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Seriously strange HR32 problem.

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
Agree totally just good info to know.

There's no real secret to how this will end up or how it is being handled.

We personally handed Ed's 32mm to Cambo last Friday. Cambo will repair the lens at no charge. A loaner 32mm is on the way to Ed from Capture Integration's inventory.

Regarding the issue - the support bars on this lens were removed. In general handling, not to mention any unusual rough use, lenses like this benefit from the support bars. That is why we now provide multi-size LCC kits, so that it is easier to choose to keep the support bars in place. These are very large and heavy elements. They are mounted into helical-based focus mounts with copal shutters, and in this case, it is a challenging combination of large optical elements and a 0 shutter size. This is then mounted into the Cambo Lenspanel (or Alpa, Arca does their own helical mounting, of course). It certainly has nothing to do with design by Cambo - if anything, Cambo recognizes the challenges of the Rodenstock design (heavy optic/small shutter size) - and has provided some additional compensatory support with the support bars.

We suggest that when shipping these large Rodenstock lenses, when transporting them, it is a good idea to fashion a supportive, padded collar to wrap around the lens barrel.


Steve Hendrix
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Thanks Steve . Its kind of funny but I hate the support bars and took them off but putting it back on my 28mm and bought one of those Gepe Cable release extensions. The support bars are kind of a pain with cable release maybe this will just solve it and also give me the protection. Actually have to commend Cambo for putting these on the lenses in the first place just stubborn people like me decide to take them off. No offense to Ed or anyone else they are just a pain. Guess its like safe sex. ROTFLMAO
 

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
Thanks Steve . Its kind of funny but I hate the support bars and took them off but putting it back on my 28mm and bought one of those Gepe Cable release extensions. The support bars are kind of a pain with cable release maybe this will just solve it and also give me the protection. Actually have to commend Cambo for putting these on the lenses in the first place just stubborn people like me decide to take them off. No offense to Ed or anyone else they are just a pain. Guess its like safe sex. ROTFLMAO

Yes, and the Gepe Cable extension is something I would have on their anyway, just makes it easier to screw the cable in no matter what.


Steve Hendrix
 

gazwas

Active member
Steve, if the Cambo support bars are the way to go with the big Rodies, how do the rest of us get on (Arca, Alpa, Linhof etc)?

Another reason to stick with the smaller Schneider's IMO where possible. What we need is for Schneider to redesign their 35mm to be a little more IQ180/Credo80 friendly.
 

etrump

Well-known member
Actually, the support bars are worthless on this lens as the bars don't extend to the rim of the lens. It is just too big and adding a CF it sticks out almost an inch. After the lens went back to CI I went through the last year of images and spot checked them. They had been trending softer on the edges since I received the lens. It started showing up on wide shifts but I thought it was just me or edge softness. It was not much of a problem because I usually stop down to f/11.

On my trip to Hawaii I shot f/5.6 from the helicopter for a faster shutter speed. The edges without shift we soft enough I had to do some extra sharpening. I suspect whatever problem it has was trending and got to the point where it went totally south.

I have a pretty protected compartments in my travel pack but I did routinely pack the lens on the camera. It is conceivable that it got knocked but I am pretty careful with my equipment.
 

LonnaTucker

Member
Actually, the support bars are worthless on this lens as the bars don't extend to the rim of the lens. It is just too big and adding a CF it sticks out almost an inch. After the lens went back to CI I went through the last year of images and spot checked them. They had been trending softer on the edges since I received the lens. It started showing up on wide shifts but I thought it was just me or edge softness. It was not much of a problem because I usually stop down to f/11.

On my trip to Hawaii I shot f/5.6 from the helicopter for a faster shutter speed. The edges without shift we soft enough I had to do some extra sharpening. I suspect whatever problem it has was trending and got to the point where it went totally south.

I have a pretty protected compartments in my travel pack but I did routinely pack the lens on the camera. It is conceivable that it got knocked but I am pretty careful with my equipment.

This is really nothing new and bully bars can be helpful, but not in all situations. While it's convenient (in more ways than one, I know) to keep the lens on the body when transporting the camera, I wouldn't recommend doing that in the future.

Also, carrying the camera/lens mounted to a tripod and carried over the shoulder allows a sort of ‘hammer’ effect on the lower side of the shutter with large front element lenses. This problem can be cumulative and may not show up for a while but if you carry your equipment over the shoulder it will. 8x10 large format photographers using optics with large front element lenses were usually aware of this and took precautions.

With the higher requirements of digital photography for precision alignment, this is a very real problem for todays image makers. The latest wide angles with substantial coverage have hefty front elements in a Copal 0, putting more weight out front which increase the leverage and ‘hammering’ weight on the glass mounting rings of the shutter.

So, don't carry your outfit over the shoulder, and do not pack these lenses too tightly. Also, set your camera/lens/tripod down gently when setting up or moving to a new spot to work.
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Guy

Did you decide to get Rodenstock 28? I thought from your review of the Schneider & Rodenstock 28's you were keeping the Schneider since you could get greater shift.

Thanks
Paul
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
The Rodenstock front element issues seem to be a good wake up call for all technical camera shooters. I have a very slight bit of movement in my 90 HR-W that would seem to fit with the general copal shutter warnings here. Luckily it seems like there's no distortion that I've seen yet but I suspect gravity and handling have loosened the central mount at the shutter since it does seem to pivot around the that fulcrum point. I'm waiting for feedback from Alpa/Rodenstock to find out whether to send it in but for now my dealer recommended holding off until I see something otherwise it could be away for an extended holiday. I guess that looking on the bright side for now I'm getting 0.001 degrees of tilt on my Alpa for free!
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Guy

Did you decide to get Rodenstock 28? I thought from your review of the Schneider & Rodenstock 28's you were keeping the Schneider since you could get greater shift.

Thanks
Paul
Yes I just switched over as much as I wanted the SK I kept coming up with this very slight magenta cast in the upper right side that just would not clean up. We tried testing my back and another back but the weather was pretty overcast and did not show up. I have a feeling it could possible be a calibration issue but I just decided to just switch it out and end the battle. They are really both great lenses but the roadie never had any magenta at all so I am limited to 7mm but I can deal with that. I could always tilt camera up from there and use keystone tool to fix beyond 7mm. I got the CF also which works nice.
 

etrump

Well-known member
Dave at Capture Integration sent me a loaner while my HR32 is being repaired. It is on a totally different mount and has absolutely no play in the mount or lens elements. I am wondering if mine was an early production model and they found the mount to be inadequate and changed it.

My lens had some play in it and I could take mine totally apart with no tools just hand strength. That is both the rear element and the spanner ring that holds the front element. Of course I didn't mess with it until it started having problems but I was surprised at how loosely it was put together. Especially now that I see a newer lens. This new one is tight in the mount, rear element and front element. A totally different feel from my lens. I'll bet that contributed to whatever the problem turns out to be.
 

gazwas

Active member
Here are similar crops from the new HR32 at f/5.6
For a zeroed lens those don't look that great to me and I thought the 32HR was much sharper than that. The right side especially looks a little smudgy.

Were you at some distance from the subject and a heat haze is possibly effecting sharpness?
 

etrump

Well-known member
That sign was more than a 1/4 mile and unsharpened. At f/5.6 it looks pretty good to me.
 
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