PHEW! My R-D1 is fine...but DANG my Ultron is screwed!

[Robin Harrison]

Hey guys. I was wondering if any of you had seen anything like this before. I feel my 28mm Ultron is in a bad way. Up until now I have only shot this lens pretty much wide open at close range in poorly-lit situations with fast film I'll have to look back as some negatives, but I'm not sure if this problem is recent or not.

I was out this weekend shooting my R-D1 for the first time (grrrrreat camera). Last night I uploaded the RAW files, and noticed a worrying trend. Photographs with medium-fine detail showed up very soft on the right hand side of the image. The deteriation seemed pretty much linear across the frame. I've included some attachments - one full frame, one 100% of the top left corner and one 100% crop of the top right corner. You can see the difference on the full frame shot, but looking at the crops it's clear something is wrong.

The shot was taken at 1/1351 @ ISO 200 (probably f4-f5.6).

I have tested the RD-1 with other lenses and have confirmed the problem is isolated to this lens (thank goodness). I have seen similar results at close focus.

Have any of you seen this sort of thing before? Any idea what's wrong?

What's the prognosis, doc? Give it to me straight....I can take it....

 

[kbg32]

I have read somewhere about quality control isues of some CV lenses, where there might be some decentering of the optics. I believe it was on photo.net.

 

[laptoprob]

I can only think of a slight misalignment. Is the M-adapter in order? Can you check with another adapter to make sure it really is the lens?

That or some problem inside the lens which causes this focus error.
Does it occur upclose as well?

good luck!

 

[Robin Harrison]

I can only think of a slight misalignment. Is the M-adapter in order? Can you check with another adapter to make sure it really is the lens?

That or some problem inside the lens which causes this focus error.
Does it occur upclose as well?

good luck!

I used the same adapter with my CV 28mm f3.5 Color-Skopar and didn't see the same effects. I can't see any obvious external sign of damage or misallignment, so I can only imagine something is wrong with one of the internal elements.

I tried a shot at about 1m focus this evening and saw the same effect.

 

[kbg32]

Robin,

I would bring it in to a qualified service repair center to have it checked, or if it can be returned and exchanged, do so.

 

[Robin Harrison]

Robin,

I would bring it in to a qualified service repair center to have it checked, or if it can be returned and exchanged, do so.

Reuturn/exchange is out of the question. The lens was bought off the photo.net forums a number of months ago.

Does anyone know somewhere in the UK (esp London) that would be qualified to do work on this lens? I have sent Carl Zeiss lenses to Ffordes before. They were reasonably quick but not cheap (and returned the lens fixed even though I just sent if for a quote).