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Thread: Excessively sharp lenses

  1. #11
    Unwitting Thread Killer Ari's Avatar
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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by C. D. Keth View Post
    I didn't know anybody used anything as heavy as a fog 5. Is that just a sheet of printer paper, Ari?
    I admit I rarely used it on a camera lens; but it saw a lot of action in the darkroom, when I needed a specific area of a print to be well-diffused.
    Last edited by Ari; 10-Feb-2013 at 21:47.

  2. #12
    Large Format Rocks ImSoNegative's Avatar
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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    I read a post one time, i think it was on photo.net, this guy wanted to do holga type pictures with his hassy, the responses were hilarious, one guy said rub vaseline on the glass, another said throw the lens off a 10 story building, best answer was, why not just buy a holga
    "WOW! Now thats a big camera. By the way, how many megapixels is that thing?"

  3. #13

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Are you scanning the film? Why not reduce sharpness in Photoshop? It is very easy to reduce sharpness and have complete control over it. You can do some blurring on a duplicate of the image and blend it with the original in various ways and degrees. Or you can reduce microcontrast very easily by duplicating the image in another layer, applying the high pass filter to it with a small radius, setting the blending mode to overlay, and then inverting the layer. There are all sorts of things you can do like this. Is it artificial to process the image with PS? I suppose, but how is using a filter any different? Of course, if there is no digital in the workflow at all, I understand.

  4. #14

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by ImSoNegative View Post
    I read a post one time, i think it was on photo.net, this guy wanted to do holga type pictures with his hassy, the responses were hilarious, one guy said rub vaseline on the glass, another said throw the lens off a 10 story building, best answer was, why not just buy a holga
    Someone actually suggested the Vaseline trick to me once as a REAL solution... Wow... Yea I'm going to smear Vaseline on my B+W MRC filter... I think not... Lol

  5. #15

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    I find it funny that you don't want the sharpness. That's what the Mamiya 7 is known for, best lenses in MF possible.

  6. #16
    Jac@stafford.net's Avatar
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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by oysteroid View Post
    Are you scanning the film? Why not reduce sharpness in Photoshop? It is very easy to reduce sharpness and have complete control over it. You can do some blurring on a duplicate of the image and blend it with the original in various ways and degrees. Or you can reduce microcontrast very easily by duplicating the image in another layer, applying the high pass filter to it with a small radius, setting the blending mode to overlay, and then inverting the layer.
    On target! It's something like an anti-unsharp mask.

  7. #17

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Clear nail polish works better than Vaseline. It will stay put, no mess and you can put the diffusion and softening where you want it (using a UV filter as the diffusion element).

    These methods of image softening does not equal true soft focus lenses on sheet film 5x7 and larger.


    Bernice


    Quote Originally Posted by StoneNYC View Post
    Someone actually suggested the Vaseline trick to me once as a REAL solution... Wow... Yea I'm going to smear Vaseline on my B+W MRC filter... I think not... Lol

  8. #18

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    You could always use a wide angle so you'd have to enlarge the segment some to a lot..then use 400 speed pushed a stop

    you'll get nice soft grainy pix


    I used to shoot GAF slidefilm...800asa I think.. and just use like 1/4 of the frame and when enlarged.. it gave a nice soft pastel like rendition..of course all that can be had in PS or alienskin effects now

  9. #19
    C. D. Keth's Avatar
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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by StoneNYC View Post
    Someone actually suggested the Vaseline trick to me once as a REAL solution... Wow... Yea I'm going to smear Vaseline on my B+W MRC filter... I think not... Lol
    It'll wash right off. It doesn't make a diffusion, though. I don't know why people think that. It makes a straight up directional smear.



    Another diffusion to experiment with is hairspray. Spray some into the air and pass a clear filter through the cloud. You'll have to play with how much to spray and how many times to pass the filter through to get different strengths. Getting a light diff is harder to do than a heavy one.

  10. #20

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    Re: Excessively sharp lenses

    Quote Originally Posted by C. D. Keth View Post
    It'll wash right off. It doesn't make a diffusion, though. I don't know why people think that. It makes a straight up directional smear.
    Primarily because it has been repeated so often for so long.

    BTW, I have first-hand experience that vaseline washes off. My car was vandalized once by some punks (unproven allegation but I stand by it) who smeared vaseline all over my windshield, mirrors, and door handles. Water didn't work well, but Windex amoniated window cleaner and a healthy dose of elbow-grease cut through it.

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