Hello! I tried a portrait of my son with my 210mm Sironar N with TMax 400 developed normally in TMax RS
I used a #25 filter and a Soft/FX - 3, and I tried to increase the soft feeling by using f5.6.
How does the Soft filter compare with with true soft focus portrait lenses? Best regards.
Michael A. Heald
It's hard to tell from you image because of the aliasing in the out-of-focus areas. There are two types of soft focus lenses that I've worked with. One creates diffusive flaring (e.g.: verito, imagon) the others seem more like normal out-of-focus without showing edge diffusion. I've never used a soft filter, but I understand that the effect is uniform, not specific. I don't believe they vary by stop. Therefore you have more control and ability to alter the effect with a lens. Read Purdom's article on this website, if you haven't already.
This is a very subjective subject of course. The best of the soft focus lenses like the Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality will actually have a sharp image within the glowing softness. That is very different than mush.
There is also the issue of bokeh. The better soft focus lenses produce very pleasing out of focus backgrounds. Another important issue is the apparent increase in DOF with a true soft focus lens; a filter simply destroys resolution uniformly across the field.
No comparison IMHO.
Russ
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