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New bright GG for Linhof Techno

Udo

Member
Hello,

just in case anyone is interested in the new bright Linhof GG for Techno or M679 here are two quick shots for comparison between standard and new bright ground glass.

Nothing scientific ....

Udo
 

torger

Active member
Wow, that's a big difference in brightness! Thanks for posting. I'm looking into possibly upgrading myself.

Is the standard ground glass picture with or without the separate fresnel lens in front? I use the standard ground glass with the fresnel lens permanently mounted which makes it a little brighter (still dim with wides though)

The new bright ground glass I assume has the fresnel integrated into the ground glass so you don't add any separate lens in front.

Which focal length are you showing?
 

Udo

Member
Torger,

the standard ground glass picture was taken without the fresnel screen. And the lens used in this setup (on the Techno) was the Rodenstock 55mm f4.5.

Udo
 

gazwas

Active member
Torger,

the standard ground glass picture was taken without the fresnel screen. And the lens used in this setup (on the Techno) was the Rodenstock 55mm f4.5.

Udo
Is that not an unfair comparison then to have one without a fresnel and the new one that has one built in?

I'd be also interested in the results with wider lenses (I wouldn't call the 55mm a wide lens) as fresnels are designed with a particular focal length lens group in mind.

Looks very promising though as I'd love something like that on my Arcas.
 

Udo

Member
Gareth,

you're right, my fault. It is my habit not to use the fresnel just because of focusing problems (due to my aging eyes).

So here is another shot, showing the standard ground glass with the fresnel stacked.

Udo
 

tjv

Active member
Holy S&^T! I NEED one!
I currently use my Techno with the back adaptor and Silvestri GG and integrated fresnel. It's very good, brighter than my Technika GG with fresnel and far finer grained. This new solution by Linhof looks out of this world!
Ah, if only I had the money...
 

torger

Active member
I'd like to see a macro-shot comparison of the grain :)

While the standard glass is indeed dim (even with fresnel, which I have permanently mounted, I've adapted my loupes focus distances so the focus exactly at the GG grain when held tight against the fresnel), it's "good enough" for my needs and I'm not really prepared to exchange resolution for brightness, because I need all the resolution to be able to focus precisely. I use a 20x loupe for critical focus.

Traditionally the tradeoff with groundglass has been that either you choose resolution or you choose brightness, you could not have both, that is why I'm a bit sceptical until I can see how it looks under magnification.

I'm sure it is possible to make better than the standard ground glass without sacrificing the resolution, but I'm not 100% sure that Linhof understands the need of ultra-high resolution of the ground glass so maybe they've gone too far on the brightness. I mean, the loupe that Linhof sells themselves is 4x. I've tested focusing precision extensively and that's why I've ended up with 20x myself. If you got talent and good eyes you can probably do with 10x, but 4x means focusing errors for sure. So I do hope Linhof has thought about high magnification loupes as well when designing this ground glass.

If the resolution of this new ground glass is indeed as good as the old, I will certainly save up the money and get one eventually, despite the high cost.
 

torger

Active member
By the way, those of you that have more experience with wides than me -- which is the worst case lens?

I've assumed that the ultra-wide Rodenstock Digarons would not really be that dim on the GG due to the retrofocus design, and that a Schneider 35 XL (not retrofocus) is about as dim as it gets. That is a Rodenstock Digaron-S 23mm would appear brighter than the Schneider 35. Is this true?

Another way to say the same thing -- the worse color cast on the sensor the dimmer on the ground glass. The retrofocus lenses leads to less color cast, and should thus appear less dim on the ground glass. I don't own any Digaron wide angle though so I have not been able to test this for myself.

Looking at the flange distance, all but the 23mm Digaron wide has actually longer flange distance than my old-school Schneider Digitar 47XL. If longer flange distance means brighter on the ground glass, the Digaron 28mm would actually be slightly brighter than the Schneider 47XL.
 
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