Soft Focus Lens History/Information

[Tim Layton]

http://www.youtube.com/user/eddiegun...ature=mhee#p/u

Eddie, good stuff on your YouTube channel. Thanks for replying. I have watched a lot of your videos and have you bookmarked. Thanks.

Tim

[CCHarrison]

You may also want to check out the new book, The Use of Historic Lenses in Contemporary Photography by Paul Lipscombe. See my blog entry of 11-13-11, here http://antiquecameras.net/blog95.html about this book.


Dan

[Tim Layton]

You may also want to check out the new book, The Use of Historic Lenses in Contemporary Photography by Paul Lipscombe. See my blog entry of 11-13-11, here http://antiquecameras.net/blog95.html about this book.


Dan

Dan, this looks like a perfect resource. Thanks for suggesting it. I've been reading your site for days, but as you know there is so much information I must have just not found this yet, so thanks for pointing it out.

Tim

[bobherbst]

Mr. Layton,

You will find THE definitive treatise on soft focus lenses at this link - http://research-repository.st-andrew...ndle/10023/505. The author is Russell Young PhD. He received a doctoral degree in 2008 from St. Andrews University in Scotland for his thesis - "The soft-focus lens and Anglo-American pictorialism". He is not just an academian, but an accomplished photographer as well with working knowledge of the lenses about which he writes.

Other links posted here will provide additional information.

Bob Herbst

I am a fine art large format photographer that recently started down the path of exploring vintage soft focus lenses. Only a short time into it I can say that I have probably been sucked into a vortex that I will likely never be able to leave. With the help of a kind fellow large format photographer (Garrett Allen) I have recently acquired my first Wollensak Verito 14 1/2" for my Eastman No 2 8x10 and have been having a blast. I am really enjoying this new area and I am having a great time expanding my photography as well.

I am writing the group here because I want your help in finding good resources to learn about the history and specifics of the large format vintage soft focus lenses. All of the various designs, lenses, period of time, etc is a bit overwhelming standing at the beginning of this journey, but I know it will all be second nature in due time. I am pulling together a new blog to more or less document my journey and hopefully as I collect more information others will find it and it will be helpful to them. My focus is large format vintage soft focus only. If you are interested in contributing information to the blog just email me and I can get you setup as a contributor.

Any pointers to information, whether it be websites, books, etc would be very helpful. I've found some sites as you may have guessed, but I don't want to assume I have found all of them and have no basis for knowing their quality of information at this time.

Thanks,

Tim

[Tim Layton]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that submitted suggestions. I am on top of these resources and will spend the time reading and learning now. Thanks again and I appreciate your help.

Tim

[Emil Schildt]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone that submitted suggestions. I am on top of these resources and will spend the time reading and learning now. Thanks again and I appreciate your help.

Tim

...so now it is time to take some pictures!..... that's how you learn..

[Tim Layton]

...so now it is time to take some pictures!..... that's how you learn..

You are correct... here is what I've done so far. http://www.flickr.com/photos/timlayt...7628341897465/

Tim

[Joe Forks]

3.8 verito? or more likely Vitax? Or not 3.8? Beautiful lilies either way

[Tim Layton]

3.8 verito? or more likely Vitax? Or not 3.8? Beautiful lilies either way

It is F4... I must have had the .8 on my brain when enter the Vinco info... thanks for the catch and compliment.

Tim

[Louis Pacilla]

Hey Tim, I don't know if you have set up a Google books library but I highly suggest you do so. I have over 900 full view magazines and books on photography. This has been an near endless source of great information. Most of the growth period in diffused focus lenses was way back in the early 1900's so the books on "Full View"are the books we are after and most are public property or w/ out copy right protection now .

The way I built my Google Books library was to register for my own library and then I did searches such as Portrait lenses, field / studio cameras, manufacturers names such as Zeiss Korona, Century,Dallmeyer, Wollensak, B&L and so on and so on.

Again, make sure you look for "Full View" books and mags only. This weeds out the the newer less useful partial books and magazines that need to be purchased to read them.

Here's a long article on diffused focus lenses. I Just recently discovered it in my library.This link will put you in the middle of the reading so scroll to the beginning.

http://books.google.com/books?id=1U0...0lenses&f=true