A new line of Chinese pictorial lenses!

[Murray]

Really nice stuff.

Yeah, my HS photg. teacher was a jerk, to be charitable.

Here are my reading glass semi-symmetricals. Apologies for the phone-cam images. I haven't put stops in or shot anything with them yet.

$1/pair also. I used I think a +2.50 and + 3 and +3.5 pair, one isn't finished yet.

I picked the goofiest looking reading glasses I could find. Seriously, was I going to choose 'attitude glasses' at a $ store?

http://www.uptowngallery.org/Murray/...Lenses/no0.jpg
http://www.uptowngallery.org/Murray/...Lenses/no1.jpg
http://www.uptowngallery.org/Murray/...Lenses/no2.jpg

[Paul H]

Great images, and a great lesson for the students.

I might have to find a $2 Shop and see what they have here!

[eddie]

And the 2F99c lenses sitting brand new in the store:



Sadly, they are currently out of the 14" size. But I spent $5.35 (with tax) stocking up on five more each of the 9.5" and 12" lenses. Don't you wish you could do that with the old Veritos...

Any other questions, let me know...

har har har! great stuff. awesome shots. now take your new soft focus chinese lenses over to the FS section and see if you can start the price climbing. i am sure you could get 10 times your money easy!

did you use one lens from the magnifying glass or both of them?

eddie

[Darryl Baird]

GREAT! How much for these "Sawyer Magnigon" lenses in modern shutters? You could start a bidding war right here.

Thanks Mark, you made my day (and it's early). Today I'm talking to students about LF lens specs, styles, and modern choices... I'm going to come back here for the grand finale. I can't wait to see their faces.

Well, it's like this...

We've been covering photo-history in my high school classes lately, and when we looked at the soft focus stuff from the Photo-Secession through Hurrell, I also brought in some stuff made with my vintage and home-made soft focus lenses.

The kids liked them, and a few wanted to try out the soft-focus look, but I didn't want to bring in the expensive old ones (teen-agers are pretty rough on photo equipment...), and my home-made ones are just for me. So I decided there must be a good third option...

Down to the 99-cent store I went, and bought a few magnifying glasses, cheap but made with real glass at least... There were two (small and medium) together for 99 cents, and a larger one for 99 cents by itself. The focal lengths turned out to be 9.5", 12", and 14", and all had an f/stop of about f/3.8. Perfect!

I ground the plastic handle off the 9.5" lens, and attached it to a blank lensboard with a bead of "liquid nails". We put it on the Cambo 4x5 at school, and tried it out. Without a shutter, we'd focus, cover the lens, pull the darkslide, turn off the room lights, pop the flash (bounced off an umbrella), cover the lens, flip on the room lights and reinsert the darkslide. These are from the first day's work, some by me, some by students. I could tell you which were which, but it doesn't really matter...

A few from the 2F99c (2 for 99 cents!) lens:

[chachahavana]

This is just great and unbelieveable !! This is the style I like very much, very Margaret Juliet Cameron look !! What lens ( Mag Glass ) did you use on the 8x10 ?
You said you use a flash, isn't it more difficult to shoot it under normal light, I mean to cover the lens and all that !? Thank you for sharing !!

I've been looking for a f/2.8 Xenotar for a while, may be this is a good alternative !!

[Mark Sawyer]

har har har! great stuff. awesome shots. now take your new soft focus chinese lenses over to the FS section and see if you can start the price climbing. i am sure you could get 10 times your money easy!

did you use one lens from the magnifying glass or both of them?

eddie

Just one lens at a time. Simplicity itself!

I should have kept my mouth shut about what these are. I coulda sold 'em for a bunch!

This is just great and unbelieveable !! This is the style I like very much, very Margaret Juliet Cameron look !! What lens ( Mag Glass ) did you use on the 8x10 ?
You said you use a flash, isn't it more difficult to shoot it under normal light, I mean to cover the lens and all that !? Thank you for sharing !!

I've been looking for a f/2.8 Xenotar for a while, may be this is a good alternative !!

On the 8x10 we used a 14" f/3.8, which you only get one of for 99 cents.

Our normal room light id pretty boring, just overhead flourescents with no windows. The exposure time there would be about a quarter second, so subject motion would be a factor. The strobe is the only option for decent looking light. Plus it lets the background go a bit darker, which we like, and it's more fun.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Ralph Barker]

Love the images, Mark, and what a great idea for your class. Kudos to the kids, too.

The only problem is that there will now be a big run-up on the price of magnifying glasses (as with old brassies), and the dollar stores will be forced to stop carrying them.

[lisa larson]

Thank you for all the info. I love the portraits done with the Chinese mag. lens. They are beautiful! Is there a lens wth a shutter that would give this effect that would fit the Wista 4 x 5 ? Thanks. Lisa

[Mark Barendt]

"Values plummeted on rare and ancient soft focus optics today as a new line of foreign lenses was unveiled at an attractive pricepoint."

Several students were heard to ask "...who would pay $3000 for a lens when a 99¢ one will work just as well?" Jim Galli commented that this has been tried before but people have short memories and Pinkhams, Eidoscop's and the like will be back up to stupid money by next week, ten days tops.

I think I'm going to work on one or two of these to play with in Tonopah.

[Mike1234]

Who the heck do you think you are, Mark Sawyer?! In one just single post you've completely deflated my Imagon lust. Now what am I to do with my Rod' softy???