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Novoflex 600 F8 with F5.6 aperture setting?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:13 pm    Post subject: Novoflex 600 F8 with F5.6 aperture setting? Reply with quote

Hi!
Today a Novoflex 600mm F8 arrived
Quite suprising: It has an F5.6 aperture setting in red letters while all other ingravings are white!
And from F5.6 to F8 the aperture blades moves a few millimeters...

Maybe Novoflex 400/5.6 and 600/8 share the same body, but why the aperture moves between F5.6 and F8?


PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Greetings; from what I recall (as I’ve had this lens since the early 90s) the Diaphragm Barrel unit called the PIFAS-C, servers both the 400mm & 600mm Lens-Head with f/5.6 & f/8 max. aperture respectively. The spec. for the 600mm is f/8 but I do see a difference in the f/5.6, f/8 settings from the light-meter and resulting exposure though small. I would say the lens functions at 6.8 but the actual maximum specification is f/8 (with minimum lens artifacts at wide-open).

I’ve read some reviews (here and elsewhere) that the Novoflex has some Chromatic Aberration issues but I would note a word of caution to loosely applying the term. Having used this lens with both Reversal and Negative Films, I’ve hadn’t found that to be the case at all.

Digital Camera Sensors are NOT perfect and in fact, Purple Fringing (I call it ‘Blooming’ see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_fringing) is so common that camera processing software provides an algorithm for dealing with it and most noticeable when shooting in RAW as the image is ‘unprocessed’. When a dark edge joins bright highlights is were it is most noticeable and if the optics are more sharply defining that edge then the sensor may produce more fringing/blooming as a result. From what I’ve seen, it is not a defect of the Novoflex. A generation growing up on digital produces may be unaware of this fact, try shooting the same scene with film. I've also come to understand; the optic in the NovoFlex may have been produced by Schneider.

NovoFlex 600mm with Samsung NX-10 (APS-C = 920mm)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3017963906134&l=d73c62a785[url][/url]


Last edited by bikeamtn on Tue May 21, 2013 8:17 pm; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Tue May 21, 2013 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome! Thank you for nice entry!


PostPosted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've owned a set of three Novoflex lenses with squeeze focus grip since the early 80's.

The 280mm lens connects directly to the squeeze focus grip.

The 400mm and the 64cm (Yes this lens is marked in cm not mm), both share the same aperture unit that connects to the squeeze focus grip... screw off the end of one and screw on the other.

I've always treated fully opened aperture while using the 400mm and 64cm lenses as f5.6, when the aperture is closed the white refers to the 400mm, the red refers to the 64cm lenses.

For fluid tracking of subjects I use a shoulder mount connected to the base of the squeeze grip with a micro switch triggering the camera, my right hand is for focus.

A few years ago I purchased a Sony NEX-3 and a Rokkor lens adapter, dusted off my old lenses and added a large ring/tripod mount to the 400mm/64cm shared mount for tripod and skim pod use.

When I have time I'll post some pics of the gear ... I might finally get around to finishing the gimbal mount as well.

Glenn