ultimate MF landscape lens - digital or film

[danlindberg]

... but there are still users that use them, Dan Lindberg on this forum use it with his Credo 60, you could possibly ask him about shooting techniques. I would guess not shifting too much is the key.

Zeroed the SuperDigitar 28 XL is razorsharp including edges on fullsize 60mp back. (Note that I have a perfectly calibrated lens for infinity and a perfectly shimmed placement of my back.) Virtually no visible distortion, I have never corrected for distortion and I shoot plenty of horizonlines over the ocean and architecture. Workable from f5.6-f11, at f16 diffraction kicks in.
What I do not like and actually is my main concern many times is that it vignettes heavily. The big centrefilter does take away a slight amount of resolution (albeit negliable) but more importantly it steals two full stops and is bulky. Other than that I simply love it and have printed very large prints with excellent results across the image. Several 2 metres wide canvases that have impressed a few knowledgable people...
When it comes to shifting, with my combination, I can shift 7-8 mm on the long side, LCC clears up problems nicely with this amount of shift. If you need more shifts then it is better to keystone the rest in post! I do not have possibility for tilt with this lens so this I cannot comment upon.
By the way, as a bonus it is really surprisingly good at closeups and gives the option of dramatic perspectives.
I know that there are more than one that says the lens is useless (agree fully that it is not usable on 80mp backs) but I have a couple of hundred of technically superb images on my harddrives. It still amazes me the amount of detail and incredible resolving power it has. I'm a very happy camper and do not lust for the 'other one'....

Just to show how well it plays with my combo I took a screenshot of a raw file as it turns up in C1. Nothing done at all, no LCC applied, no vignette compensation, no nothing....

 

[torger]

When you say shift 7-8 mm on the long side I guess you mean shift the sensor up or down when it's in horizontal orientanion?

Of what I've seen it works better to shift vertical with the sensor in horizontal position than if you shift on the short side. First the sensor reaches farther out in the image circle on the short side to start with, but the sensor suppresses pixel crosstalk a lot better on horizontal than vertical orientation. So I guess you don't shift that much on the short side?

From the test shots I've have from a Credo 40 + SK28 I'd say on short side you get a "safe zone" of about 8mm shift on the short side, which would translate to about 3mm on the Credo 60. Haven't got any test files with long side shift but it should be better just as you indicate. Still 8mm shift on a Credo 40 is quite much. The 7-8 on long side you report would mean 11-12mm on a Credo 40. That could certainly be seen as a wide enough range, and for some subjects you will be able to stretch it a bit.

The Rodenstock 28 which is hard-limited to 70mm image circle gives you 11mm long side and 9mm short side on the Credo 40, ie about the same range but then with hard limit and risk of penumbra reflection.

For comparison, a full 90mm image circle gives you 23mm long side and 20mm short side on the Credo 40, but the widest you can get with that movement range is the Rodenstock Digaron-W 32.

At some point I'm getting that SK28 myself...

 

[synn]

Great post, Dan. Thanks very much for that! I definitely have this lens in my shortlist now.

If I am to start my tech kit with just one lens, I'd like it to be a wide and 28mm seems perfect for that. With arca now supporting canon, adding a 24/17 TS to the kit seems like a good option if I want to go wider.

 

[danlindberg]

Torger, yes, sensor in horizantal position and vertical movements.

Synn, as always, you should try the lens yourself with your own other gear before buying such an expensive piece of glass. But there are a few out there using it and getting great results.

Never used dropbox...but if I have done it correctly you could download a rawfile 28 XL/Credo 60 below. Its how it is saved in the back, nothing at all done to it. Here you can see the level of coloourshifts and sharpness all the way to the edge even on a full size chip. Focus around 3-4 metres @ f8.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/045iqr2hwlaq44x/AAAbdApmjjGWg2O5JK1Z3eFCa?dl=0

 

[trioderob]

best thread ever- who started it ?