Rollei lens problem

[allen_zak]

My Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar seems to have lost sharpness. Recently I photographed a group at f8. The central 1/3d was reasonably sharp, but the outer thirds of the neg on either side were not. Depth of field was not apparently a factor since the depth carried front to back centrally. A repairman said everything appeared to be tight. Could my lens (a) have lost sharpness due to vibration or a hard knock , (b) have somehow drifted out of adjustment, © developed some problem in film flatness (altho it is certainly not visible) or something else. I have discussed this with a few people, only one of which was much familiar with Rollei, and have not gotr a good answer. Where can I turn?

 

<p>

 

Sincerely,

 

<p>

 

Allen Zak

[jim_chow]

Try posting this to the Rollei digest/list (see the bulletin posted by

Marc

James Small in the MFD). They are experts on Zeiss history, B&W

photography, etc.

[s_p]

I think Rollies are pretty reliable in this department; I would

suspect your lab if you had the print made. If you look at the film

on the lightbox do all the areas look sharp? If you go back to your

group photo, are members of the group in a straight line? Are

people around the edges crowding forward out of the plane of sharp

focus?<p>

If you made the enlargement yourself, maybe your enlarger is out of

whack or your neg got too hot from the enlarger lamp and buckled.

If you made the print youself you could chech alignment of

lensboard, easel and neg carrier with small spirit levels yourself.

I have found that most enlarging lenses I have used do best at f11

or smaller; I don't use them at f8 or larger f stops. I recently

replaced my old enlarger with a new one and my prints never looked

better. I am printing the same negs with the same lens; but on my

old enlarger the adjustment wheels were too worn to hold correctly.

<p>

If you still suspect your camera, try photographing a brick wall at

all f stops. I would use spirit levels to make sure wall and camera

are level and a compass to make sure film plane and wall are

paralell. With your Rollie about 8 feet from the wall the bricks

should be sharp corner to corner to see detail in the mortar between

the bricks at all F stops (probably even 3.5) You can use this film

to perform a quick "enlarger alignment" test in the darkroom. I had

a Rollie with the 75mm Planar and at F8 the corners looked just as

sharp as the center.<p>

good luck

[don___5]

allan,

 

<p>

 

you may want to look at the negative and the final processed photo.

your photo processor may be the problem, not your camera

[john_hicks___]

IMHO that sharpness problem has the signature of an enlarger not in alignment or the neg popped in a hot enlarger.

[allen_zak]

Thanx for your replies. Enlarging problems were ruled out by a careful examination of the negs under high power magnification. The negs confirmed the unsharp areas of the prints. When I first got the camera I sent it to Harry Fleenor for a tuneup and he declared the lens fit based on his observations with an auto collimator. I never tested the lens, but it seemed to deliver pretty much what I expected in terms of sharpness. Mostly, I must say, the subjects and habitually small f stops I normally work with did not test the capabilities of the optic. I first noticed this outer third lack of sharpness when circumstances forced me to use f4.5, less than one stop f from maximum on a group photo. It barely squeaked through. Well, I figured, this lens doesn't perform well at or near max off center. Somewhat later, I had to do a group at f8. Yike! Same outer thirds not sharp. This would be not untypical from a Yashicamat or Rolleicord, which need f11 or 16 to cover shoulder to shoulder, in my experience. I expect more from a Planar. I was wondering if I might have a film plane problem, a loose element, or (Argh!) a bad sample.