Phase One, Schneider, and Mamiya Lens Tests

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Wide Angle Tech Lenses + IQ180

60XL-Composite-Unsharpened_Sharpened-100-1-1_ProPhoto-WebConverted

A 6-frame 280 megapixel image using a Schneider 60mm XL on Cambo Wide RS with Phase One IQ180.

note: this test was done prior to improvements in the LCC routine of Capture One Pro. Better results regarding color at the edge of the image circle should be expected when using the improved “Wide Angle Tech Camera” LCC option.

Capture Integration Test

We performed our own test with the IQ180 and a variety of tech camera lenses:

Schneider 28mm XL Super Digitar*
Schneider 35mm XL Digitar
Schneider 43mm XL Digitar
Schneider 60mm XL Digitar
Rodenstock 70mm HR

*note there is also an older Schneider 28mm Digitar lens. This is the Super-Digitar, a brand new lens released in 2011

Test Parameters

Captures were made with +/-20mm of shift and 25mm of fall, 5mm of fall, and 15mm of rise. The exception was the 28XL lens which limited mechanical shift to +/- 17.5mm. Since the Cambo Wide RS moves the back rather than the lens the lens remained stationary and the 25mm of fall of the back resulted in a “rise” of the image. The lens was set at f/11.3 for all exposures. Exposure varied slightly with the cloud coverage, but was generally around 1/15th for the exposure and 1/4th for the correlating LCC capture. The LCCs’s were analyzed in Capture One 6.2.1 using the “Analyze (Technical Wide Angle)” option and then applied to the appropriate frame. Each of the 6 exposures was then processed with sharpening disabled (at this stage) as 16 bit TIFFs in the camera’s native ICC profile, and stitched using “reposition” and “blend” mode in Adobe Photoshop CS5 (since this is tech camera stitching the images did not need to be geometrically reshaped – only repositioning is required). The final file was then flattened, cropped slightly (1mm of movement or so to account for slight variations in alignment when shifting the back), lightly sharpened (USM: 100%, 1.0 radius, 1 threshold), converted to the ProPhoto color space and saved as level 12 JPGs. Please note that since they are in the ProPhoto color space they may not appear correctly on the web if viewed without conversion to sRGB. That is one reason we zipped the files (so that users did not accidentally view them in a browser and make color judgements).

Resulting Composites

This resulted in composites around 280 megapixel each which would print around 6 feet wide at a native 240dpi. When evaluating the image at 100% you are viewing a very very small section of a very large file.

Rodenstock 32HR

A somewhat similar test, of the Rodenstock 32HR vs. Schneider 28XL Super Digitar has been posted at the GetDPI forum. We did not have a 32HR in a Cambo mount the day we did this test.

Phase One’s KB Article

Phase One maintains a lens-recommendation list for ultra-wides. However the article outlining Phase One’s official recommendations has not yet been updated to include the IQ180, the new Schneider lenses. Nor does it take into account show the vast improvement provided by Phase One in the “Technical Wide Angle” option in the LCC tool.

A Note About Center Filters

The 35XL and 43XL were tested here WITHOUT the optional center filter (none were available the day of the test). Using a center filter evens out the light in the captured frames (reducing lens vignette) which reduces the amount of work the LCC has to do.

Complete the Below Form to Download the Test Files

Note: The Leaf Aptus-II 12, which shares the same 80mp Dalsa Sensor, is likely to perform nearly the same as the IQ180.

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Normal Focal length Mamiya AF/Phase One D/Schneider Lenses

Testing Notes:

This test was performed with the new Phase One IQ180 digital back on a Phase One DF camera and the following lenses:

*Mamiya 80mm/2.8 AF Lens

*Phase One 80mm/2.8 D Lens

*Schneider 80mm/2.8 LS Lens

These minimally sharpened full-res JPGs will allow you to compare these lenses wide open and stopped down. This was a somewhat limited test due to some lighting constraints.

Comparison of old and new 80mm lens:

Minimum Focus Distance
- Mamiya 80mm f/2.8: 2.2 feet
- Phase One 80mm f/2.8: 2.3 feet
- Schneider 80mm f/2.8: 2.3 feet
Lens Design
- Mamiya 80mm f/2.8: 6 elements in 5 groups
- Phase One 80mm f/2.8: 6 elements in 5 groups
- Schneider 80mm f/2.8: 6 elements in 5 groups
Size and Weight
- Mamiya 80mm f/2.8: 1.7″ x 2.8″ and 8 oz
- Phase One 80mm f/2.8: 2.0″ x 3.2″ and 11.6 oz
- Schneider 80mm f/2.8: 2.5″ x 3.4″ and 17.6 oz
Filter Thread Size
- Mamiya 80mm f/2.8: 58mm
- Phase One 80mm f/2.8: 67mm
- Schneider 80mm f/2.8: 72mm

Processing Notes:

Default Sharpening. (which is amount = 140, radius = 1.3, threshold = 1.0)
Noise reduction set to defaults except for luminance = 0
White balanced based on sample of the subject
f11 exposures tweaked +/- 1.79 stops for consistency
All other settings left at default
Lens Corrections off

Downloads:

Coming soon

Mamiya AF 80mm f/2.8 . Shot at f/2.8 (left) and f/11 (right)

Phase One D 80mm f/2.8 . Shot at f/2.8 (left) and f/11 (right)