Plasticca...

[Emil Schildt]

hi all

I have to try to beat Jim on this one, while it is possible..:D

One of my favourite lenses is the Oscar Zverzina "Plasticca" "Kunst objektiv" (Art lens)

I got it purely by chance, and I am loving it.

Almost like a HUGE diana lens..

it covers 8x10, but I loke it best at 13x18, where the distortion isnt actually ruining the images.

Looking at the net, there is not too much information, and I get mails from people that also want that lens, so they ask me.....

I know that a similar lens is on its way to Jim, as we speak, but have others in here any experience with this lens?

(a VERY bad image of the lens here: http://www.emilschildt.com/EGO-%20objektiver%20-%20plasticca.htm )

[Jim Galli]

Looks like it's you and me Emil.

Nobody else on earth using a Plasticca?? Mine is floating across the ocean. It may be a while yet. I'm thinking I should maybe convert that funky old camera it comes with for wet plates. Good to have you here.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Why not just attach the bottom of a sawed-off Coke bottle to a lensboard and use it as a lens. Won't it give you similar results? ;)

[e]

Real nice work Emil!
I like that Plasticca...
Got similar results with a Fuji 250mm SF in bright sun wide open with no disc on 12x20...

[Dan Fromm]

Why not just attach the bottom of a sawed-off Coke bottle to a lensboard and use it as a lens. Won't it give you similar results? ;)Not expensive enough, Brian. We're supposed to suffer, and in all ways possible, for our art.

The bottom of a bottle that held expensive old wine is better than the bottom of a Coke bottle. Old wine, if not turned to vinegar, has more snob appeal too.

Cheers,

Dan

[Don Dudenbostel]

Is this similar to the Ilex Photoplastic lens? I purchased one in the extreme soft focus configuration a couple of months ago. Extreme soft even stopped down with beautiful halating highlights. Lovely lens.

[Emil Schildt]

Not expensive enough, Brian. We're supposed to suffer, and in all ways possible, for our art.

The bottom of a bottle that held expensive old wine is better than the bottom of a Coke bottle. Old wine, if not turned to vinegar, has more snob appeal too.

Cheers,

Dan

well - I didn't suffer at all....

this lens in a working compound shutter for about 300$ is fine by me...

(but then again, I have bought a Diana camera for 100$...:rolleyes: )

The Plasticca lens is - to me - a truely unique type of lens, and being just that, makes the price ok - especially because I actually use it!

I have enough lenses that doesn't get much used (yet)..

I might just be an ignorant Dane - not understanding the suttlelty of the english language, but I can't understand where the "snob appeal" comes from....:confused:

[Struan Gray]

Thomas Cooke supposedly made his first objective from the bottom of a tumbler or beer glass, so there is a good precedent :-)

[Dan Fromm]

Gandolfi, rumor has it that people who drink old premier cru wines from known good vintages look down on people who drink Coca Cola. Me, I'm too short to look down on anyone unless I climb a ladder.

All kidding aside, I'm glad that you like, can, and will use your Plasticca.

Cheers,

Dan

[Emil Schildt]

image from my garden, with Sudek in my mind.....

[Jim Galli]

image from my garden, with Sudek in my mind.....


ooooh. This will be fun. That has a fine fine look. I've been out this afternoon playing with the front of a projector lens and it looks very similar.

[Michael Graves]

Not expensive enough, Brian. We're supposed to suffer, and in all ways possible, for our art.

The bottom of a bottle that held expensive old wine is better than the bottom of a Coke bottle. Old wine, if not turned to vinegar, has more snob appeal too.

Cheers,

Dan

Guess I'm not a wine snob. I thought old wine and vinegar were the same thing. And I think that's a cool old lens.

[Emil Schildt]

another plasticca image.
As sharp as possible!! :rolleyes:

made as paper negative; contact printed.

18x24cm
..

[falth j]

Hi,

After reading these and various other posts, I think I'm beginning to understand some of the differences in the LF community… finally,

but maybe not completely understanding the various, subtle nuances...


Being more frugal than most...

I do believe we underfunded fellows could achieve similar effect(s) using a Lee or Cokin filter holder (attached with rubber snubbers), some picture frame glass cut to fit, and a smear on the picture glass extracted from bottles holding various exotic colored potions obtained from bed and bath stores, at a cheeper outlay?

