Schneider Apo-Tele-Xenar Compact 350mm/11

[lilmsmaggie]

Jeff,

Yes very much. He says he has all the movement needed on 8x10 and that it's very sharp. He's a professional photographer so I value his opinion.

Cheers, Steve

I guess this question was just slow to form in my mind:

With a maximum aperture of f11, does it become difficult focusing the image on the GG, or checking critical focus?

[Steve Hamley]

I asked Don the same question, and he said yes it was relatively rather dim, but focusing was not a problem. And it's less than a stop darker than an Artar which is f:9.

But what I discovered is that for many people, a bright image on the groundglass is the holy grail, even to the point of making focusing more difficult. If you're one of these, you'll likely not be happy with it, as it will be darker than equivalent process lenses and certainly much darker than the f:5.6 plasmats and the f:5.6 400mm Apo Tele-Xenar MRC. Small and bright don't go together, especially in longer focal lengths.

Cheers, Steve

[Sal Santamaura]

...for many people, a bright image on the groundglass is the holy grail, even to the point of making focusing more difficult...

How does a bright image end up being harder to focus than a dim one?

[jeffzeitlin]

good question - I too would like to know the answer.

[Steve Hamley]

Sal,

In my experience with a variety of fresnels and Ground glass, brighter means finer which means less of a "snap" into focus. Everything is a balance of course, and I've suspected that eyes and brains are more of a part of the GG/Fresnel/Loupe system that we give credit for. One of the "snappiest" screens was the Wehman plastic screen, but it was too dark for many in-the-field situations for me.

Cheers, Steve

[Sal Santamaura]

...brighter means finer which means less of a "snap" into focus...

I've used a number of different screens and, at least for me, the Maxwell is tops. I'm referring to the HiLux 4.7 for 4x5 and 5x7. It's fine, bright and "snaps" pretty well in combination with my eyes/brain. At the other extreme, a Beattie Intenscreen "snapped" a slight bit more, but was so coarse that one needed to "look past" the screen structure to have any idea what detail was present.

Just today I put a 200mm Nikkor M on my SV57 (with Maxwell) to evaluate focus ease and coverage. Pointing it out the window, I had no trouble focusing without a dark cloth, despite the f/8 maximum aperture.

Back to the Schneider 350mm. In this post

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...78&postcount=5

it was reported that the maximum marked aperture is f/11 but the lens actually opens up between 1/3 and 1/2 stop more, making for a bright, sharp ground glass image.