The 65mm f8 lens and flare

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The 65mm f8 lens and flare

Postby Gargantua » Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:20 am

So, I just got a chrome 65mm f8 lens and I was wondering how this lens does with flare? In some of my first test shots where I have trees against sky, at the brighter part of the sky everything gets pretty hazed out, even with the sun a reasonable distance out of the frame. I haven't see any of this with my 100mm lens (a black one).

I took this lens into get adjusted, and there was another thing I was wondering about. The body and 100mm lens I have where serviced together fairly recently. The technician gave them a test and found that the rangefinder and 100mm lens were perfectly in line with each other. However, when we put the 65mm lens on the rangefinder clearly goes off, with the finder not completely coming into infinity when the lens set there. He thought this was a bit on the strange side. Is this common way these lenses can be out of adjustment?
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Re: The 65mm f8 lens and flare

Postby Abbazz » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:09 am

All the lenses for the G690 series are single coated, except the 100/3.5 AE. This is true for the first series in chrome finish as well as for the later black lenses, even the ones with the rubber covered focusing ring. As with any single coated lens, the usual precautions need to be taken, like using a proper lens shade and avoiding shooting towards the sun or with the sun near the edge of the frame. Of course, the lenses with many elements, like the 50mm and 65mm wide angles, are more susceptible to flare than the 4 element/3group 100mm normal lens, but all these lenses can be affected. I remember one of my first picture attempts with the G690: I tried to shoot some tree branches lit by the setting sun in contre-jour with the 100mm non-AE lens. The resulting picture had so much flare that it was totally unusable.

It sounds like your 65mm needs to be adjusted for infinity focus. I wouldn't say it's a common problem with the lenses for the G690 series, as I never had a lens needing to be adjusted -- but the sample is hardly significant statistically. Even the rangefinder on these cameras is pretty tough and never goes out of alignment. My Bessa-R3M's rangefinder, as a comparison, needs to be adjusted after almost every plane trip.

Cheers!

Sébastien
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Re: The 65mm f8 lens and flare

Postby Gargantua » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:39 am

It's certainly more flare than I'm used to. From the results it looks like you'd have to watch out for a third of the sky late in the day. It even showed up in half of a side lit shot. I guess a lens hood would good idea.

The shots set at infinity came out sharp in the distant areas, but I'm not sure if the higher aperture is enough to take care of it, if it was slightly off. But I'm certain it'll all get sorted out in the end.
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