how come my pictures look so bad ! ?

A

anorphirith

Established
Local time
3:22 AM
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
172
View My Gallery
Hello,
I've just started in 35mm with a Leica M6 and 35mm CV 1.2
I've shot a few rolls but every time I scan them I'm always disappointed, the colors looks very off and the focus almost always bad, although I take my time to align the 2 rectangles...
I develop my film at costco and scan them with a 8800f Canon

here are a few shots: (Ektar 100) blue cast on a lot of them
dfgnmfmrf.jpg

ertjtuily.jpg

jlk.jpg

yutfi.jpg

tryktuiyi.jpg

sgfnfugkjg.jpg

rgjtktyuft.jpg

jlkl.jpg

brtjmtuyg.jpg

jguk.jpg
 
Last edited:
Have you checked your negatives with a loupe? Are they unsharp too?
 
Yeah, focus seems to be off. If focus is spot on with other lenses, then there's issue with this particular lens.
 
Just recently, somebody else here complained about his M8 and CV 35mm 1.4 being a bad pairing. I have the CV 35 1.2 and 1.4 at my diposal at the moment, and both are pin sharp. It might just be your particular set-up.

However, some of your captures are such that at least something in the frame should be in focus, even if its not the point you had in mind when you took the picture. None seem to be. Are you sure the scanning process is spot on. Are the negs better than the scans?

Also, there's rather poor lighting in most of these, what shutter speeds are you using? ISO 100 film could be a little slow for these settings.
 
Bracket your exposures until you find the right EI for your camera: Ektar shows quite significant colour shifts with over- and under-exposure. Try metered -- one over -- one under to begin with.

Possibly, camera shake accounts for some of the unsharpness, as very little appears ro be sharp in any of the images.

Can you try another lens to see if you get sharp pics with that in good light?

Cheers,

R.
 
Last edited:
While I’m not familiar with that scanner but the problem is so universal I would look at scanner first, check that you have the negs and carriers mounted correctly, and are scanning the right side of the film. It may also worth looking at the software settings, check that the focus is set to auto (if it has that option) and the colour settings are correct for that film

Or get some printed when you have them developed that way you would know if the fault is in the camera/lens or scanner

P.S. Jinx, Nick
 
Last edited:
nksyoon said:
Try making some prints from them to see if the scanner is the problem.
Click to expand...
-yeah that would be the fastest way to check

"Have you checked your negatives with a loupe? Are they unsharp too?"
-I don't have a loupe but most negatives don't look very sharp, what's the DOF for 35mm

"Yeah, focus seems to be off. If focus is spot on with other lenses, then there's issue with this particular lens."
-I've got no other lens to try on

"It might just be your particular set-up."
-how do I check if it's coming from the lens or the camera ?

"Ektar shows quite significant colour shifts with over- and under-exposure."
-I didn't know that over & under exposure could affect the colors, I'll shoot more on the right spot on my next film

"camera shake accounts for some of the unsharpness"
-ok I'll try 1600 ISO film


what's the DOF for 35mm at f/1.2?
 
Last edited:
Looks like you are shooting wide open and the dof is very small. I always found it hit and miss at close range with 1.4 let alone a 1.2
seems like a lot of vignetting with this lens too.
 
my scanner 8800f, creates slightly soft pictures if I use the film holder it came with,
the common solution is to lay the film on the glass itself to have sharper images, I re-scanned film to see the result
I chose seemingly sharp pictures
BEFORE:
ndtmjyfukf.jpg

AFTER:
sharp3.jpg


BEFORE:
brtjmtuyg.jpg

AFTER:
sharp2.jpg


BEFORE:
yutfi.jpg

AFTER:
sharp.jpg


tThey seem a little sharper but nothing amazing the colors still look bad.

So I figured with a rangefinder, focusing is almost impossible in order to match the exact perfect focus in the mm thin DOf of a 35mm 1.2.
Then there is not point of having a 1.2 lens yet a 1.0 or even 0.95 lens, unless you have an M9 and can take tons of shots until the focus is dead on
 
So I figured with a rangefinder, focusing is almost impossible in order to match the exact perfect focus in the mm thin DOf of a 35mm 1.2.
Then there is not point of having a 1.2 lens yet a 1.0 or even 0.95 lens, unless you have an M9 and can take tons of shots until the focus is dead on

that was my thought on using 1.4's, I sold mine in the end and much happier at f2.
Try another roll before you get disheartened though and try the lens at 1.4, 2 and 2.8
 
Hi...

I bet your M6 and your Nokton are 100% OK... Great equipment! Please let me guide you through a quick, effective test, although for your gear I guess you've been shooting for years... But this is really worth it.


