Posted by Dennis Lee on January 10, 2001 at 20:01:47:
In Reply to: Unsharp Xenar 4.5 on Century posted by JimH on January 01, 2001 at 18:16:00:Jim,
Guess what, I can't get a decent picture with my Xenar either. Not sure which one you have, but I would like to know. Mine is a Xenar 105 4.5.
I spoke with a friend over the holidays who deals cameras and we looked up the resale value of this lens in one of his trading books. I can't remeber exactly what the value was, but it was low. Around a hundred bucks, more importantly, the value was much lower than all the other lenses in that focal length.
I tried everything to get a sharp picture with this lens. I even bought a horseman rollfilm back for the camera thinking that was the problem. The results are better but I still can't get a frame to be proud of (sharpness wise).
I find the lens gets 'close' but unable to pull off the sharpness edge to edge.
Does this sound familiar? My lens is clean and clear. You're question makes me think it's just a bad lens design. I guess I'm wondering the same as Bob and Stephen, how critical was your focusing with the lens? We may have discovered another lens to avoid here, even if it is a Schneider.
DL