David Klepacki
New member
Marc, I am trying my hardest to be objective, but as you can see we both are biased from our independent experiences. I sincerely do not mean to be patronizing to anyone. In fact, one of the posts above summed up the situation beautifully with the example of the wide angle 28mm HC lens. Such a lens would be impossible to design with optical correction only. So, indeed software correction has tremendous value, especially for the wides.Sorry David, but it sounds like some sort of patonizing slight towards the H/C lenses again ... like they were not well corrected and need the software.
This is patiently untrue, the H/C lens line up is already highly corrected and well thought of amongst one heck of lot of demanding professional photographers doing one heck of a lot of highly visable commercial and artistic work ... work done prior to the advent of DAC corrections being recently added to the software BTW.
I've run controlled tests between H/C lenses and their Zeiss CFi or CFE counterparts, and as often as not, the H/C outperformed the Zeiss. But no lens is ever perfect, there is always some compromise ... especially at the wide angle end. The thought behind the DAC corrections is to map the compromises and aid in getting them closer to being perfect in terms of Distortion and CA especially as it applies to the current state and limitations of digital capture.
This is not a unique nor exclusive idea. For example firmware and software solutions are used to correct vignetting inherent in even the very best wide-angle optics which usually required very expensive center filters to correct the issue ... Leica being one of them.
Now it IS true that there are optics that are super highly corrected right from the get go, but they don't reside in any MF lens line-up I've seen yet. They are Digital APO view camera lenses from Schneider and Rodenstock. No moving elements and bellows focusing helps eliminate many compromises in lens design.
The net result is that a $1,500. lens outperforms a $6,000. MF equvilant lens by a mile. There are mobile cameras that allow use of these optics without the bulk of a view camera ... as Peter A and others have aptly demonstrated with their ALPAs ... or other less expensive mobile cameras sporting Digitar view lenses.
Horses for courses.
I was only trying to clarify my preference for lens corrections in the lenses themselves, whenever possible. Contrary to your claim, there are many MF lenses that are super highly corrected from the get go:
Rollei Schneider APO-Symar 90/4
Rollei Schneider APO-Symar 150/4.6
Rollei Schneider APO-Tele-Xenar 300/4
Contax Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 45-90/4.5 (at 65-75, no distortion, no CA, no vign.)
Contax Zeiss APO-Makro-Planar 120/4
Contax Zeiss Tele-Apo-Tessar 350/4
Sinar Zeiss Digital AF Planar 120/4
Mamiya 645 APO 300/2.8
Mamiya 645 APO 300/4.5
Mamiya RZ APO 210/4.5
Mamiya RZ APO 250/4.5
Mamiya RZ APO 350/5.6
Mamiya RZ APO 500/6
Hasselblad Sonnar Superachromat 250/5.6
Hasselblad Tele-Superachromat 350/5.6 (and APO-Mutar 1.4x)
Hasselblad Tele-Apotessar 500/8
Hasselblad Tele-Superachromat 300/2.8 with APO-Mutar 1.7x
In addition, several of the excellent Digital APO lenses from Rodenstock and Schneider can indeed be used on MF cameras with focal plane shutters like Mamiya and Contax (not possible with H3D/II or Hy6). Rodenstock will even provide the helicoids to do this. Of course, the flange focal distance must be within the range of the camera to get infinity focus. For example, the following lenses can be used easily on the Contax 645 (or Mamiya):
Rodenstock APO-Sironar Digital HR 100/4
Rodenstock APO-Sironar Digital HR 180/5.6
Most Schneider APO-Digitar lenses at 100mm or longer
Again, this all ties into why my system is based on a single Sinar back (to enjoy such lenses on multiple camera systems), so that I can use a focal plane shutter camera in addition to my Hy6 with the same DNG workflow.
BTW, except for the Superachromat lenses, these lenses do not cost $6000. Many of the lenses listed above can be found for much less on the used market. In fact, one of the most corrected lenses from the list above is the Rodenstock APO-Sironar Digital HR 100/4 which sells brand new for only $1700.