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Fuji GFX100S and Roddy55 and schneider 47mm on Arca Swiss

Alkibiades

Well-known member
I get today an adapter for my Arca Swiss m2 and Fuji GFX100S and i started to make some tests.
I tested first a Apo Digitar 100- an amazing sharp lens even wide open on 100MP- no real surprise.
works fine- but what about wide lenses?
Some guys here tested 55 Roddy on their cambo Actus cameras and could not get the infinity in focus or could not make movement.
I can tell that on Arca Swiss you can get infinity in focus and get large movements with both lenses, and both seems to be really sharp on Fuji 100s.
So technicly the combination Fuji GFX and roddy 55 and schneider Digitar 47 mm must work!
And on Arca Swiss cameras it works.
I hope these are good news for guys who want to try this combination.
When this combination dont work on cambo actus so this will be a problem of the cambo adaptation. Maybe they will react on this point when users ask them for solving that problem.
So I hope to help a little bit...
 

stevev

Active member
Hi Alkibiades,

That is good news, but I am curious because that does not match my results with that lens on smaller format sensors (36x24mm Z7 and S1R) when mounted on a Cambo Actus G. When I compare my Roddy 55mm APO Sironar Digital to a Nikkor SW 65mm S lens or a Mamiya 50mm ULD lens I find the fully shifted edges of the Roddy are the worst of the three.

I could not call them "fully sharp" with "large movements" as you describe them. In the centre - yes - it is not that much different to the other lenses, but on a 36mm wide sensor shifted 20mm, I am 38mm off axis from the centre of the lens and for the last 8mm or thereabouts of that, the sharpness falls off significantly more than the two comparison lenses mentioned above.

Also, the 55 is a very tight fit on the Actus and the bellows can interfere with the camera plate and rear lens group when extremes of shift and rise/fall are attempted, so I have been keeping the 55 only to see how it might perform on a GFX100S mounted on something like a M2 or Actus. Hence your findings are potentially very important to me.

Do you have example shots of full shift with the Roddy 55mm on the GFX100S on a distant scene i.e. more than about 50m away?

Cheers,
Steve.
 

P. Chong

Well-known member
sounds like its gonna be great...but the gear head in me cannot help wanting to see a pic or several of the setup...could you oblige please?


I get today an adapter for my Arca Swiss m2 and Fuji GFX100S and i started to make some tests.
I tested first a Apo Digitar 100- an amazing sharp lens even wide open on 100MP- no real surprise.
works fine- but what about wide lenses?
Some guys here tested 55 Roddy on their cambo Actus cameras and could not get the infinity in focus or could not make movement.
I can tell that on Arca Swiss you can get infinity in focus and get large movements with both lenses, and both seems to be really sharp on Fuji 100s.
So technicly the combination Fuji GFX and roddy 55 and schneider Digitar 47 mm must work!
And on Arca Swiss cameras it works.
I hope these are good news for guys who want to try this combination.
When this combination dont work on cambo actus so this will be a problem of the cambo adaptation. Maybe they will react on this point when users ask them for solving that problem.
So I hope to help a little bit...
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
I get the adapter yesterday and made a fast check only. fact is that the combo Fuji and arca swiss M and F, and Universalis will work with 47 and 55 on infinity. I tested today the 55 with large movements and there is no problems, not with bellows not with the rear element.
40 mm movement dont show any C-cast, the next good fact. I just made a fast test outside, the weather changing here every 5 minutes, one s too much sun, then 2 minutes lates its raining...
I tested my F-line today, its works also fine. my M-2 need service, the Fuji on the rear standart have too much play. I also will need a new arca plate with a stop for the Fuji, my is very old one.
Ok, these are my little problems, anyway the combo works. I hope to make a real shooting soon.
 

Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
A few things -

In my experience, one can have very different results with different copies of the Rodenstock 55mm Lens. This can be the case with many pre-owned lenses.

Remember that the GFX 100S is a BSI sensor, so if one intends to use on a view camera, for that reason alone, it is worth having a 100S vs a 50-S/50-R or an original 100, since the sensors in those models is not BSI and are much more prone to color cast.

