Tell Me What I'm Doing Wrong Focusing - Rate These Terrible Photos

[BrianShaw]

Handheld says it all. Until that is rectified, nothing else matters. MF is a different ballgame, with its own learning curve.

Really? Your first move would be to overhaul a camera before looking at the negs without them being scanned? Has nothing to do with format…

 

[DREW WILEY]

Why would I scan anything if I wanted to evaluate the actual quality of a neg itself? That's just introduces another variable. A good magnifying loupe and light box will tell you far more. And nothing to do with format? Who are you kidding? Is weight related to format? Duuuh. Does extra focal length relative to angle of view introduce a greater torque vector or fulcrum? Duuh. The first logical thing to compare would be results from decent tripod first, versus handlheld. Of course, that brings up the whole topic of what a sufficient tripod and head itself is. But ya gotta get to first base first.

 

[BrianShaw]

Why would I scan anything if I wanted to evaluate the actual quality of a neg itself? That's just introduces another variable. A good magnifying loupe and light box will tell you far more. And nothing to do with format? Who are you kidding? Is weight related to format? Duuuh. Does extra focal length relative to angle of view introduce a greater torque vector or fulcrum? Duuh.

Have you been reading and understanding this thread? The “fuzzy pictures “ are scans. And from that it has been deduced that the camera is out of focus.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Some things a person just has to do for themselves. Trying to adjudicate anything visually precise or nuanced is hopeless over the web. Makes little difference fuzzy, fuzzier, or fuzziest.

 

[BrianShaw]

Some things a person just has to do for themselves. Trying to adjudicate anything visually precise or nuanced is hopeless over the web. Makes little difference fuzzy, fuzzier, or fuzziest.

Got it. Sidestep.

Duuh…

 

[DREW WILEY]

Well, I had my own learning curve. We all earned our scrapes and bruises learning to ride a bicycle or whatever. Rite of passage it seems.

 

[BrianShaw]

Well, I had my own learning curve. We all earned our scrapes and bruises learning to ride a bicycle or whatever. Rite of passage it seems.

The notion of examining negs rather than scans is what has nothing to do with format. I hope we can agree on that. And that’s been unaddressed from post 1 onward. It seems that all but me, Matt and you know that. How sad that so few are so uniquely inspired!

Even though the camera is out for an overhaul it’s still rather important to look at the negs.

Taking good photos in each format… we can agree that has slightly different learning curves.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Agree? I've never done it otherwise than visually. If I need a scan, it's certainly not for a case of critical comparison, but only for some commercial application. Gosh knows how many people I've pissed off on this forum for pointing out how pitiful the web is visually if anything critical is involved. I've likened it to trying to cut down a large diameter tree with a fingernail file.

 

[BrianShaw]

Agree? I've never done it otherwise than visually. If I need a scan, it's certainly not for a case of critical comparison, but only for some commercial application. Gosh knows how many people I've pissed off on this forum for pointing out how pitiful the web is visually if anything critical is involved. I've likened it to trying to cut down a large diameter tree with a fingernail file.

Nor have I and I’m befuddled why this concept seems so foreign to so many.

 

[Huss]

What is with all this talk that you cannot take a sharp pic with a Hasselblad unless it's on a tripod?

Is that why Rolleiflexes are so superior? I hand hold mine all the time and get super sharp count the stubble on the stubble pics.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Take your "super sharp" handheld exposure and enlarge it in a glass carrier to a couple feet across, put your nose up to it with reading glasses on, and then tell me if it still looks sharp. Mr McGoo would call it sharp at 2X magnification over the web.
Yes, we do get away with handheld shots sometimes; but whenever possible, a tripod greatly increases the odds of success.
But for handheld MF work I greatly prefer a rangefinder over any MF SLR. The optics are pretty much equal between Hassle-Blands and Rolly-Pollys; that's not the issue.

 

[Huss]

Take your "super sharp" handheld exposure and enlarge it in a glass carrier to a couple feet across, put your nose up to it with reading glasses on, and then tell me if it still looks sharp.

It does.

Must be a Rolleiflex thing.

 

[macfred]

It does.

Must be a Rolleiflex thing.

It is!

Take your "super sharp" handheld exposure and enlarge it in a glass carrier to a couple feet across, put your nose up to it with reading glasses on, and then tell me if it still looks sharp. Mr McGoo would call it sharp at 2X magnification over the web ...

Isn't that a bit uncomfortable - I've never looked at (my) photographs that way ...

 

[DREW WILEY]

If you're referring to TLR's, that's why the high school year book staff used when I was a kid. Not a single shot was ever sharp that I could recall ... not the fault of the cameras; but only Rolleis could survive the abuse year after year. Doubt they ever cleaned the lenses; the necessary sandpaper was in the Woodshop class, not the darkroom.

 

[MattKing]

This thread has gone way off topic, and everything off topic has been referred to multiple times.
I don't want to close the thread unless and until the OP has had a chance to get back to us with the results of sending the camera out for service.
I'm not going to go through this thread with the necessary pruning shears, but can we please refrain from posting further here unless we have something relevant to the thread topic itself?

 

[AKG414]

Guys - it's been a long time since I posted to this thread. I wound up getting my camera and lenses CLA'ed by David Odess.
But wanted to let everyone know that he passed away this summer. I only spoke with him a few times over the phone as we ironed out the details of my camera. He was a really nice guy and sounded like her REALLY knew his craft. My camera came out great and he (and his work) will be missed.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Thanks for the update and sad news about David Odess. It's always a sad day for our community when we lose someone like him.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Guys - it's been a long time since I posted to this thread. I wound up getting my camera and lenses CLA'ed by David Odess.
But wanted to let everyone know that he passed away this summer. I only spoke with him a few times over the phone as we ironed out the details of my camera. He was a really nice guy and sounded like her REALLY knew his craft. My camera came out great and he (and his work) will be missed.

Did the CLA correct the problem?

 

[pentaxuser]

Did the CLA correct the problem?

It certainly sounds as if the CLA did the trick and fixed the issue. Oh and what's the French for "cutting the grass which you asked a while back and did not, I believe, get an answer to: It has to be "coup de grace", doesn't it? Apologies to any French speakers who may take offence as none is intended

PS It's a bit like what's the Latin for "My Dad's an engine driver". That much be "in loco parentis"

pentaxuser