This is an indirect second part to the ”Ultra Large Nebelhorn” post. Just instead of showing you pictures made with the 8”x10” camera that I dragged up the mountain, I have five frames made with a Leica M6 and a Zeiss ZM Biogon 21mm f/2.8 lens prepared for inspection. Interestingly, the Wikipedia article that I found about the Zeiss Biogon mentions the Schneider-Kreuznach Super Angulon being based on the Biogon design. This makes the 121mm f/8 lens used on the 8”x10” (20x25cm) camera somewhat related to the Zeiss lens that I had mounted to the Leica. Two similar designs, two entirely different cameras and film format. Even the focal lengths, roughly adjusted for crop factor, are similar: The 121mm of the Schneider-Kreuznach lens on the 8”x10” camera equates to something like 16mm on a 35mm camera, compared to the 21mm of the Zeiss lens. 

In both the 8”x10” and the Leica M6, I used Fomapan 100 as film stock. With this, I can attempt to compare pictures from both cameras. The first thing that I noticed: The Zeiss lens does not flare like the Schneider-Kreuznach lens does. And it does cover the whole negative, unlike its large-format counterpart (which is visible in the darkened corners in the images in the other post).

The next thing that jumps at me: The scans that I get from the 35mm film show grain, while the 8”x10” negatives that I photographed with the DSLR are smooth. That tells me, that there is a lot of detail wasted by taking pictures instead of scanning. At least in the large-format case. I need to find a way to get the humungous negatives scanned. Curiosity is killing me…

The 35mm negatives exposed through the modern Zeiss lens are exhibiting a lot more contrast. All the images that I got from the DSLR (see other post) were mostly flat (which is why I played with the gamma slider and exposure correction in DxO PhotoLab to add contrast). This could be blamed on my choice of camera settings when taking pictures of the negatives, or it might be the way the Schneider-Kreuznach lens renders the image. To the naked eye, the large-format lens looks uncoated. Uncoated lenses are said to be less contrasty, as far as I have read. Which means lower contrast with the Schneider-Kreuznach sound reasonable.

All in all, I am happy with the results from both cameras and lenses. The Leica M6 is a joy to use, similar to the Leica M4-P, just with a built-in light meter (which works great, even though I am a bit lazy regarding the use of light meters in general). The 8”x10” camera is an event, and it slows you down enough to be considerate about scenery, framing and everything else. Unless of course you are like me: “I have 10 negatives to fill! Give me 10 views to frame and shoot! Quickly!”. And the lenses are worth their weight in… well… glass.