Best way to tell if I need calibration

[kiss-o-matic]

Hi

I just got a Zeiss Ikon (used) and a Zeiss Planar 50/2 to go with it. A lot of the pictures have come out soft it seems. I will pay better attention to make 100% sure I'm not jerking the camera or something, but most of these have been very unchallenging shots, in pretty easy conditions. So, I'm a little irked.

Cosina's site here says you need to go through the shop the item was purchased from when requesting repairs. My guess is they're not going to take the camera -- and unless I'm totally mistaken, that's required for calibration.

I will buzz them on Monday, but in the meantime is there something I can do to make test and make sure I'm not paranoid?

 

[kiss-o-matic]

THere's some samples of what are probably the best. I don't think they look soft per se, but maybe should be sharper? They look fine when they're resized here (800 x 500), but looking at the 600 DPI Scans any larger and it seems a bit soft to me. Pretty sure the first one was F8. Second one I don't quite remember. I shot nothing below F4 the whole day though.


Kamakura Beach 05 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Kamakura Beach 04 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

Maybe I'm just paranoid and not used to film scans. I actually do quite a bit of candid shots which requires some creativity for getting focus and composition.

 

[wolves3012]

Put the camera on a tripod, measure focus to a static subject (brick wall?) and use a cable-release to eliminate camera shake. That should tell you if things are good or not.

 

[Ronald M]

Focus bracket an infinity shot. Infinity is 1/2 mile, not 300 feet.

Then focus on a newspaper taped the wall. Sharpie down the gutter and use that as the focus point. Do a frame at 45 deg to the paper

Use a tripod in bright sun

 

[Robert Lai]

I sight the moon to check infinity. If the RF image is still double, then your camera or lens or both are off. If infinity is off then near focus will be off. I had this problem with a Canon 7s and Canon 50 1.4 lens. Both camera and the lens rf cam was out of adjustment. Clarence Gass overhauled both. Now that Canon 50 1.4 is exactly in focus at f/1.4 1 m focus distance, as well as any distance beyond.

Clarence announced his intention to retire last week. He has been overwhelmed with last minute work coming in before he cuts things off entirely. If either camera or lens is still under warranty then pursue that avenue first.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Thanks -- the 45 degree angle / Newspaper will be the easiest. Tripod is no problem but I do not have cable, so totally eliminating camera shake is not possible ATM. Might be able to hit a camera shop.

I will nood the focus bracketing infinity, but 1/2 mile... In this city, that's kind of pushing it unless I go up on a tower and and that point I'm shooting through (possibly dirty) windows which probably aren't great for such a test.

Will post results, but will take a few days to process unless I go grab a roll of Fujifilm. They don't do same day Kodak here.

The lens is definitely under warranty (bought it new a few weeks ago). The camera, not.

This is probably a better one (at this point) to judge. Focus point is the face (or at least the cat on the shirt). Am I wrong in thinking it's front focusing... the feet and the rope in the foreground looks more in focus than the face.


Kamakura Beach 18 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

 

[kossi008]

regarding that last shot, there may be slight front focus, but it's hard to tell at this aperture. repeat at f/2 and you should know.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Yeah, figured. I ran down to Yodobashi camera, got a roll of Fujifilm, and did 24 shots. I had no newspaper, but I shot various signs at strong angles (and made note of the focus point) all at F2. I missed the same day processing by 30 minutes, so I'll have to get it tomorrow.

I did do one shot of a billboard at about 200 meters away (and 30 meters up). It felt to me like it didn't focus to infinity. IE, needed to go a hair further, bu couldn't. I tried a building (from further) when I got home and it felt like it was in focus to me. The sign was blue w/ white text so stood out more. Guess we'll see.

And I had an awesome present when I got back. My Macbook Pro died! HD crapped out. On my antique MBP now. Takes a minute for a freaking page load.

 

[Landshark]

For practical photo use, infinity is 500X focal length of the lens.
If you have a light pole, water tower, tall building with a tower of some sort, they all work for infinity.
When I was working as a repair tech, we used a microwave tower about two blocks away. More than enough.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

I talked to a nice man at Cosina today. He said they calibrate, but wanted me to check if it focused to infinity in the finder. Specifically, he asked to see overlap. He suggested Tokyo tower from 1k a way. That's a bit out of my wheelhouse, so I used the Park Hyatt (which most of you know from Lost in Translation).

Anywho, if it doesn't get to infinity, then it's by just barely. Definitely doesn't overlap. To my eyes, it looked fine. I've started scanning my test roll from yesterday. It wasn't the best test but it was about the best I could do given the timing. From what I can see, I can't imagine there being real life noticeable differences at F4 and narrower assuming it's truly focused.

There are a few other options: Other than me simply botching too many to be comfortable with, another possibility is that my scanner sucks. 🙂

As my brand spanking new MBP died on me the moment I got my Linux machine working (total black cloud this year), I'm working on my ancient one for about a week. The scans take forever -- over 60 minutes for a strip of 6 at 600 DPI. I will post some and get some other opinions.

Thanks

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Okay, rather than clutter up my Flickr w/ a focus test, if anyone wants to take a gander at the straight scans (600 DPI), you can download them here. It's 5 images, w/a red dot at the focus point (which is coincidentally always the center point). Dunno... it might not be spot on but I don't think it's enough to worry about. I'm not a pro at spotting these things unless they're really, really bad.

I still feel like the scans are soft though.

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Apparently it's the scanner. I compared mine to a roll I had done at the lab, and the difference is quite noticeable on a 600 DPI scan resized to anything about 33%. So, that's a bit of a load off. Now to resource a better scanner.

 

[Godfrey]

Apparently it's the scanner. I compared mine to a roll I had done at the lab, and the difference is quite noticeable on a 600 DPI scan resized to anything about 33%. So, that's a bit of a load off. Now to resource a better scanner.

Well, if you are looking for a scanner, try to hunt up a Nikon Coolscan V (or even a 9000). They're expensive, but IMO the best way to get all the quality you have in your camera from film to digital.

G

 

[kiss-o-matic]

Well, if you are looking for a scanner, try to hunt up a Nikon Coolscan V (or even a 9000). They're expensive, but IMO the best way to get all the quality you have in your camera from film to digital.

G

Will look around. Thanks for the tip. I was looking into dedicated, but only b/c I *think* what is happening here is that the film/slide addon is not pushing the film all the way down like it should. There's space between it and the scanner, which is causing a soft scan.

I'm no stranger to scanning. Until a few months ago I owned an A3 scanner. Served me well, but scanning such pages, I learned the value of making sure the whole object was perfectly flat on it.

Anyway, crashing now... I will dig around here to see everyone's opinions and then perhaps ask a question or two.