I'm going to start this now, and hope eventually to have some pictures to show.

Since I got it, I have been unhappy with my 250mm Fujinon-SF. It didn't seem like a soft focus lens, with all of the nice things that implies, as much as just an unsharp lens. I gave it a fair shake, and really it didn't satisfy.

After reading up on achromatic soft focus lenses of the past, and experimenting with building lenses from close-up lenses, and substituting close up lenses for elements in normal lenses, I figured that it would be pretty much a crap shoot whether I could get something I liked or not, but it appeared to be worth experimenting.

I have been using for a while the front half of a 15" tele-Raptar as a SF lens, but it has a couple of disadvantages. One is focal length--around 7.5" is what I figure now; the other is, because of the relatively short FL, I think, distortion. Sometimes neither of those matters, and it's nice to have an f/2.8 SF lens of that length (examples on 4x5, x-ray film):

Outside, f/4, mounted with front component screwed inside, on the back:


Randy M
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


Inside, f/2.8, heavily back lit; the front on the front, back component removed. Virtually no flare, and really nice modeling:


Alex H
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr


Anyway, wondering what to do with my Fujinon, and wanting a SF lens somewhat longer than the 190mm of the half-tele, I noticed that it has 58mm filter threads on the back, so I picked up one of these on Ebay, for $40:
ProOptic 58mm Close-up Lens 250D Double-Element Achromatic Design

I completely gutted the Fujinon, leaving just the empty barrels, and screwed the achromatic lens on the back, where it sits about 1" behind the diaphragm, sort of an "approved" position in this application which I can extend backwards with empty filter rings if I decide to. Since it's a 250mm lens, the diaphragm markings calculate pretty close to what's printed on the lens, too.

I just did this yesterday and haven't shot anything with it yet, but the view is really looking good. At f/5.6 it's a lot softer than the Fuji, better in all respects; by f/8 it still looks unsharp, but is considerably cleaned up, and at f/11 I think the effects are mostly gone. In that respect, it tracks very closely with my 11.5" Verito, which I love but doesn't leave the studio very conveniently, since it's big and has a Packard shutter. This one has a real modern shutter, real sync--all the good stuff. It's an expensive experiment, but if I like the results it will be totally worth it!

Pictures when I get them.