Petzval without swirl

[kameraobskura]

Im one of those who actually want the swirl, however my 9" Darlot wont give it to me. All the glass is there / right position, however I barely only get bokeh.

What am I doing wrong?

[Will Frostmill]

Supposedly swirl is caused by a kind of mechanical vignetting, essentially the same thing as cat's eye bokeh. Try using as much rise and shift as you can, at the largest aperture, at maximum extension, and see if anything shows up in the opposite corner. Make sure you've got some point sources of light in the background - the more the merrier. Backlit leaves at a distance work best, Christmas lights can be pretty good too.

Will

[Emil Schildt]

hmm - If I want to ex make a portrait with swirley background, this is what I do:

I "Think reverse"...

First I find the background I want (you need something to actually swirl) - then I slowly pull the focus away from that background while whatching the matt screen.. Suddenly it is there.. Stop; place then the model where the image is sharp, and you have it....

(others might work differently, but this works for me)

[Monty McCutchen]

Petzvals were designed for their speed and in their heyday swirl would have been considered poor craftsmanship so their intended use was for a format size that hit the sweet spot so to speak. If you want swirl shoot the lens on a format that pushes the coverage limitations of the lens

[Amedeus]

+1, that is what I do if I want swirl ... use a 4x5 Petzval on 8x10 ...

Petzvals were designed for their speed and in their heyday swirl would have been considered poor craftsmanship so their intended use was for a format size that hit the sweet spot so to speak. If you want swirl shoot the lens on a format that pushes the coverage limitations of the lens

[StoneNYC]

I don't own a petzval lens. When I want swirl I shoot my Mamiya 7 150mm lens wide open...

I've always wondered why a non petzval can produce this but I understand very little about optics ...

I like the "working in reverse" example, that makes sense to me.

[alex from holland]

Use a petzval for a larger size as it was made for. Make sure you have a background wich can swirl. So trees, leaves or when inside a wall paper with a classic design in it. Than you will get swirl.

[kameraobskura]

I got a 1:2 scale T-Rex skeleton wall paper in our living room, (my wife is awesome btw.) I'll see if it will swirl! Thanks for all the good help all of you, appreciate it!

[Steven Tribe]

Nice simple early camera by the way - 1870?

[kameraobskura]

Nice simple early camera by the way - 1870?

Actually is a Folmer Multiple from the 1930's