Wide F***ing Open!

[ThePhilosopher]

and now in the vivacious color of Portra 16oVC:

[catshaver]

wollensak 241 raptar @ f4.5

[rhyno]

wollensak 241 raptar @ f4.5

This shot looks really emotional to me. Is there a story behind it or is he just not the modeling type

[catshaver]

He is a 63-year old artist, who posed for my "eyes of the artist" series. I asked him to focus slightly off center of the lens to give the impression that he had something on his mind, because he is like that. He is always thinking ahead.

I'm happy this portrays emotion to you. The lens certainly helps in that regard.
Portfolio here: http://www.scottedwards.us/ap

[ljsegil]

Very powerful portrait Cat, and a very admirable portfolio to back it up. Were all shot with the Raptar? What film and format? I don't usually think of the Raptars as soft focus lenses, and certainly there is detail aplenty in your portraits, but your use of aperture does produce some of the qualities I think many of us seek in using "soft focus" lenses. Shows what one can do stepping a bit outside of the box, perhaps a lesson for many of us (needing lessons). Great stuff, well done.
Larry

[catshaver]

Thank you Larry,

Yes they were all shot with the Raptar, at either F4.5, or F5.6. Wide open this lens exhibits Verito like bokeh (almost), but has a more profound bite in the sharp areas. I used FP4 in 4x5 developed in PyroCat HD. I believe I paid (read stole) this lens for $90.

-Scott

[Daniel_Buck]

a little update on some of my lens fun/shenanigans, here's that triplet lens from the surplus shed, (roughly 200mm f1.2) I'll be mounting it on my 8x10 camera. Since the lens is actually larger across than the front of my camera, it'll end up probably being something more like f2.0 or 2.8 for my first test shots, but it'll still be an interesting thing on 8x10 for sure!

I'm temporarily gluing the metal case of the lens to a wood lensboard (it's drying over-night in this photo here), and will use some bungie straps to help carry the load of the lens for a few test shots. if the test shots turn out good, I'll work on making a more sturdy permanent mount for the lens, and probably a larger front standard and bellows so that I can use the lens at it's full f1.2 aperture.

[Daniel_Buck]

ok, the S.S. Minnow is mounted, and I've taken it's first test shot! I've dubbed this lens the "S.S. Minnow" because someone said it looked like a port-hole from a sea ship, haha! Will develop the test shot later today, can't wait to see it

and one with a 1 pint can for size reference. And this is approximately how far focused out the lens would be for a headshot, or there about. As you can see, I've added an aperture on the back of the lens, so that the aperture would be round instead of square (cutoff by the smaller size of the front standard).

[dsim]

Wow Daniel. Looking forward to seeing some pics with that lens.

[BetterSense]

I can't find that lens on Surplus Shed's website. What kind of construction is it, and how much was it?