Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/03/13

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: Re: OFF TOPIC--Englarging lens questions
From: hartmann@interaccess.com (Nicholas Hartmann)
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 09:42:32 -0600

> If you print a negative at f/16, will you have a greater
>"depth of field" in the sense that if the negative is not perfectly flat
>in the carrier, that area of the negative will print sharper than if you
>printed the same, not-perfectly-flat negative at f/2.8?

Yup. Lenses are lenses, and the same lens will have greater depth of field
stopped down than wide open. What I have been told, however, is that
enlarger lenses generally perform best at about two stops down from wide
open (f/5.6 for a lens with f/2.8 maximum aperture), so increased depth of
field to compensate for an un-flat negative is the ONLY reason to work at
f/16.

- -- Nick


NICHOLAS HARTMANN                               hartmann@interaccess.com
Oak Park, IL  USA                               73057.724@compuserve.com

Technical and scientific translator:  German, French, Italian -> English