Here's what's happening:


First and most important: the color. In all these shots you've used daylight film for scenes lacking direct sun. Just a bit of sun in part of the background of the one with children playing... You need to filter, because in photoshop the changes are different: less real. For the overcast and shadow scenes use the 81b or A2 warming filter, and for the tungsten ones, the cooling blue 80b or 80c. If you don't have them for your Nokton, consider buying them today, with the 8x ND (0,9) 3 stops Neutral Density (Gray) filter, to shoot your superb lens wide open on direct sun. I'll get back to these filters later...


Second, there's a bit of unsharpness because of handheld shooting, and also because of the narrow depth of field, but the lens seems OK and maybe your rangefinder has no issues.


Third, scanning a negative is a much more complicated thing than what people think... Not only because you don't really know how the original scene's positive should look like, but also because you don't really know how well exposed it is... Negatives require usually twice the light after an incident metering, but I recommend you not to use negative, just for this serious plan to get wonderful photographs today! I bet if you do it, you'll be very happy!


Buy one single roll of slide film. Any ISO 100. Buy the three filters (so very important...) The filters should be B+W, Nikon or Hoya.


The scenes and subjects are totally secondary, as composition, because the tonal results will be beautiful. The goal is shooting (on a sunny day) three scenes with different light in the same roll: one under direct sun, one in the shadows, and one in tungsten light, all of them with a tripod.


You'll test here both color and focus, so you should do the same scene wide open, and by f/5.6. It's easy and fast, and I guess writing all this takes more time...


I don't know if your M6 is TTL, but anyway, with a simple bracketing you'll get it perfect or near perfect. Don't know if you got an incident meter: again, anyway, you'll do well.


3 shots (-1, N, +1) under sunlight wide open with the ND filter (considering the light the filter absorbs), and 3 shots of the same scene by f/5.6 without the filter.


3 shots in the shadows with the warming filter wide open (absorbs near ½ stop), and 3 more with the same filter by f/5.6.


3 shots -maybe home- in tungsten with the blue filter (absorbs 1 or 1 ½ stops) wide open, and 3 more with the same filter by f/5.6


That's THE ONLY WAY to see how your gear is working...


Feel free to send me a PM for more details or ANY question...


Cheers,


Juan
 
Last edited:
All of a sudden I'm glad I'm shooting digital. But honestly, I could envision myself with an M6 anytime. It's just jealousy.
 
I have no problems focusing a 50/1.4 wide open on an RF. DOF with a 35/1.2 is small but should be larger at an equivalent distance. Moreover, none of your shots have anything in focus. Even if you missed focus, there should be something sharp in there.

Did you buy the lens used?

It could be the lens/camera, it could be the scanner. I'd suggest getting a faster film, just a cheap roll of consumer 400 speed film and shoot a test roll. Don't shoot everything at f/1.2, run through all the settings. Focus at different distances. Make some notes. Then, drop it off at your local minilab for development and get scans made too. If every picture is crummy, it's probably your lens or something. If they all look great, it's your scanner.
 
It sounds like this is your first foray into both film and rangefinders... while the 35mm f1.2 is a great lens it might be a bit much to expect from yourself to master f1.2 on a rangefinder first go. I would suggest shooting ISO 400 while you're learning... that should let you shoot between f5.6-f16 outdoors and still be fast enough for indoor shots. Stay away from 1.2 untill you're confident with your technique. It's nothing like 1.2 on an SLR when you can see what's in focus.

As for scanning... I can't recommend the betterscanning film holders if they make one for your scanner... they made a world of difference for me.
 
Tim Gray said:
Moreover, none of your shots have anything in focus. Even if you missed focus, there should be something sharp in there.
Did you buy the lens used?
Click to expand...

Every shot shows focused areas and sharpness: the limit was camera shake and selective focus.

Color is the biggest problem there: a part of it came from no filtering and slight underexposure, and another part came from scanning, which also limits sharpness....

Lens seems OK.


Cheers,

Juan
 
Getting a dedicated film scanner would help, not shooting wide open would help as well. Honestly you might want to take some classes or get a tutor because mastering the equipment is a process and mastering the artistic side is a whole other ball game...
 
^ good points. For a focusing tip, use something with straight lines to focus on. As Mr. Nikon says, use the edges of the patch changing the focus until the lines are perfectly straight. Be very careful also of using something with a repeating background such as a fence, otherwise you might end up misfocusing. Another easy test is to set the focus at infinity @f5.6 or f8 with a decent shutter speed (125+), and take a landscape. If that isn't in focus, you have a big issue.
 
it seems to me that it is not users mistake - probably it is bad lens to film distance - maybe someone in past have been removing mount on camera or lens.
if that is his mistake he would get at least one thing sharp on one photo.
take it to some service to check it out...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom