Heidelberg scanner lens as 115mm tube lens

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Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Heidelberg scanner lens as 115mm tube lens

Post by Beatsy »

heidelberg-115-tubetest-pmn.jpg
I got a couple of lenses from a Heidelberg scanner quite some time ago (details here viewtopic.php?f=25&t=37121&p=231535).

IQ is great and I used them as low-power studio macro lenses for a while. However, over time, the long working distance became a nuisance and they're a bit dark at extensions over 1:1. They fell into disuse - except occasional stand-in as loupes and a few sessions as fixed-focus primes for close-up flower portraits (nice bokeh, but hard to use with such a thin DoF).

But yesterday, when I came across these near-forgotten lenses again, it occurred to me that the 115mm one might make a better tube lens for downsizing to APS-C compared to the 135mm prime(s) I usually use. The idea being to scale a bit more of the FF image down into APS-C to capture more of the good corner detail - but avoid pulling as much of the mushy far corners in as a 100mm FL did when I tried it.

So I tinkered and it worked very well. I haven't done any direct comparisons yet, but this test stack (a watch balance wheel) came out fine. No vignetting and full detail/resolution across the frame. It makes for a skinnier, less bulky rig too, even with the Post-Office-tower-like mix of random adapters I (temporarily) used.

This stack was shot with a 5x Mitty on the 115mm Heidelberg lens focussed to infinity. Magnification was 2.875x with only a thin sliver of the edges cropped off here.

So it seems I've found a new favourite tube lens for APS-C stacking with Mitties. Until the next one, anyway...

Edit: here's a 100% crop from the top right - complete with stacking artefact.
Untitled-focus.jpg

RobertOToole
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Re: Heidelberg scanner lens as 115mm tube lens

Post by RobertOToole »

Super results! =D>

You know how many times I googled Heidelberg scanner lens because of your initial post. I did eventually find one, not exactly but one badged Rodenstock.

Beatsy, I finally picked up an A7R4! A couple of years later than planned, but its finally here and I really enjoy it. (losing a business and a massive heart attack can cause problems like that). Results are just as I hoped. APS-C crop is also really useful for me also.

Thanks for sharing the post.

Best,

Robert

Beatsy
Posts: 2105
Joined: Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:10 am
Location: Malvern, UK

Re: Heidelberg scanner lens as 115mm tube lens

Post by Beatsy »

RobertOToole wrote:
Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:31 am
Super results! =D>

You know how many times I googled Heidelberg scanner lens because of your initial post. I did eventually find one, not exactly but one badged Rodenstock.
Thanks Robert. I didn't know I'd caused you such labours. Soz :) How did the lens test out for you?
Beatsy, I finally picked up an A7R4! A couple of years later than planned, but its finally here and I really enjoy it. (losing a business and a massive heart attack can cause problems like that). Results are just as I hoped. APS-C crop is also really useful for me also.
Yes, I saw you'd got one and nice to see you're enjoying it. I was initially disappointed with (pixel peeping) noise levels at not-very-high ISOs. But I got used to it with the help of Topaz Denoise AI. I find APS-C very useful too, and 4-shot pixel shift. 16-shot is not so useful given the extra effort to capture and process (as I think you are discovering). I recently found a decent M42 focal reducer that works well with my Zeiss inverted and A7r4 in crop mode. Gets the FF image scale down to something far more realistic than it was (way too much empty mag at high powers before). The 4-shot pixel shift adds the colour resolution back in too - a huge improvement at diffraction limits. I'm getting my best (photomicrography) results ever on that combo.

Cheers

RobertOToole
Posts: 2627
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:34 pm
Location: United States
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Re: Heidelberg scanner lens as 115mm tube lens

Post by RobertOToole »

Beatsy wrote:
Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:54 pm

Thanks Robert. I didn't know I'd caused you such labours. Soz :) How did the lens test out for you?
As a taking lens the CCD Objectiv 98.7mm lens I pulled from a Heidelberg, was not too exciting due to the slowish aperture, f/5, but when used as a tube lens, as you did, really excellent. CA control especially, very clean =D>
Yes, I saw you'd got one and nice to see you're enjoying it. I was initially disappointed with (pixel peeping) noise levels at not-very-high ISOs. But I got used to it with the help of Topaz Denoise AI. I find APS-C very useful too, and 4-shot pixel shift. 16-shot is not so useful given the extra effort to capture and process (as I think you are discovering). I recently found a decent M42 focal reducer that works well with my Zeiss inverted and A7r4 in crop mode. Gets the FF image scale down to something far more realistic than it was (way too much empty mag at high powers before). The 4-shot pixel shift adds the colour resolution back in too - a huge improvement at diffraction limits. I'm getting my best (photomicrography) results ever on that combo.
Yes, the resolution in Pixel-Shift Multi Mode 4 really is incredible. Pixel-shift removed all traces of bayer sensor stair-stepped fine lines below in the Poly 2 Analog rectangle.

_PM-fine-lines-mag.8x.jpg

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