Soft Focus Lens Article - Part 2

[CCHarrison]

Cooke lenses, Gundlach Meniscus, Vitax, Bodine Verito, Velostigmat II, Port-land, Goerz Hypar, and Struss...

See http://antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenses2.html

Corrections, additions and edits welcomed.

Thanks,
Dan

[Marko Trebusak]

Cooke lenses, Gundlach Meniscus, Vitax, Bodine Verito, Velostigmat II, Port-land, Goerz Hypar, and Struss...

See http://antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenses2.html

Corrections, additions and edits welcomed.

Thanks,
Dan

Dan, while writing about Cooke, you should mentione Cooke RVP as their first soft focus lens:
http://www.cookeoptics.com/cooke.nsf/history/1910s.html

Othervise, thanks again for good information.

Cheers,
Marko

[CCHarrison]

Hi Marko

To my knowledge , the RVP was not originally marketed as a soft focus lens - but it was used as one. The Cooke Portrait Achomratic - which is basically an updated RVP - is included in the article as it was sold as a soft focus lens. A reference to the RVP is also included.

thanks
Dan

[Chauncey Walden]

Great articles! But, where is the Wollensak Vesta Portrait?

[CCHarrison]

Hi CW,

The Vesta is not a Soft Focus lens...Its a modified Petzval type Portrait lens...see attached where it notes it is unlike the Vitax in that it has no diffusing attachment.

Dan

[Marko Trebusak]

Hi Marko

To my knowledge , the RVP was not originally marketed as a soft focus lens - but it was used as one. The Cooke Portrait Achomratic - which is basically an updated RVP - is included in the article as it was sold as a soft focus lens. A reference to the RVP is also included.

thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,

OK, you are right. It was late in the night I went through your article.

Thanks again for all the information.

Cheers,
Marko

[Jon Wilson]

Dan, great contribution to this field. Would you consider the Wollensak Varium lens as a soft focus lens in your article, e.g., Verito, or would it be more like the Vesta?

Thanks again for your continued contributions.

Jon

[Chauncey Walden]

So, Dan, where is the "diffusion attachment" on the Gundlach Achromatic Meniscus Portrait Lens? Wouldn't the diffusion decrease on any portrait lens when it is stopped down? Perhaps a definite statement of what you consider a "soft focus" lens for your article would help me. My favorite soft focus lens happens to be what is apparently an f/11 rapid rectilinear.

[CCHarrison]

Hi Chauncey,

The Gundlach was designed to be a soft focus lens - aberrations have been left in the design (or have a lack of attempting to correct the aberrations) on purpose, to create varying degrees of softness. The Vesta was designed as a Portrait lens with a different purpose - speed and central sharpness...

I am defining a soft focus lens as being a lens in which it was specifically designed by the maker to create diffusion or was built with aberrations purposely left in with the main goal (or optional goal ) of creating "artistic" or "pictorial" images. If you read Russ Young's thesis, I think he also took this approach.

Just because a lens is soft, doesnt make a "Soft Focus Lens" in my mind....

One can add softness to most any lens if one wants to... unscrew an element, scratch the heck out of the surface, smear vaseline on the glass etc....

In summary, I am trying to cover lenses that manufacturers determined were "Soft Focus."

Thanks
Dan

[Diane Maher]

Neat articles. Are the Wollensak Varium and Crown Anastigmat considered to be soft focus lenses?