Tonger (very good questions)
Dave, Schneider has announced a physical CF for the 43XL, not sure when it's going to ship. I hope to get a cost
from Schneider on Monday.
Here are the part numbers: I also listed the 60mm Schneider. Thanks to Guy Mancuso from getdpi.com for this info.
1069162, Centerfilter II i, (Apo-Digitar 5,6/ 43mm)
1069161, Centerfilter II h, (Apo-Digitar 5,6/60 mm)
Some more thoughts on wides and tech cameras. My results are pretty much the same as Dave with the 43XL, I am using a IQ160 however. At the time of
my upgrade from a P45+, I considered the IQ180, but since I knew I wanted to start working with a tech camera, I stayed with the smaller chip set. There have been many posts of the IQ180 and results with the various wide Schneiders and Rodenstocks. It seems that you are limited to only the 32mm Rodenstock if you want to do any serious shifting. The 32mm has about a 9.5K price point with the Center filter and I knew that for now I didn't want to make that large an investment. I have shot the 28HR, Rodenstock, 43XL Schneider and 60mm Schneider on the IQ160 and the results are most impressive.
I have worked with both Canon 24TS-E over the past 5 years and in 2010 upgraded my 24 to the new version. Really a totally different experience in quality. So I have a Canon 5D MKII and will sometimes take comparisons between the Medium Format and 35mm. Best cast here is get a demo tech camera and shoot it with your Canon setup so you can judge the results.
Color Cast, yes it's there and you have to shoot a LCC pretty much everytime if you want to totally eliminate it, it just becomes part of the workflow. It slows you down, however I was aware of this switching to a tech camera.
Sharpness, I think if you called Capture Integration, (in Atlanta), they would give a very good report on the wides on both the 180 and 160. Right now on getdpi.com there is very good review of the 28HR (Rodenstock) and 28 Digitar Schneider, here is a link:
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/medium-format-systems-digital-backs/34991-rodenstock-28mm-hr-vs-schneider-super-digitar-28xl-3.htmlI found that the 28HR was best from F5.6 to F8 and after than you did start to see diffraction start to creep in. The 28HR is going to give you about 5mm of shift max before you start to see the edge of the image circle, so to me it's strength is not in shifting as much as having a 28mm lens in Medium format that is sharp from corner to corner. I shot the Mamiya 28mm for years and it just wasn't that good a lens. Basically a very 35mm lens once you cropped out the corners which were mostly very soft/ smeared / or full of CA. When compared to the 28HR, it's no comparison. That lens will hold detail to from infinity to about 10 feet and if you add just a small amount of tilt, you can bring that to about 6 feet. The image quality is strong, with good contrast and no detail smearing all the way to the edges of the frame and CA is non-existent. The Rodenstocks are actually designed to be used from F5.6 to F11 Max, (this from the Rodenstock lens literature). The 28HR would benefit from use of the Rodenstock center filter as you pick up about 2.5 stops of exposure.
43XL, on the IQ160(which is the same chip as the P65+) this is an amazing lens. Color and contrast are stunning and I feel on a IQ160, you can get by without a center filter as falloff on is nominal. Color cast is easily corrected by shooting an LCC. Shift, I have taken the 43XL to 20mm of shift on the 160 and found it to be about 90% useable. After 18mm, you will start to see a bit of detail smearing and maybe just a bit of saturation loss. Here the use of a physical center filter would help and Schneider has announced one, but it's still not shipping. 43XL is small, light weight and takes a front filter with no problems. When shifted to 20mm with 2 77mm on the front I did not pick up any hard edge vignetting from the filters. Unlike the Rodenstock, which is very sharp at F5.6, I found the 43XL starts to shine more in F8 to F16 range. I did not see any diffraction issues at F16. Here again if you add in a bit of tilt you can really start to grab an amazing range of focus. With 1 degree of tilt on a Rm3di, you can get 7.5 feet to infinity all in very sharp focus. There have been reports of the 43XL not working as well on the IQ180 mainly due to strong Magenta cast and many seem to prefer the 40mm Rodenstock instead.
60XL, to me as sharp as the 43XL. Color cast correctable with a LCC. I have shifted this lens 30mm on a Rm3di (30mm left, 20mm right using the cameras default rise and fall as shift). Light fall off is pretty harsh by 25mm but it was still correctable with the LCC. No color/saturation fall off. Detail/resolution as good as the 43XL and seems to shine again in the F8 to f16 range. I felt I was starting to see diffraction at F16 on this lens, but only slight.
Best case, is you really have to pick a dealer, one that will allow you to either demo the equipment with your back( very key) or will meet you and provide a demo session. You can read about these lenses all day long, but unless you take one out and get the hard results to from your back you really can't get a feel for what you are going to see. I found Capture Integration (Atlanta) very helpful here and felt they provided added value both in providing equipment for me to use, a back (both IQ180 and P65+) and a full day to shoot. If possible make sure you check out at least 2 brands, I looked at Cambo and ARCA and went with ARCa. I would also submit you post this same question on
www.getdpi.com as there are many users over there that have shot all the various wides on the IQ180. No matter which option you pick, it's a big investment and a dealer relationship is important (I feel much more than when looking at a Phase One and DF body and lenses option as there is a ton of data out there on this equipment).
Paul