What Lens for This Look??

[Armin Seeholzer]

TO Don Hutton

If you had an Imagon and only used it with the dics, then you did not master the lens at all!
I prefer the look for many things like Stillives without the dics and the lens closed 1 f stop down with the shutter f stop blades!
No nasty halos just a tiny bit fuzzines!
The Imagones are wonderfull but in the beginning really tricky and if you close the dics then the halo is also gone even if you close them only a bit more the half!
The Imagon was and stil is the most versatile SF lens wich I now but for some out of focus and bokeh results I prefer the Universal Heliar!
I'm still on a learning curve on booth and if I get a new scanner I can show you what I mean!

[Don Hutton]

Amin

I used the lens with all three discs and without (just using the aperture). It's all very well stopping the lens down using the aperture: it makes it a little sharper but the halo is always noticable while the lens is being used for "soft focus". To be honest, I don't see the point of stopping the lens down much - you loose the soft focus (which is what the lens is designed for). I had the Imagon for about 6 months and probably exposed around 100 shots with it. I'm certain that I didn't "master" it, but I'm also certain that I haven't yet mastered the Cooke and get way better results with it. If you have the opportunity to compare it to the Cooke, you will never want to use the Imagon again.

[Armin Seeholzer]

Hi Don

The Cook is not my price category and I have enough SF lenses for now.
90mm Dreamagon 120mm Imagon in 35mm
Wollensak Velostigmat 9 1/4, Imagon 250mm, Universal Heliar 360mm for 4x5 and 8x10!
Sorry but I do not see a halo without the disc in front of the lens and just to have it not to fuzzi stop 1 f-stop down and its still soft!
But anyway if you are happy with the Cooke so it fine with me Im happy with my collection to!
Chears!

[Jack Flesher]

Scott:

Have you considered a Veritar? They make a pretty good second choice to a Cooke for probably 1/3rd the price.

I am no expert, but I believe the Veritar was a version of the older Verito coated and optimised for color. If you only do B&W, perhaps the Verito would be worth considering as I suspect it will be even less.

Jack

[Scott Rosenberg]

Scott:

Have you considered a Veritar? They make a pretty good second choice to a Cooke for probably 1/3rd the price.

I am no expert, but I believe the Veritar was a version of the older Verito coated and optimised for color. If you only do B&W, perhaps the Verito would be worth considering as I suspect it will be even less.

Jack

jack, i thought briefly about the veritar lenses, but was under the impression that they would not fit on a technika lensboard. i know lots of folks think highly of them, but i think that big alphax shutter is a little too large for the lens boards i'm using.

[David A. Goldfarb]

jack, i thought briefly about the veritar lenses, but was under the impression that they would not fit on a technika lensboard. i know lots of folks think highly of them, but i think that big alphax shutter is a little too large for the lens boards i'm using.

Here's a thread about big lenses and small lensboards--

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=11846

Personally, I prefer the Verito to the Veritar, which looks a bit mushy to me.

[Jack Flesher]

Yes, many of the Verito/ar come with the flange -- so they will mount on Tech boards and kind of come with their own extension. I mean for the SF effect on the cheap, not a bad solution... An 8-1/2", 10" or 11-1/2 Veritar will probably set you back $1000 or so, the Verito (same size) even less.

[Christopher Perez]

How did you guys figure how how much to stop down? There is no aperture scale on my 1950's 30cm Imagon f/5.5 in #5 Compound shutter.

I used the lens with all three discs and without (just using the aperture). It's all very well stopping the lens down using the aperture: it makes it a little sharper but the halo is always noticable while the lens is being used for "soft focus". To be honest, I don't see the point of stopping the lens down much - you loose the soft focus (which is what the lens is designed for)...

[resummerfield]

I have the same 300 Imagon in the Compound 5. I computed the aperture opening at various f-stops, measured this diameter, and marked it on a paper scale opposite the aperture pointer. I then attached that paper scale over the metal scale.

But then I thought of another way—I used a Minolta Booster to measure the readings on the gg center, compared against a 300 Sironar-S. I used a tight-fitting dark cloth, the light was stable, and the readings were consistent from start to finish. Using the meter readings, the aperture pointer on the Imagon had to be closed down about 1/3 stop more than the computed settings on the Imagon to get the same f-stop as the Sironar. Wide open, the Imagon was about f4.5 without any disc.

[Christopher Perez]

Perfect. Thanks.

I have the same 300 Imagon in the Compound 5. I computed the aperture opening at various f-stops, measured this diameter, and marked it on a paper scale opposite the aperture pointer. I then attached that paper scale over the metal scale.

But then I thought of another way—I used a Minolta Booster to measure the readings on the gg center, compared against a 300 Sironar-S. I used a tight-fitting dark cloth, the light was stable, and the readings were consistent from start to finish. Using the meter readings, the aperture pointer on the Imagon had to be closed down about 1/3 stop more than the computed settings on the Imagon to get the same f-stop as the Sironar. Wide open, the Imagon was about f4.5 without any disc.