For those wanting more individuality, perhaps some of these potions could be obtained from more upscale stores, kind of like the difference between thunderbird, and a fine cardboard boxed wine or, an upscale niche wine obtained in a hand blown, one-of-a-kind glass bottle?


For those of us who wanted to be still more 'upscale', perhaps we could make the filter/glass holder out of brass, and appropriately chemically treated for that 'vintage' effect, and then substituting the more common picture-frame glass, with turn-of-the-century window pane glass for the ultimate in vintage-ness?

Just thinking about alternative processes and possibilities...

Cheers...

[Mark Sawyer]

Hi,
I do believe we underfunded fellows could achieve similar effect(s) using a Lee or Cokin filter holder (attached with rubber snubbers), some picture frame glass cut to fit, and a smear on the picture glass extracted from bottles holding various exotic colored potions obtained from bed and bath stores, at a cheeper outlay?

Well, sort of, but not quite. The "true" soft focus lenses achieved their effects through lens aberrations, usually spherical aberration, but sometimes chromatic aberation, and with other effects such as coma, field curvature, the "swirlies", etc. thrown into the mix for flavor. Diffussion devices soften the picture differently, and while the results can be lovely, they aren't quite the same, especially to the Educated Lens Snob.

But not to worry; there are some cheap options out there that (I think) compare nicely to the Plasticca's, Pinkham & Smith's, Struss's, Perscheid's, etc. Check here, for starters...

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/TailgatePortraits/TheTailgatePortraits.html

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Secret%20Weapon%20Lens/Everything_with_Nothing.html

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35482

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=35097

There are quite a few more threads like these if you hunt for them. It's like I keep telling Jim: "there's a fine line between a P&S and a PoS..."

[Vaughn]

(but then again, I have bought a Diana camera for 100$...:rolleyes: )

Dang, I bought a Diana for US$0.75 (marked down from $1.00) at a local thrift store. It must not be a good one, being so cheap. Guess I'll toss it and not bother to develop the roll of Tech Pan (expired 1979) I ran through it today of my boys at the beach. I knew I should have taken the 8x10! ;)

Vaughn

[Jim Galli]

First two of five scans Plasticca!


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Plasticca/AntiqueJapanTeaThingsS.jpg
antique japan tea things

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Plasticca/HangingOuts.jpg
hangin' out

Done on full plate Kodak Panatomic X with Century 10A camera.

[Jim Galli]

another, this is the camera the Oscar Zwerzina lived on and came to me from Germany with.


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Plasticca/ZwerzinaCameraS.jpg
zwerzina camera

Else as above.

[Jim Galli]

una mas...


http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Plasticca/LightHouseServiceS.jpg
light house service

I think the guy who designed the dash guage cluster on the '56 Chevy must have had one of these guages in his hallway.......

Plasticca 300mm lens! tifn

[Nathan Potter]

Hi,

After reading these and various other posts, I think I'm beginning to understand some of the differences in the LF community… finally,

but maybe not completely understanding the various, subtle nuances...


Being more frugal than most...

I do believe we underfunded fellows could achieve similar effect(s) using a Lee or Cokin filter holder (attached with rubber snubbers), some picture frame glass cut to fit, and a smear on the picture glass extracted from bottles holding various exotic colored potions obtained from bed and bath stores, at a cheeper outlay?

For those wanting more individuality, perhaps some of these potions could be obtained from more upscale stores, kind of like the difference between thunderbird, and a fine cardboard boxed wine or, an upscale niche wine obtained in a hand blown, one-of-a-kind glass bottle?


For those of us who wanted to be still more 'upscale', perhaps we could make the filter/glass holder out of brass, and appropriately chemically treated for that 'vintage' effect, and then substituting the more common picture-frame glass, with turn-of-the-century window pane glass for the ultimate in vintage-ness?

Just thinking about alternative processes and possibilities...

Cheers...

And for those of us who have finger paint talent we can use a window glass filter painted peripherally using vaseline to obtain nearly the same Plasticca effect. For that sublime grand "Bokeh" effect one must use a clear glass Grand cru white Burgundy bottle base, preferably from the "heavenly" Le Montrachet vinyard. Nothing else will capture that etherial French mood.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.