>>4139788Are you still stopping the lens down (f22 or f32), or is it only soft for images that are shot fairly wide open?
An incorrectly placed ground glass can cause this problem, and would be most noticeable with wide lenses and rather open apertures when focused at/near infinity. This can happen from the previous owner of the camera installing and/or removing a fresnel lens and moving the position of the ground glass while doing so. Figuring out exactly how far off the glass is would require some creative thinking and likely a few test sheets of film. Or perhaps a depth gauge caliper measured against the ground glass and the position of an inserted film holder with the darkslide removed.
How soft are you talking? To me, subjects that are close and take up a large part of the frame always appear super detailed in general if focus is nailed. A distant horizon often has a bit of air haze and softness from atmosphere. If it appears soft even when stopped down you're probably dealing with natural problems of living on a ball of rock surrounded by gas.
