Friday, April 27, 2012

Using the Schneider 35 XL lens on a Cambo WRS


October 2008 I tested and bought my Cambo WRS.  The lens I was sent to test the system with the Cambo was the Schneider 35 XL which I also bought.  Fast-forward 36-months and I still have the very same Cambo and lens the only difference is an upgrade from the Phase One P45+ to a P65+ digital back.  36-months brought me from testing at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to using it in Jackson Hole WY. 

It's now 6-months after the Jackson Hole trip and I want to share my ongoing love affair with the Cambo WRS and the lenses I use ,beginning with the 35mm.  

Nothing is ever perfect all the time and that includes the camera gear I use.  One must remember there's downsides to everything; the tripod I use to capture landscapes with the WRS is a heavy beast; the flipside of the coin is it's very sturdy.  Likewise the WRS has both pros and cons however for the life of me I can't really decide on a con to describe.  Lets talk about the lenses and in particular the Schneider 35mm.

I quickly found I needed to use a center filter on the lens and vaguely remember buying it within 60-days of the lens and has never been taken off since.  I also found there's a limitation to the amount of shifts I can get by with when using the 35mm.  Normally I'll go just a little beyond that point as I intend to resize the image later and I'd rather have slightly too much than slightly not enough.  I've found that while 5mm shifts are good I can "get by" going slightly longer at say 10mm. 

Side note:  I also have the Schneider 72mm and the shifts on that lens are good to 15mm while the Schneider 120mm go all the way to 20mm.

The Achilles' Heel to the 35mm is the corners.  However, once you understand that you can work to correct it.

I hope to use the following images to better describe what the 35mm is capable of when used with the Phase One P65+.  The images have been processed using a combination of C1 Pro, and CS5.  LCC's were taken and analyzed using C1 Pro technical wideangle option.

These two image fresh out of C1 Pro after LCC applied.

Initial shot lens shifted 10mm up
(f/11 1/125 ISO100)
25x18.7 (8984x6732)
Second image 10mm down
25x18.7 (8984x6732)

Image merged in CS5
25x21.3 (8997x7675)

100% crop lower left
6x9 (2160x3240)

100% crop lower right
6x9 (2160x3240)

100% crop center
9x6 (3240x2160)

Resized
36x24 (12960x8640)

Resized 100% crop
6x9 (2160x3240)

Resized 100% crop
6x9 (2160x3240)

Before - After
Side by side comparison of lower left crops

Images are different in that the bottom corner was deleted in the cropping process thus shifting the lower left corner up several inches. The same for the lower right corner. 

Before - After

Final image after processing and resized to 24x36

I'll write more about the 72 and 120mm lenses if there's feedback on this.
Thank you for visiting and remember your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Don



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