Peach Blossom Bokeh! Another of my infamous blogs

[Jim Galli]

..is here.

Hermagis Eidoscope, Ordinary French Petzval, Rodenstock Imagon.

Warning: These pictures may make your eyes water.

[Wilbur Wong]

Jim I agree with your conclusion, but I missed seeing what size film these are on.

[Jim Galli]

Oops. Guess I better go add that. These are 8X10 done with a Century 9a studio camera on Efke 100 Cirkut film.

[Dan Fromm]

Jim, you have a baaaad case of pictorialism.

[Hugo_6476]

Hi Jim, How do you keep those cut roll sheets flat? I want to try those Cirkut roll film, said to be much thinner and cheapest on the market if you cut it yourself. Without those notches, how do you know which side is the emusion side when you load your films into the holder? Can JandC cut it for you if you pay them a little extra? Great pictures! I can't wait to play with my Heliars.

[paulr]

i like the eidoscope too (and not just because it has the coolest name).

the imagon is pretty nice, too, if you wan't to go blur crazy.

[Paul Metcalf]

To me the Eidoscope and the Imagon wide open have similar blur characteristics (halo like) off of the plane of focus, and the Petzval just goes blurry very fast. Jim, is there an explanation for this (similar construction)? The halo-look goes away when stopped down, so is it caused by the extremities of the lens?

[chris_4622]

I like the Eidoscope shots; the first one I like the halo effect but the rest is a little too soft for my taste, the f11 is quite nice but the halo is gone.

[Jim Galli]

All 3 lenses are very different animals. All Petzvals are built and basically look the same. A very sharp center and then fade to very nice Bokeh. They still are my favorites for the portraits. The Eidoscope is the same formula as the Nicola Perscheid. 2 Achromats that are designed to be off at wide aperture and then come together very quickly as the aperture is stopped down. The fun's all over by f8 with these. The Imagon is a single achromatic meniscus? Hopefully the real experts will jump in and bail me out. I'm far more interested in what they'll do than what they are. A far more useful test would be to have a lot more shots at different apertures. The Eidoscope is extremely nice at f6+.

Hugo, the cirkut film curls into the emulsion so there's never any doubt. The curl holds it flat against the back of the film holders.

[William Mortensen]

We'll all have our own personal favorites. The romatic lover of old lenses in me is sad to admit I prefer the more modern Imagon for the halo it throws around the highlights. Ah, the joy of chromatic abberation! Lovely way to test those lenses Jim, much preferable to resolution charts, grey scales, and line pairs.