philosomatographer
Well-known
I have been using a Technorama 617S (fixed lens, late version, Super Angulon 90mm f/5.6XL) for about 18 months now, and I just wanted to share my joys regarding the resolving power, colour rendering, and sheer image quality of this camera, combined with an Epson V700 scanner.
Scanning with the stupid plastic holders is hit-or-miss, and I can imagine how good a real scanner must be, but I resolve a good 60 megapixels nicely - and sometimes 120. If one shoots panoramics, this means that one needs at least a 120 (or 240) Megapixels Medium Format digital back, together with a lens that somehow magically resolves 5 times as good as the Schneider (over a tiny by comparison 6x4.5 image area) to crop and match an image like this. Or stitching, which just totally takes the fun out of using this camera hand-held and snapping a single image, and moving on.
I have now, at this stage in my life, used a large number of systems and lenses, from Minox to 6x17cm, but wow, there is just "something" about this Schneider lens - it's completely amazing. "Epic" sums it up.
Example landscape:
Provia 100, using the centre filter mounted on the lens. Even in the corners, the resolving power is astounding (and in my case, seriously limited by the scanner):
I am not nearly scanning down to grain level yet: On the slide, in the cropped area, actual detail in the individual flowers and grass blades are visible.
Scanning with the stupid plastic holders is hit-or-miss, and I can imagine how good a real scanner must be, but I resolve a good 60 megapixels nicely - and sometimes 120. If one shoots panoramics, this means that one needs at least a 120 (or 240) Megapixels Medium Format digital back, together with a lens that somehow magically resolves 5 times as good as the Schneider (over a tiny by comparison 6x4.5 image area) to crop and match an image like this. Or stitching, which just totally takes the fun out of using this camera hand-held and snapping a single image, and moving on.
I have now, at this stage in my life, used a large number of systems and lenses, from Minox to 6x17cm, but wow, there is just "something" about this Schneider lens - it's completely amazing. "Epic" sums it up.
Example landscape:
Provia 100, using the centre filter mounted on the lens. Even in the corners, the resolving power is astounding (and in my case, seriously limited by the scanner):
I am not nearly scanning down to grain level yet: On the slide, in the cropped area, actual detail in the individual flowers and grass blades are visible.
