617 focusing at infinity - infinity mark too big

[lightminer]

I am renting a 617 and am focusing by choosing an f-stop and then

putting the infinty mark under that number on the right side. But

the infinity mark is quite wide - do you put it centered on the num

above, or the middle on the num above, or the right side all the way

to the left of then num above it? Maybe it doesn't matter, but

since this is focusing-by-numbers I want to be as precise as I can

be.

[dennisprice]

I don't have a 617, so my answer is not specific to your camera/lens; however, in general, you would set the lens so that the focus mark aligns with the CENTER of the selected number on the distance scale. For infinity, that would be in the center of the infinity mark.

 

Note that some lenses focus PAST infinity, so I would not want to rotate the lens all the way to the physical stop.

 

 

It might be helpful if you checked this site, especially the hyperfocal distance chart. Although it does not list the 6x17 film format, if you enter a smaller/larger format or plug in different circles of confusion, you will get a better understanding of the potential range of depth of field amounts at different lens distance/aperture settings.

 

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

 

If this is a critical assignment, you may want to rent the cam a day early and run a B&w roll thru and get it developed pronto (no prints) just so you can look at the negs with a loupe and be certain the focus is dead on

[lightminer]

Thanks for all the info! The Linhoff 617SIII is a very particular camera and you'll notice that 6X17 is not even listed on the dof website! Here are 2 pics that show the 2 options that I think are most likely. However - you've said 'use the center' and this is probably right. These are lame cell-phone-camera pictures, please excuse me for that. If any can verify for absolute certainty that I should 'use the center' I'd love to know!

[danny burk www.dannyburk.]

Yes, use the center. Since I don't know whether this is your first experience with a larger format camera, I'll point out that you'll want to stop down much farther than you'd typically do in 35mm format. Which lens are you using with the 617? If there is considerable distance from nearest to farthest subject elements in the scene you're photographing, you should probably be somewhere in the f/22-32 range, or even f/45 if necessary, depending on lens and focus spread.

 

See my website for a lot of info/comparison on Linhof 617SIII and Fuji GX617: http://www.dannyburk.com/linhof_617_s_iii.htm

 

Regards,

Danny

[lightminer]

Great, thanks. Yeah - on page 7 of the manual it says that f/16 - f/22 is recommended and on page 12 it says that for corner to corner sharpness f/16 to f/32 is recommended. Based on this I focused on f16 (still maintaining the aforementioned bias towards smaller f-stop numbers), I only had one picture with strong foreground elements (yellow flowers a few feet from the lens, and the camera 1.5 feet off the ground) and used a much lower f-stop.<p>

 

Oh - I didn't see any kind of simple way to post a picture other than to use the html-type post with a link and I didn't want to post my dumb cell-phone pictures anywhere, but I think people who know the camera know what I mean about the big infinity mark.<p>

 

The lens I have now is the 72 - so if I'm using it right the focus options I see are, assuming I need infinity and max foreground possible in focus are:<p>

 

45 - infinity to 'second line'? - what does this line mean? What does the first line mean?<br>

32 - infinity to 4.9-ish feet<br>

22 - infinity to 6.9-ish feet<br>

16 - infinity to 8.9-ish feet<br>

11 - infinity to 14-ish feet<br>

8 - infinity to 19-ish feet<br>

5.6- infinity to 27-ish feet<p>

 

And I assume that you could turn the lens barrel (looking down at it) to the left and this would maintain infinity focus but perhaps muck up the close-distance focusing? And the above chart is obvioulsy an attempt at hyperfocal focusing, you could alternatively put the infinity sign at the white pyramid in the middle if there was nothing at all in the foreground... Does this all sound right? Do you tend to put infinity on the f-stop more, or put infinity on the white pyramid in the middle (actual point of focus)?<p>

 

Danny - I know your gallery quite well (and to be honest your online galleries have prompted me to do two things 1) almost buy a GX680III :), and 2) to actually do this personal test of the viability of the 617SIII with the intent of possibly getting one at some point, or at least renting it frequently.) In your gallery do you have any examples of focusing with the f-stop at the infinity mark and/or right at the center point? Preferences between the two?<p>

 

Thanks!