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WTB Schneider Super Digitar 28mm 5.6 XL

I would like to buy a Schneider Super Digitar 28mm 5.6 XL with center filter, mounted in Arca r-mount. Preferably within the EU.

/jonas
 

anyone

Well-known member
Edit: The lens I was pointing out on ebay wasn't the right one. It was the WA digitar, not super digitar.
 
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Peter Steinhauer

New member
I know Cambo has one in stock....because I returned mine. Doesn't work with the Phase One IQ4 150. Perhaps they can put it in an Alpa mount? Contact Rene at Cambo. It was a brand new lens.
 

f8orbust

Active member
I shot with it on the IQ4-150 last year and it was every bit as stunning as I remember from when I shot with it on the IQ260 previously. The lens was - and still is - a technical tour de force IMHO, and one of the greatest tech camera lenses ever made. But I wasn't doing large shifts, or shooting into a setting sun etc etc - which is why a statement like 'it doesn't work' is pretty much meaningless without context.
 

Peter Steinhauer

New member
I shot with it on the IQ4-150 last year and it was every bit as stunning as I remember from when I shot with it on the IQ260 previously. The lens was - and still is - a technical tour de force IMHO, and one of the greatest tech camera lenses ever made. But I wasn't doing large shifts, or shooting into a setting sun etc etc - which is why a statement like 'it doesn't work' is pretty much meaningless without context.
I, and Capture Integration had completely different results from you. I bought it new from Cambo and tested it for one week in all lighting conditions and night images too. I agree with you about it was the best lens made previously, but now, it doesn't hold up. Tech cameras do have large shifts, thats why we buy them and I tested at every shift combination, and it was only on the XT. My Cambo WRS 5000 has much more movement so it would have failed even worse with that body. Marjor fall off and you had to make an LCC because of major color cast, which on the IQ4 150 with the BSI sensors, LCC's are basically a thing of the past. If we are going to use a $55K IQ4, $8K tech camera body and $7-$12K lenses, every option better be spot on in my opinion or I just won't use it. Corners were soft as well at F/8 and F/11. Just doesn't work with the new micron pixel size and 150 megapixels unfortunately. Call Dave or Brad at Capture Integration and ask them about it.
 
Agree with Peter the lens doesn’t work on the IQ-150, I too tried in various conditions and wanted the lens to work so badly however color cast is way too much even with LCC corrections it wasn’t up to the mark and corners are soft...
 

greygrad

Member
I can't speak of the IQ150 since I'm not lucky enough to own one, but I've used the 28/5.6 on a P45+ and currently use it on an IQ260, and it's just a superb lens. On my 260 there's some colour/luminance cast when shifted (never on the P45+), but I use the centre filter and it's more than manageable in post (for shifts <10mm I generally don't bother with the CF). In terms of sharpness/resolution etc, what I see is consistent with what others (elsewhere) have described when testing this lens, in that it's pin sharp, corner-to-corner, across the entire 54 x 40 frame.

Since S/K's IC is based on the area of illumination rather than the range of sharp rendering, there is the expected gradual loss of sharpness towards the edge of the lens' IC rather than the sudden fall off you get with R/S lenses. But in some situations - e.g. landscapes - it can be irrelevant (depending on your shooting style), and the extra 20mm (compared to the R/S 28's 70mm IC) on an already wide lens can be a huge bonus.

A good 'real world' test from back in the day was done by Guy Mancuso right here on GetDPI. Fortunately it's still available via the way-back-when-machine. Guy was shooting on an IQ160 without the dedicated centre filter, but you can see how well even shifts of 12mm cleaned up in post.

It's a very difficult lens to find on the used market (the centre filter is even harder to find) - which, in part at least, probably hints at how highly regarded it is by those who own one and a compatible DB (e.g. with the IQ180, IIRC, you can pretty much only shoot unshifted). Like many folks out there, my preference has always been for S/K due to the great balance of resolution/contrast/rendering/lack-of-complex-distortion-flare-and-aberrations, size, and weight. This lens ticks all those boxes - so, if anyone reading this is in the market and manages to find one, I'd at least give it a try if you can.
 

f8orbust

Active member
Agree with Peter the lens doesn’t work on the IQ-150...
I didn't shift much beyond 5mm and shot with the centre filter, so found it all very manageable. In terms of 'softness' you seem to be describing a level that I just didn't see. That said, if you were expecting a consistent level of sharpness all the way to the edge of the IC that's simply never going to be the case given the lens' design.
 

greygrad

Member
One thing to bear in mind with the S/K wide angles is just how close they sit to the sensor, and how much of an effect being off parallel can have (e.g. if the lens has been mishandled, the mount hasn't been machined correctly, any shims have been installed badly etc.) This is something that is often misinterpreted as the lens being 'natively' soft, which is why I always like to try a couple of copies of a lens (if possible) before buying. Also, using an Alpa is handy in that it lets me easily rotate the DB/lens (since the mounts are square) in order to check everything's in alignment every once in a while.
 
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