Some Soft Focus Lens Sales Information

[Steven Tribe]

"Anachromatique 450mm/f5.6 d'atelier de Mr Le Ct Puyo Darlot Paris sold for $1600 BIN (120943930720) ... focal length possibly mislabeled"

Not by that much - should be 400mm. It probably has the 2 standard lenses mounted, whilst the alternative 2 lenses are gone.

[Jim Galli]

Gundlach-Manhattan Hyperion Diffusion 15" 5x7 f4.0 15 Lens sold for $700 BIN (170908909469)

This was really a 9" lens. The seller didn't realize 15" was for the single element alone. These are convertibles.

[Amedeus]

This was really a 9" lens. The seller didn't realize 15" was for the single element alone. These are convertibles.

Just confirming ... 15" in the rear and 21" in the front ?

[Amedeus]

Wollensak 12" f4.5 Series II Velostigmat Soft Focus lens 8x10 in non-functioning Betax #5 shutter with good iris, no flange for $425 (271045405159)
Wollensak Verito 11.5" Diffused Focus lens in barrel no flange for $499 (190726544498)

[goamules]

Two Dallmeyers just went for the same price

170906691809 is a 3B that had a little front glass separation around the rim. $1236

300776805624 is a No. 4 Wide Angle Rectilinear (these have outstanding soft focus if you remove the wheelstop). $1200. I've never seen a No. 4, this lens would have huge coverage, 20x22 at least. I really wanted this one, but will have to be content with my No. 3.

[Amedeus]

Very nice looking Bausch & Lomb 15" EF Plastigmat Portrait Lens 8x10" Soft Focus for $1175 (320981357337) in barrel, no flange ... first time I see one offered ...

Although not a LF lens but only 35 mm I'll mention the 90mm f2.2 Leica Leitz Thambar soft focus lens that finished at $3050 just as a $$$ reference point ... (120984276493)

[cyberjunkie]

Very nice Eidoscope No.3 (item # 190723515715) sold for 355 euros + shipment.
I see a noticeable tendence towards cheaper prices, especially for readily available items.
Do you agree?

On the other hand, some very useful accessories (for old brass enthusiasts), are selling for crazy prices.
In the last weeks, i have seen a not_so_special diaphragm lens holder (max internal diameter 80mm) sell for 357 USD,
and a large front-mount accessory shutter (nothing special, definitely NOT an XXL size) going for big money as well.
Fortunately i have ammassed a good number of both kind of accessories, for some strange reason i love them.
Sooner or later i will take a new round of pictures, and add them to my Flickr set especially dedicated to lens holders and accessory shutters.
For those interested, you can reach the first round of pictures following the "For sale" link in my signature, and then navigating to my other sets.

Back to price dynamics:
while i see an healthy trend in many recent Ebay sales of the most common types of soft focus lenses, i can't find much common sense in the prices reached by some accessories.
I would love to get your opinion, maybe i am missing something.

[dap]

Back to price dynamics:
while i see an healthy trend in many recent Ebay sales of the most common types of soft focus lenses, i can't find much common sense in the prices reached by some accessories.
I would love to get your opinion, maybe i am missing something.

The high accessory prices are probably due to the fact that a lot of these accessories are relatively hard to find. At any one point in time you can find a couple of handfuls of vintage soft focus lenses on the bay...how many large universal focal plane shutters do you see? (just as an example). How many of these items were produced/sold (after all most of these accessories were luxuries in the photography world - you didn't NEED them to take photos)? Of the accessories that did find their way to the market I'd imagine that most of these "old fashioned" doo-dads were tossed in the garbage bin long ago when they stopped working and needed repair (how many people hang on to out-dated non-working shutters?). On the other hand, not many lenses get tossed in the trash - even a non-photographer could see that some old lens in a box of crap that dear old gramps left them when he kicked the bucket might have some value...not so much for that iris/clampy looking thingy who's function is a total mystery (right into the bin with all the other junk). Couple this with the fact that some of these accessories are pretty damn useful and have gained new appeal in this day and age of experimenting with old barrel lenses and suddenly the whole supply vs demand thing comes into play.

[Amedeus]

Back from PhotoKina ...

A Wollensak 16" f3.8 Vitax was sold for $1,200 Studio 5 shutter with flange (140854174847) BIN

A Wollensak 12" f4.5 Velostigmat with Soft Focus ring in non working Ilex 5 shutter for $233.5 (1209858797120

A uncommon 20" Ilex Paragon Variable Soft Focus lens with a Deardorff 8x10 studio camera attached sold for $1,750 (BIN) (261099348072) Camera stand included ... making it a bit harder to extract the lens value

[Jim Galli]

A uncommon 20" Ilex Paragon Variable Soft Focus lens with a Deardorff 8x10 studio camera attached sold for $1,750 (BIN) (261099348072) Camera stand included ... making it a bit harder to extract the lens value

Sounds like it cost him about $100 bucks to dispose of that lens by leaving it with the camera.