<warning> Boring BS Soft Focus Pics </warning> Spencer Portland Achromatic Meniscus!

[Jim Galli]

You know the drill by now.
Here's a link that illustrates what an Achromatic Meniscus will look like at different apertures, same subject.

Some AM's are; the Venerable Kodak Portrait lens, The Spencer Portland I used, Gundlach Achromatic Meniscus, and a host of others. None are common except perhaps the Kodak.

They have a fine look both sharp and soft. Tell me what you think, and list your favorite AM's that I didn't mention.

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Ac..._Meniscus.html

[Ash]

Great shots as ever Jim. Wonderful to see how one lens can have so much 'glow' and then a few stops away be brutally sharp

[Jim Galli]

Thanks Ash. Just remembered another AM that may still be on the shelf new in some sizes, the Rodenstock Imagon. It uses "sink strainer" apertures with different sized multiple holes to modify the "glow" as it stops down.

[Sven Schroder]

Hi Jim

I'll add my Little ARS made by F. Koristka Milano 6\38" 168mm and F4.2, they came in little/medium/Large Ars and each series of focal lenghts share a barrel. So no aperture scale only a previous owners pencil marks, ten of them tightly grouped say a millimeter apart. They put me right on the sweet spot well for my taste anyway not to fuzzy, somewhere between your F5.6 and F8 examples. I enjoy AM's for subjects with mainly highlights and midtones.

Some would say that only sentimental BS could come from a little ARS

Regards
Sven

[Ole Tjugen]

I have a very old and venerable "Landscape lens" from J. Lancaster & Sons. Wide open it's f:10, quite typical for its type. Focal length 5".

I haven't tried it yet, but I hope to get around to my "massive classic shootout" sometime soon.

[Mark Sawyer]

Would just the back element of a Verito count?

[Duane Polcou]

Long live gear heads.

P.S. That owl frightens me. He kind of looks like Saddam Hussein.

[John Kasaian]

What a great education, Jim! Your tutorials on vintage optics illustrate the effects of these esoteric lenses better than any book I've read. Thanks!