cv 15mm users, i have some issues with my 15 lens..

[haagen_dazs]

i managed to borrow my friend;s lens and shot with it.
the first 2 rolls came back

the photos were a bit "displaced"
what i mean is that the photos do not exactly reflect my original composition ...

i do know how i compose (for i compose pretty tightly)
but the photos are displaced 20% to the left and 10% downwards

that is, there is 20% more of image on the left side thus cutting off what i wanted on the right
and 10% more of image of the ground, thus cutting off tree tops or human heads

i use the finder on an r3a with a ltm m adapter for the lens

do you have the same problems too?
if so, is there a problem with the lens or do i always have to factor this in when shooting 😡

 

[Bryce]

You didn't use color print film and drugstore processing, by chance?
I've noticed that many automated machines in these places crop the negative quite a lot, often unevenly. To see, compare the negatives to the prints. Drugstore scans invariably show the same cropping as the print, since the scan is what's used to make the print.
If this is not the problem, I'd guess the viewfinder is being held crooked in the hotshoe.
Lens to film misalignment seems very unlikely. It would almost certainly cause unsharpness, uneven vignetting or both.

 

[John Robertson]

If you must crop extremely tightly I would suggest in the first place that a R/F camera is not for you, something like a Nikon SLR with 100% view would be more sensible. However my guess is the V/F is not sitting correctly in the shoe for some reason. I've used R/F cameras for 50yrs and always allow a little extra space , and crop at the printing stage, or mask the slide.
I've never had any problems with my CV 15, probably one of the best lenses I've used!!

 

[BrianPhotog]

Maybe you're not looking through the VF currectly as there are no brightlines to show your frame. You have to keep an eye on the fuzzy-out-of-frame area in the VF.

 

[haagen_dazs]

i used the fuji prepaid mailers and sent them to the fuji processing site.

being slides, i dont think the processing people cropped it wrong.
i have a feeling that the VF is off.
=/

 

[szekiat]

as someone mentioned above, if u must frametightly, use a nikon SLR that offers 100% viewfinder. To date, i think only nikon does that (or maybe the canon F1n as well). That said, 20% is heck of a lot, thats like 1/5 of a frame. Perhaps u're not looking at it properly. U need to be looking straight into the viewfinder and not at an angle. Me, i just frame it a little loosely and crop later.

 

[oscroft]

I use my 15 on a Bessa-L, and as others have suggested I do not attempt to frame tightly - tight framing is not appropriate to RF photography in general, but especially not with a superwide accessory viewfinder with no bright lines.

But bearing in mind the innate imprecision, I've been really quite happy with the framing so far - I certainly haven't been anywhere near 20% out.

 

[traveller]

I had the same problem too with the first rolls. For me it was learning how to look through the VF the "right way" and selecting my glasses for this lens. (Just wondering, do other people have to select their glasses this way too?)

The results are getting acceptable now but as I shoot more than 90% in B/W and do my own printing I'm able to do necessary corrections myself.

 

[Ronald M]

If your eye is not centered, you see more of the left or right than film sees. It is a poor finder in this respect.

I took slide binding mylar tape and put a thin strip across the top because the finder sees too much up there. Detirmine placement by putting the camera ona tripod with the back off and ground glaas/matt acetate where the film goes. You need a dark cloth or heavy coat ala view camera.

Cut the tape narrow by putting a strip on glass and using a razor knife/straight edge.

 

[Bryce]

Here's a way to test exactly what the film sees compared to what the viewfinder shows-
Mount the camera on a tripod, with lens and viewfinder and no film. Aim it at a light colored wall in a dimly lit room with the camera back parallel to the wall. Now, open the camera back, open the iris all the way, and lock the shutter open with a cable release.
Use a laser pointer, shining through the back of the camera, to establish where the corners of the image are. You do this by shining the laser past the extreme corners of the film opening and through the lens.
If all is aligned correctly, you should see the light from the pointer through the viewfinder at its extreme corners.
Cameras I've done this to (including my Bessa L/ 15mm combination have proved to be quite accurately aligned. You can also use this technique to find out just how much the framelines "crop" the real image in rangefinders.
Hope this helps!