Focusing Soft Focus Lenses

[cowanw]

I have fashioned one out of a stand with a 3 bend arm with springs, sometimes seen with desk lamps, and, on the end, a rubber cup that the sitter can rest against comfortably. Gotta be careful of the arms though so they don't peek out on the print.
Has improved my in focus shots a to 9/10. Now I just need a good compositon and lighting tool.
Regards
Bill

[cowanw]

I have fashioned one out of a stand with a 3 bend arm with springs, sometimes seen with desk lamps, and, on the end, a rubber cup that the sitter can rest against comfortably. Gotta be careful of the arms though so they don't peek out on the print.
Has improved my in focus shots to a 9/10. Now I just need a good compositon and lighting tool.
Regards
Bill

[Steven Tribe]

I have considered the maglight solution with a filament bulb - certainly safer than mercury droplets. But they are a bit difficult to place. I thought something like a bare filament bulb with just the contact part and a thin cable to a battery box. And a wire hook/pin at the back of the skeletal bulb holder.

[Steve Hamley]

In the Kodak portraits all depth of field will be to the front of the lens focus. If you focus on the eyes it will go to the nose none toward the ear. I would recommend focus at F8 and open to the diffusion effect of choice. Universal heliars offer a hair-pulling range of choices of purdy. Most think of portrait lighting as soft for the most part. I would recommend a harder lighting than you would assume. you need to punch it to get some flair going. ( In a verito anyway ) Mark also shows that fabulous can be had by throwing my opinion in the trash.

This seems to be exactly the opposite of what Kodak recommends; see "Front Focusing" here:

http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/kodak_1.html

Maybe using the terms "front" differently?

Cheers, Steve

[Michael Jones]

Here are the instructions from Fuji for their soft focus lenses.

Mike

[Joe Forks]

Here's a slightly different version of the same instruction sheet. A little easier to read, hope you don't mind.

Best
Joe

[Harold_4074]

I can't speak to all of the lenses mentioned in this thread, but from experience the Imagon and Velostigmat Series II definitely exhibit a radial gradient in softness. In other words, the best definition, when focused, is on the optical axis. In a typical portrait, the eyes and nose are usually about a third of the way from the top of the frame, so the best definition occurs at about collar level of the lens is pointed straight at the subject. I made quite a few pictures where the fabric of the subject's shirt was sharper than the facial features before I learned to center the camera on the eyes, focus, and then use front rise to frame the portrait instead of tilting the camera.

In closeups, such as the gorgeous examples by Mark Sawyer, this isn't so much of an issue because the face tends to be closer to the center of the frame anyway.

[John Berry]

This is the opposite of what John says

I stand corrected. That's what happens when I try to do stuff from memory. So here is the 2000 words. Same shot, first at F6 second at f16. These were the very first two shots taken with the 305 kodak portrait lens. I used key light only. I don't shoot much chrome and wanted to see how far the lens will dig into shadows. So, though many could describe better lighting, it was done this way for data. Visual evidence of stopping down on depth of field being one of them.

[Stephane]

I found that shooting wide open with SF lenses is more forgiving than when you start "shutting them up". Maybe because when you introduce sharpness, the plane of focus will be too evident and disturbing if behind or in front of the eyes.

In other words, a SF lens wide open gives the illusion of a greater DOF. And because of this I stopped using contraptions to hold the head still. The instructions are "dont swing or sway".

[eddie]

hey all,

i was out practicing with my SF lenses. thanks to stephane for some tips. i am still trying to get control over it all. seems that printing exposure times are critical as well. i have better ideas now. this was my 1st attempt with some of the lenses.

i thought it may interest some people.

all wide open. the port-land says f5.6 but it actually opens wider. i shot it at the unmarked wider aperture.



18 inch port-land wide open on 4x5



kodak 405 at f4.5 on 4x5



210 nicola perchid wide open on 4x5



12 inch heliar wide open on 4x5

thanks

eddie