Why so soft?

[ElectroWNED]

Details:

CL + Nokton 40
Ilford XP2
developed by Walgreens (ehh...)
scanned with (my new to me) Epson 4490

These two shots were at f1.4 and 1/30. I handheld other shots, such as these:

+

and these aren't nearly as soft.

Have I just been shooting digital too long? Can I not shoot small apertures with objects farther in the distance?

 

[SamStewart]

its a combination of your scanner being bad and you not being still enough.

 

[ElectroWNED]

Does anybody else think the scanner has anything to do with it?

 

[Brian Legge]

Try googling 'depth of field calculator' and putting in the sensor type (35mm film), the aperture and distance to see how much in focus area you'd expect best case. Then try the same thing with the digital setup you are accustomed to using.

If you're use to a smaller sensor digital camera the dof difference may be surprising.

 

[Dylan Hope]

I think it's more to do with moving too fast for the shutter. The scanner may be an issue when it comes to fine detail, but not the blur that's present in the first two images

 

[k__43]

the first two definitely look like motion blur, what was your shutter speed?

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Even using the same shutter speed, sometimes we move more, and get more motion blur...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[ElectroWNED]

the first two definitely look like motion blur, what was your shutter speed?

either 1/15 or 1/30... difficult to hold steady, but... I thought... doable. maybe I had too much coffee that day.

 

[konicaman]

Yup - slight motion blur. The 4490 is one of the better flatbed negative scanners. It might not render a leaf of grass on a picture of a lawn completely sharp - but this is only visible if you make a really large scan and start pixel peeping.

 

[taskoni]

Wide open on 1/30... It's you, not the scanner. On the second picture you missed completely the focus to my eyes it looks the focus is just behind the first statue, it's not only motion blur. On the first one is a bit in front the object. I might be wrong. Looks to me you found shoot both pictures on f/2 and 1/30 sec.

 

[nobbylon]

If you are using epson software to scan then I recommend having the unsharp filter set at medium.

 

[ElectroWNED]

okay, good advice as always. I didn't think it was the scanner's fault here.

I'm scanning: 16 bit greyscale, 800 DPI (just posting on Flickr, RFF, TumblR, etc...), Digital ICE, no sharpening-- I might just do that in Photoshop.

and in my defense on the focus: it was dark in there 😉 I probably could have adjusted the ISO though...

 

[taskoni]

Well, I have a lot of OOF shots too, rather often, seems tricky to stand still and get the focus on spot in the same time in low light and wide open, and I don't push film more than 800 ASA so a stop is helpful, but not so much. Must be normal for some people 🙂

 

[batterytypehah!]

Yup - slight motion blur. The 4490 is one of the better flatbed negative scanners. It might not render a leaf of grass on a picture of a lawn completely sharp - but this is only visible if you make a really large scan and start pixel peeping.

It could be the film holder, though. The holders Epson includes are crap. If your film is the least bit curled, try if another holder gives more flatness. I'm using one from my previous scanner but I should really bite the bullet and get those betterscanning.com units.

 

[happy]

focus is off, camera shake. 1/15 is a crazy slow shutter speed for hand held, you can get away with it with a leaf shutter but you can't expect good results every time.

 

[newspaperguy]

I'm with Happy... 1/15th is asking too much hand-held, especially at unforgiving wide-open settings.

Let's face it, the 40mm on a CL is more of a normal than a wide-angle lens and it has been proven time and again to show no mercy.

Maybe try a mini-pod or a beanbag next time?

FWIW - Here's hand-held at 1/6th, solidly braced against a wall - and it's fuzzy as hell.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=156141&ppuser=20714

.

 

[sepiareverb]

Happens to all men occasionally. Not to worry.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

the variables discussed here:

* camera shake due to slow shutter speed
* focusing issue
* scanner
* scanner sw
* oof look

perhaps to eliminate camera shake, shoot it outdoors at various aperture ?

 

[ElectroWNED]

the variables discussed here:

* camera shake due to slow shutter speed
* focusing issue
* scanner
* scanner sw
* oof look

perhaps to eliminate camera shake, shoot it outdoors at various aperture ?

f8 / 250 ??... its pretty sharp.

 

[kbg32]

It could also do with the CL's short rangefinder base length. It is not meant to focus lenses with apertures wider then 2.0.

From our leader's website;

"CL Weak Points:

Slow speed shutter reliability
Meter reliability
Claimed incompatibility of CL Lenses to M
Lower focusing accuracy for fast lenses
Inability to use some M Lenses/accessories
Dead meter cells which seemingly have no replacements

In other terms, the CL has 38% of the M6's focusing accuracy."