Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality MP lens

[papah]

I recently acquired a P&S Visual Quality 3 inch lens, made for the motion picture industry. Here is a quick test wide open at f/3:


The lens is stamped "Gillies Visual Quality"; I have found a reference stating that J. Wallace Gillies adapted the lens for the motion picture industry.

I'm looking for more information about this lens.

[mikec]

nice. what film format is that on? I should imagine if the lens was designed for 35mm cinema stock that coverage at infinity would not be very large.

[Toyon]

Interesting. I've been noticing that a lot of movies from the 30's show the male lead in sharp focus, and the female in soft focus even though they are talking with each other.

[goamules]

Beautiful! Here is something you may have already found, but is interesting to all soft focus enthusiasts.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1U0...age&q=&f=false

[papah]

Beautiful! Here is something you may have already found, but is interesting to all soft focus enthusiasts.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1U0...age&q=&f=false

Thanks. That's a good reference, and is the only mention I know of this lens. Jay Allen mentions it, but he is quoting extensively from this article.

I'm mounting the lens on full-frame 35mm, which it covers without problem. The lens is tiny, with ~34mm mounting threads. The seller claimed that this lens came from the collection of Joseph Walker, ASC, who was Frank Capra's cameraman. He filmed "It's a Wonderful Life", among many.

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Congrats Bruce, very nice find! If you find the time,
let's see a pic of your beauty pls!

[benrains]

You might even try to see if you can adapt it to 6x6 medium format camera. Probably you'll get some fall-off at the corners, but the 3" focal length is close to the 80mm normal lens for that format.

As for tracking down more info on the lens, if it really does have the claimed provenance, you might submit it to be considered for this-
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetect...ut/submit.html

[papah]

I plan to put it on the 4x5 next week to ascertain the coverage.

Various other pictorial lenses were produced in short focal lengths for Hollywood. The Graf Variable exists in a 3.5 inch version, and the Struss Pictorial is reputed to exist in a short length as well. Of course Cooke produced special lenses and supplementary diffusion lenses for the motion picture industry.

I'll keep hunting...

Some photos of the lens, from the seller:

[Mark Sawyer]

Purists would cry foul, but you might consider looking for a negative diopter (like the Distar) to give a longer focal length and more coverage. You might be able to cover a 4x5. It might also be a lovely soft-focus macro for 4x5, although "wide open" and "macro" aren't often thought of together due to depth of field. Still, one has to think about these things... why I've even heard of someone doing close-ups with an f/1.2 lens!

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

But then you might be even more interested in a Zeiss f0.75/50mm macro shot?

I call it "flame on"