The simple reason you can extract just a bit more room to include a few shorter lenses with the Arca solution vs the Cambo solution is that the Arca incorporates an L Bracket for mounting the camera, and the bellows connects directly to the camera. The Cambo has a mounting bracket that the camera attaches to, and on the other side the bellows then attaches. Both approaches have their pluses and minuses. The Arca approach allows some shorter lenses. But to rotate the camera, you must remove the bellows, and remove the camera and then re-seat it. The Cambo has in-line rotation so this is not necessary. I do know that Arca is soon introducing an in-line rotation solution that will be similar to the Cambo, so you may choose one or the other. Cambo does also offer an optional camera mounting solution that removes the in-line rotation and embeds the bellows connection. This allows for some shorter lenses to be utilized.

So - there are numerous ways to solve this puzzel from both manufacturers.


Steve Hendrix/CI
 

stevev

Active member
Thanks Steve. Clearly there's a bit more to it - and sample variation is obviously an issue with the Roddy 55.

Do you have the name of the optional Cambo camera mounting solution? That might find me a few more mm that could be enough to get me full shift and rise/fall without the fouling of the bellows/lens/camera plate that I get at the extremes. It won't change edge sharpness but would make using the 55 a bit simpler in my case.

Cheers,
Steve.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Hi Alkibiades,

That is good news, but I am curious because that does not match my results with that lens on smaller format sensors (36x24mm Z7 and S1R) when mounted on a Cambo Actus G. When I compare my Roddy 55mm APO Sironar Digital to a Nikkor SW 65mm S lens or a Mamiya 50mm ULD lens I find the fully shifted edges of the Roddy are the worst of the three.

I could not call them "fully sharp" with "large movements" as you describe them. In the centre - yes - it is not that much different to the other lenses, but on a 36mm wide sensor shifted 20mm, I am 38mm off axis from the centre of the lens and for the last 8mm or thereabouts of that, the sharpness falls off significantly more than the two comparison lenses mentioned above.

Also, the 55 is a very tight fit on the Actus and the bellows can interfere with the camera plate and rear lens group when extremes of shift and rise/fall are attempted, so I have been keeping the 55 only to see how it might perform on a GFX100S mounted on something like a M2 or Actus. Hence your findings are potentially very important to me.

Do you have example shots of full shift with the Roddy 55mm on the GFX100S on a distant scene i.e. more than about 50m away?

Cheers,
Steve.
Steve, I tested the 55 on my arca M-2 today and I can tell you for sure that full movenets in all directions, that means 35 mm on all directions- more is not possible on M-2 are possible without any restriction. I focused the most distant point that I can see from my window, it is in 1 km distance.
So for sure the lens is full usable.
second: the CCast seems to be fully disappeared, becouse of the new Sony back illuminated sensor technology.
third: what Steve Hendrix wrote, your 55 mm seems to need better calibration. You should send the lens to mr Wenzel, he will calibrate you the lens, you will see that the lens will performe well. Mr Wenzel is the chief technical from rodenstock.
I calibrated some 55 mm lenses, and not only them, for me and friends, I know how the lens must performe. The lens has better correction as the standart wide lenses like nikkor 65 mm, grandagon 65mm, no question about that. If the 65 mm would be better than 55 mm, Rodenstock would take that Grandagon-N line to convert it to digital line and not the Apo grandagon line. it is logic, isnt it?
Th calibration of the digital lenses and the XL wide analoge lenses with 110-120° angle are indeed essential.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
Thanks for sharing this experience. It's very helpful. You have access to lots of interesting lenses!
Indeed! I am a bit crazy about lenses and cameras, that is my last discovery: Zeiss Docter lenses, made in Wetzlar, Germany, between 1991-1995 ( maybe most interesting lenses in large format, some lens designs are legendary, mr Docter died therefore the company could not continue...)
here the Docter Apo Germinar 600 mm, I must test the lens on 8x10...
 

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Steve Hendrix

Well-known member
Thanks Steve. Clearly there's a bit more to it - and sample variation is obviously an issue with the Roddy 55.

