift is indicated at the top of the 100% crops.
Scene - f11 | distortion corrected with Alpa Lens Corrector. Distortion is not much but it is visible with large movements:
The middle row of the stitched captures (red = sensor plane of the P45):
100% crop of the marked part of the image (i.e. center of the lens circle to 20mm shift) with sharpening: click
100% crop without sharpening: click
The second one from a wide distance - f16:
100% crop with sharpening (it was quite windy … so better look at the building, not at the shrubs and trees…): click
Looks very good to me so far...
Focussing on the Cambo WRS groundglass works good (with a loupe). To be precise... distances up to around 30 meters or so are relatively easy to focus (in uncritical light). Beyond it gets difficult... I've already taped additional markers on the lens; hope that will work fine as I really hate to carry around a laptop just to check focus...
.
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