Focus issues solved.

[soupdragon]

For all my inane ramblings about lenses, ground glass and fresnel screens it appears the soft images issue was my fault all along.
Without realising, in Silverfast 9, I had inadvertently change a setting from "film holder" to "Scanner Glass"
A few quick test scans reveal there is a profound difference in output quality between the two options.

As the old saying goes "It takes a fat man to admit he was wrong"

 

[MartyNL]

It's good that you've got to the bottom of it. And hopefully, you can put it all behind you now and 'focus' on taking pictures.

 

[David M]

Excellent news. And thank you for all the mental exercise you've given us.

 

[soupdragon]

Thanks people.

You never know, someone might actually learn from my mistake.

 

[Petrochemist]

Glad you got it sorted. I'm sure others will have made the same mistake & no doubt people will continue to do so.

 

[David M]

It might explain some very soft 10x8s I made a few years ago. Very odd kind of blur, equal the same all over, whereas I’d expect to have seen the focus in the wrong plane, if the fault lay in the camera. At the time I blamed the offshore wind.

 

[soupdragon]

It might explain some very soft 10x8s I made a few years ago. Very odd kind of blur, equal the same all over, whereas I’d expect to have seen the focus in the wrong plane, if the fault lay in the camera. At the time I blamed the offshore wind.

You are describing the very issue I had.
I was looking in front of and behind the point of focus trying to find something sharp with no luck.

 

[David M]

Yes, almost as though it was printed on velvet, although that sounds like a compliment.