Do you have the name of the optional Cambo camera mounting solution? That might find me a few more mm that could be enough to get me full shift and rise/fall without the fouling of the bellows/lens/camera plate that I get at the extremes. It won't change edge sharpness but would make using the 55 a bit simpler in my case.

Cheers,
Steve.

Hi Steve -

It was the ACT-311 - and I think we sold only (1) ever. Now that I am looking it up, it was only made for Sony E-Mount, and it has been discontinued for some time now (sorry I forgot it was not a current product any longer, and also that it was Sony E mount only). :(


Steve Hendrix/CI
 
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I think the Fuji GFX100s combined with the Arca Swiss M-two-MF is shaping up to be a great option going forward for my work. Getting those sort of movements on the Rodenstock 55mm is incredible and without colour cast issues. Very impressive. I presume the Rodenstock HR Digaron 90mm would yield enormous shift too. As soon as the 100s was announced I thought the m2 would be a perfect partner for it. I use the RL3Di. It has 40mm rise and 20mm fall/shift. It is possible to get 40mm shift in one direction by rotating the entire camera but is not a great solution. The m2 has 35mm movements in ALL directions and can now function with a fantastic 100 megapixel mirrorless camera with a BSI sensor. I do love the phase one IQ system but frankly having a view camera set up that has almost a medium format sensor, a really decent pixel count, an evf allowing complete emotional connection to your subject in the field in all light conditions and without the need of a bloody iPhone to capture the image (which looses Bluetooth connection just at the moment when it shouldn’t) is a Godsend. Very excited. It will be great to see and hear of user experiences in the coming months.
 
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Good to hear about the success you are having with it! Does the 55mm allow enough image circle to stitch on the camera side (achieving a wide F.O.V) and still have movements on the lens side?
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
As I described both lenses 55 and 47 work on infinity. From the camera side full movements on all 4 directions are possible. There are no mechanical problems with the camera or with the bellows.
I made yesterday some tests and we have one other limitation and it is on the Fuji body side- at 25 mm movements the sides of the camera start to vigniting.
on the 47 it would be 25 mm when moved to the side and 18-20 when moved vertical. the results with 18 mm rise are sharp even at the borders, you can also make stiches with full 35 mm with the vignitting and stich the pics together later, this is a possibility. afcourse at 35 mm movements the corner sharpness will be softer on all wide lenses, i used aperture 11, maybe 16 helps a bit at large movements, but all wide lenses will become softer.
55 mm seems to allow little more movements before vignetting starts, pictures made with both lenses with 18 mm rise are fully sharp and I see no need for color cast correction. I should use maybe the Centerfilter when Capture one will not correct the file. To compare: 35 mm shift lenses allows only 12 mm movements and most of them are not really sharp at corners and have stronger chromatic aberrations.
 
As I described both lenses 55 and 47 work on infinity. From the camera side full movements on all 4 directions are possible. There are no mechanical problems with the camera or with the bellows.
I made yesterday some tests and we have one other limitation and it is on the Fuji body side- at 25 mm movements the sides of the camera start to vigniting.
on the 47 it would be 25 mm when moved to the side and 18-20 when moved vertical. the results with 18 mm rise are sharp even at the borders, you can also make stiches with full 35 mm with the vignitting and stich the pics together later, this is a possibility. afcourse at 35 mm movements the corner sharpness will be softer on all wide lenses, i used aperture 11, maybe 16 helps a bit at large movements, but all wide lenses will become softer.
55 mm seems to allow little more movements before vignetting starts, pictures made with both lenses with 18 mm rise are fully sharp and I see no need for color cast correction. I should use maybe the Centerfilter when Capture one will not correct the file. To compare: 35 mm shift lenses allows only 12 mm movements and most of them are not really sharp at corners and have stronger chromatic aberrations.

The 47mm Schneider was one of my favourite lenses back when I shot with a Kodak sensor back. Insane amount of shift was possible. Great to see you are getting positive results here.
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
in my opinion even the edges are sharp, no CA visible, no LCC is needed.
the lens was rised 18 mm.
I will add a movement of 35 mm, you see on the bottom the vigetting of the Fuji body.
the edges become softer afcourse, but still usable. in the practical use this edge would be anyway sky with no structure...
 

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