Monday, September 22, 2014

First roll on my Zeis Ikon Ikonta 521/2 - lens ghosting problem

This is the first roll on my Ikonta. There seems to be a problem with the lens which creates a double 'ghosting' image. This ruins sharpness.



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Besides this, focussing and exposure are spot-on. I'll have to look into the ghosting problem. When I took the lens and shutter apart, I had to repaint the inside of the lens barrel with a sharpie. Maybe the black sharpie ink is more reflective than I tought?

Here are some illustrations of the problem. The images shown are details from a 2400dpi sharpened scan. The full image is always on the left, with the rectangle indicating the cutout. In the BMW logo, you can clearly see the the image is projected a second time on the film, only a few pixels lower. The two images overlayed created a blur. When you look at the 'BMW Brussels' text you see that it is sharp (altough it is slightly behind the focus plane at only f8) but that there is a sort of shadow below the letters, created from the second image.





The next picture is taken with the aperture full closed. Here I don't see the double image anymore, although sharpness is reduced a little bit due to diffraction. Could the problem be caused by internal reflections in the lens barrel, which are minimised when the diaphragm is closed?



The problem with the double image is that in areas with a lot of detail and low contrast it just blurs the entire image, as if the lens was completely unsharp. The image below is a good illustration of this.



I would like to solve this problem, since the Ikonta would be my favorite camera. It offers a combination of a super large negative and real pocketability. My Franka Solida (with viewfinder) doesn't fit in my motorcycle pants, but the Ikonta does. That makes it ideal to take with me on motorbike trips.

So if anyone has a suggestion on how to solve this problem: shoot!

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