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Where's Larry and the other Derrel?It's Derrel !!
Having only one focal lenght is no issue for me, as long as its a portrait lens; 120mm is pretty close to perfect, actually. Still short enough for full body (though them you need a lot of distance) and long enough for head only portraiture.I have a Singh Ray soft focus filter. Beats being stuck at one focal length.
That definitely sounds like an interesting experiment. Though I doubt the end result will be as brilliant as from the Imagon.I've modified one of my (many) spare 50mm primes by removing the rear group of elements. The modified lens needs to be mounted on a bellows as the rear focal distance is much extended, (as is the focal length of the lens). It definitely gives a lovely glow when wide open, which reduces rapidly as the aperture is closed.
Not the most practical of solutions perhaps, but it's nice to get occasional use out of a spare
Vintage = could be bought as new until recently ? And they only exist since the 1990s, too.vintage nikon DC lenses.
Fujifilm APD lenses
Yes I know about the vaseline and women straps solutions, thank you. IIRC David Hamilton used white straps, though black ones are supposed to flare less. AFAIK Hollywood often used specialized soft focus lenses instead of vaseline.A uv haze filter and a little vasoline, you can also get interesting effects with a woman socking stretched over the lens.
The Vaseline Camera Trick That Gave Old Hollywood Actresses A Gorgeous Glow
How to achieve a soft-focus dreamy look
Soft focus has nothing to do with out of focus. Soft focus still means the subject is in focus. It just gets a sort of dreamy glow. Especially with the Imagon, which aside of the soft focus still has an ambundance of image quality.Micro adjust the lens to front focus a bit?
Thank you, but I wasnt looking for the easiest way, but the best way, to get soft focus.The easiest way to achieve the effect is to process for it.
Very interesting read, thank you !Soft focus can be attained by the above posted methods. However, you really need an astigmatic lens, or a lens modified to increase astigmatism. These lenses were generally available in large formats (4x5, and larger), and were used by photographers who needed to soften the outlines of people's faces. I had an old Steinheil 20cm lens that the previous owner had mounted in a newer shutter. I used it for head and shoulder portraits. Women who were over 40 loved the results, because their facial lines were softened, and it made smile lines and crow's feet far less obvious.
Anything added to the front of the lens is a band aid fix. There are lenses out there that are for portraiture in medium format (Mamiya 150 f4 soft focus), but they're also not true astigmats.
You can also try stretching a piece of women's hose material between two filters. That will also work for a softer focus.
Excellent read, thank you. Zeiss Softar ! Even more lenses to pursue now, lolz.A good soft focus filter like the B+W mentioned above is good, esp. if used with the right focal length and lens aperture. With a very sharp lens, the B+W soft filters have good sharpness, but that is overlayed with a subtle softness AND with highlight diffusion. The soft focus filter will literally "spill" highlight light over, into nearby darker areas, in a way that is not the same as moving pixels around later, in software. Some classic filters like the Softar models (originally from Zeiss) have a neat look. Diffusion filters can be useful; black netting works differently than white netting. Fog filters can be used. Focal length, f/stop, and how close or far the filter is in front of the lens can change the effects; you will NOT get the same effect from a soft focus filter on a 50mm lens as it will yield on a 200mm lens. Hairspray on a UV filter can work. Black spray paint micro-droplets allowed to rain down on a UV filter can make a nice effect filter. Adding a reallllly cheap 2x or 3x converter to a 50mm lens can bring in some nice aberrations; think old, 1980's $5 no-name 2x converters in mounts like Nikon F, or m42 thread mount, adapted to modern camera mounts.
I'm sure you're right! I've not played with it much but here are examples first wide open then half a stop shut down:That definitely sounds like an interesting experiment. Though I doubt the end result will be as brilliant as from the Imagon.