Soft Focus Lens History/Information

[Tim Layton]

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

[Louis Pacilla]

Have you visited Dans site ? Here's a start.
http://www.antiquecameras.net/softfocuslenses.html

Then you can read Mr. Russel Young the IIIs dissertation on Soft focus / diffused focus lenses http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...4VEL2PMAsDHlug

[cdholden]

Go ahead and say it now...
"Hi. My name is Tim and I'm an addict."

[goamules]

Thanks Tim. Yeah, the two links Louis refers are a wellspring of information.

[Jim Galli]

May as well wade through some of my pages. Sort of catch as catch can. It was cheaper to educate oneself when I started. Good luck.

There are a couple of sites with old catalogs. Very helpful.

[E. von Hoegh]

Another good link for old catalogues - http://www.cameraeccentric.com/

[Mark Sawyer]

And somewhere or another there's a large format photography forum with a decent search engine that always seems to uncover a few good threads on just about any old lens...

[eddie]

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

[Tim Layton]

Hi, my name is Tim and I am an addict. I can't help myself. If Garret hadn't helped me get my first Verito I could have probably functioned normally. That is no longer an option now...

Go ahead and say it now...
"Hi. My name is Tim and I'm an addict."

[Tim Layton]

Jim, I have been viewing and reading your site for days already. I can barely function... Good stuff. Thanks for posting all this and adding to it over time.

Tim