Alternative to buying Soft Focus Lens

[eddie]

There are plenty. Affordable soft focus lenses available to buy. I am thinking around 400-700$ or so.

That being said bob carnie had a printing demo in CT last year. Simply awesome. He softened the highlights in one photo. And then the shadows in the other. Same photo. He used a nylon stocking, different contrast filters, skill ,and years of experience but in the end the photos were stunning. I should have kept the image. All I was think was all u would have to do was print the images this way and say that this lens "x" made it......and that would be true.

So the above poster is on to something. Diffuse n the darkroom for truely "cheap" soft focus lOok

I also agree with jim above. SF Are different. Different from "tricks" and different from each other as well.

Eddie

[jnantz]

you can harvest lenses off of folding cameras and box cameras
and use them in the enlarging stage, they give a nice effect
you can also use them as taking-lenses if your camera
is able to use a focal plane shutter ...

[CP Goerz]

Use the rear cell only of a Kodak Ektar.

[leighmarrin]

Flipping an element in the front cell of the common Tessar makes "sorta" a soft-focus lens, as I found out by accident. The center is still somewhat sharp, but the off-center quickly gets weird. I posted results of my accidental finding here:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=62038

[jp]

You can get a real SF lens for your 35mm from lensbaby.

For LF, a Kodak 305 portrait is a relatively affordable and excellent soft focus lens, many are available coated (lumenized) if that's your thing.

http://www.antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenssales.html shows recent soft focus sales information if you want to know what's in your price range. The author has information about many of the lenses as well on the website.

The cheapest way to get true soft captured photos is to use a pinhole. (better suited to landscape, not so much for indoor portrait)

[jnantz]

You can get a real SF lens for your 35mm from lensbaby.

yup, they have something very much like an imagon in their stable of lenses ...

[Jehu]

I've been thinking about this topic for a few weeks now. Here's what I'm considering:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...er_Filter.html

[Brian Ellis]

There are various different ways to produce different soft focus effects in Photoshop. They give you much more control than you'd get with nose grease or Vaseline or anything like that. I also sometimes use a Nikon soft focus filter and it does a nice job too though it isn't exactly cheap, IIRC I paid around $100 for it.

[Mark Sawyer]

The cheapest way to get true soft captured photos is to use a pinhole. (better suited to landscape, not so much for indoor portrait)

I'd disagree. Pinholes simply lack fine resolution, where a good soft focus lens has excellent resolution with a halo of softness overlaid by aberrations. Also, soft lenses show their softness only at wide apertures, and the shallow depth of field is part of the aesthetic. Pinholes are known for their infinite depth of field.

[lilmsmaggie]

Wow! -- maybe I should sign-up for your class Those are awesome!

A good alternative to expensive soft focus lenses is inexpensive soft focus lenses:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=35097
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=35482