Best practices for soft focus lenses?

[DDrake]

A few months ago, I purchased a Kodak Century No. 7 studio camera at an estate sale, along with a Thomas Hobson Cooke Series II 15" f/4.5 knuckler, Pinkham Bi-Quality 14" f/4.5, Taylor Taylor Hobson Series II 13" f/4.5, and Kodak Portrait Lens 305mm (12'') f/4.8. All have flaws: while the glass on the Pinkham 14", the TTH 13", and the Kodak 12" cleaned up and is basically perfect, the THC 15" has a 2mm chip on the front element and a badly dented filter ring. The Pinkham also has a dent in the filter ring, and the No. 5 shutter the Kodak is shot (iris works fine).

Eventually I may sell some or all of these, but I'd like to figure out what kind of images I'm capable of making with them first. I've been working my way through a box of Ilford FP4+, and will order some 8x10 as well, but hope to get some advice on best practice to get the most out of these while I have them.

I've attached sample test images below in ascending order: Kodak 12" (still life w/ bottle & alliums), TTH 13" (still life w/ bottles, cabbage & stone), Pinkham 14" (still life w/ bottles, petrified wood, salt shaker), and THC 15" (still life w/ alliums & portrait). All shot between f/8-f/22, 30—1/2 sec, FP4+ developed in Xtol 1+1 and scanned.

Composition and content aside, are there techniques I can use to take better advantages of these lenses and explore their unique characteristics? Different combinations of aperture and lighting conditions? Are there particular film stocks/developers that are well-suited to them?

Thanks in advance.

[seven]

shooting those lenses at f/8 and more is killing the soft focus effect and their character. you could shoot any other lens and the result would be very similar.
shoot them wide open or at +1 stop max. play with lightning conditions, reflectors, background etc.

[Louis Pacilla]

shooting those lenses at f/8 and more is killing the soft focus effect and their character. you could shoot any other lens and the result would be very similar.
shoot them wide open or at +1 stop max. play with lightning conditions, reflectors, background etc.

Agreed!

[paulbarden]

What these guys said - stopping down any more than ONE stop and you are removing the best traits the lens has to offer.

[xkaes]

The only time you should stop down is to focus, or increase DOF.

[Vaidotas]

Here is similar thread:
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...oft-focus-lens

All what was said above relates to soft focus lens focussing.
Specific lighting conditions are beneficial too.
Portraiture of Hollywood celebrities from BW film golden era has tons of good examples.
Emil Schildt started outstanding thread:
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...rsonality-quot

Another beautifull thread:
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...ghlight=Cowanw
To me closing for few stops didn’t eliminate soft focus lens signature, but there already field of personal preferences.
Verito at f/11 is still Verito.

[jp]

Above mentioned suggestions are good.
I'd suggest studying the work of the pictorialists such as

Clarence H. White and His World: The Art and Craft of Photography, 1895–1925

Camera Work (by Stieglitz)

After the Photo-Secession: American Pictorial Photography

Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian

photos from any of the pictorialist photographers.


I like side-lit or slightly back-lit soft focus photos. Also expand the variety of subjects you photograph. (probably harder to do with that studio stand), but cars, planes, bikes, nature, outdoors offer much for soft focus subject matter. Gertrude Käsebier did a few backlit pictorialist photos of note. White and Day did a lot with dappled light. Curtis did pictorialism for a while, then quickly changed gears to modern styles part way through his major project. In any case, use all your film, then use some more, and don't stop down past f8.

[DDrake]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Shooting wide open or close to it seems obvious now that I hear from you all.

About subject variety and portability: I have two smaller cameras (including Kodak Master View and a Noba 5x7) that I could make lens boards for and at least get the three smaller lenses out of the house.

[Tin Can]

Yes to NOBA!

I never saw one in action

I tried hard to find one with the unique stand

[erian]

Nice collection you got. I have used Pinkham Visual Quality and Gundlach Hyperion. With these you how two options to vary the apparent softness: aperture, point of focus. Aperture is clear - the more wide the lens is, the softer it gets, but you can also play around with the focus - if there is enough dof then both ends of the dof are different than the middle of it - so you can move in and out of focus a little and check on the ground glass how much sharpness you want to compromise for the softness (the image will still appear in focus when you stay within the limits).