Given the recent discussion about lenses and digital sensors I was prompted to shoot a side by side comparison with a P25 & 60mm Hasselblad V series, versus a Linhof M679 & Rodenstock Apo-Sironar Digital 55mm also with the P25. I believe Michael has this particular Rodenstock lens, but I understand he also has a few of the Rodenstock "HR" lenses, which offer still higher resolution but with smaller image circles. To compare apples with apples I didn't "shift" the Rodenstock lens. Given that these two weigh a bit and I wasn't feeling particularly intrepid I didn't go any further than the garden!
Anhow, here's the full frame with the 100% crop area outlined in red. Everything was shot at f11 (Rodenstock recommend f8 and f11 as the working apertures for their digital lenses, and f5.6 and f8 for the HR digital lenses), needless to say the shots are unsharpened, and there's a hefty tripod, MLU, and all the usual courtesies that are traditional for wasting ones time in this way!
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Here's what the Hassie made of it,
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And here's the Rodenstock/M679 result,
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One's a bit warmer, but no resolution difference one way or another that I can see, either in the centre or out towards the corners. I mentioned that Rodenstock recommend f8 or f11. I can understand why, here's what happens when you stop the Rodenstock down to f45,
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And finally, here's a comparison with a 24mm T&S lens on a Canon 1Ds MkII, it's not strictly comparable because at that moment the sun chose to come out...and stay out!
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Now you could be forgiven for thinking that there's not a hell of a lot between any of these, and I'd agree with you. It makes me wonder if the quest for quality is hitting the barriers not of this lens or that sensor, but some indefinable limit of photography per se. Certainly for hand held shots up to A3 (and should we really expect a hand held shot to print convincingly at anything larger?) I can't see anything that holds a meaningful advantage over a 5D. And for A3+ or 16"x20" we seem to be getting pretty close to the limits with the 1Ds MkII/P25.
I'll look with interest at Michael's experiences with the P45, and I applaud anyone who tries to push the envelope that bit further, but I'm cautious in my expectations. This morning for example I was on the banks of the River Thames photographing the new locks that are being built, I took the Linhof M679 even though I normally use it just for city architectural work. I was using it with the same sliding back that Michael has, and as each gust of wind came along the river and caught this lump of ironwork hanging off the back of the camera I watched the bubbles in the spirit levels start to tremble, now that's a pretty emphatic limit to quality. It was almost as if the gods of photography were looking down and saying that's far enough, we'll give you so much but not one single lppm more!
