Soft focus solutions?????

[BKLZ]

I've been doing some reading on soft focus lenses, read the article on this site(thanks BTW), did some poking around online and I am having a hard time finding examples of work made by any DIY concoctions or any real feedback or definitive instruction.
So there is pantyhose, cellophane, glass, vaseline, screw-on filters, and more including lens building which mostly seemed over my head for now. I'm looking for that classic glowing look- soft with the halo effect- maybe softer off center if possible.
I saw a big batch of big old brass lenses at an auction, some of which had almost like heavy window screen filtering them. What I dont want are little starbursts in highlights like you find in hokey digital portraits. i wouldnt mind knowing how to make them though :)
Would a homemade fresnel lens do maybe? a cheap flat plastic plate over the lens?
Can anyone shed a little light on this so I dont need to waste too much film failing :)
Thanks, JB

[BKLZ]

Ill try something like the imagon diaphrams. . . . .

[Steven Tribe]

Home-made Imagon "stops" front mounted on wide-open menicus lenses is a good idea.

I have seen this done to the Plasticca meniscus. Many inexpensive (1/4 plate to 1/2 plate) meniscus landscape lenses can be opened up without mechanical intervention.

[jp]

If you want to get results by skill and not by luck you really have to be willing to burn some film to learn the variables. It's OK to have failed photos to get you on the right track. Otherwise, go get a DSLR and overpriced lensbaby.

Search here for magnifying to see what some people do with magnifying lenses for camera lens objectives. For <$100 you can get a wollaston meniscus from Reinhold which gives the classic soft glow you might be looking for. Again, add film cost onto that for a steeper learning curve than a normal lens. Search my posts to see how I use it. I think it's awesome, but not super popular because many LF photographers want actual authentic old lenses, just like car enthusiasts want actual authentic old cars.

[E. von Hoegh]

I've been doing some reading on soft focus lenses, read the article on this site(thanks BTW), did some poking around online and I am having a hard time finding examples of work made by any DIY concoctions or any real feedback or definitive instruction.
So there is pantyhose, cellophane, glass, vaseline, screw-on filters, and more including lens building which mostly seemed over my head for now. I'm looking for that classic glowing look- soft with the halo effect- maybe softer off center if possible.
I saw a big batch of big old brass lenses at an auction, some of which had almost like heavy window screen filtering them. What I dont want are little starbursts in highlights like you find in hokey digital portraits. i wouldnt mind knowing how to make them though :)
Would a homemade fresnel lens do maybe? a cheap flat plastic plate over the lens?
Can anyone shed a little light on this so I dont need to waste too much film failing :)
Thanks, JB

Get a rapid rectilinear and use the rear element only, put perforated diaphragms in the slot for waterhouse stops. Not exactly an Imagon, but you may like it.

[adamc]

Pick up one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pictorial-Control-Variable-Soft-Focus-Lens-for-Enlarger-/330875191421?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d09b2c07d

Can't go wrong for $10 bucks! I have one, haven't used it yet but it looks really nice on the ground glass.

[Reinhold Schable]

As jp498 says, one must learn how to use these lenses to good effect.

If you're shooting an 8x10, film gets real pricey just for practicing.
Start out by shooting paper negatives until you get the hang of it.
It's much faser and a lot cheaper. Even if you're shooting 4x5.
You might even prefer paper negatives...

Reinhold

[sun of sand]

What lens do you have now? if a tessar you might try simply unscrewing the front element a twist or two
Magniying glass
3A postcard size camera lens fully open to f8 gives a glow with good detail
Brownie camera postcard lens is funky opened all the way but no shutter

cheap triplet lenses will give an effect. ilex portronic paragon had some play a few years back.

magic lanterns
projector lenses
some fast process type lenses are pleasantly smooth wide open but not soft. ..Goerz celor

cheap RR's you could try like the above said
Imagon disks tried in any sort of simple lens

pantyhose filters etc are more diffused-looking and might give those cross-screen effects, as well
hairspray is more like a diffused fog effect
the other materials are more like a funked-out loss of definition effect

[BKLZ]

Thanks for the advice.... I'm buying a big load of instant film to play with. Im not afraid of using film learning- I just want to soak up all I can from those who have done it when possible(hopefully without being too much of a bother). I hustle antiques and such and come across tons of crap cameras for pennies- Ill start buying them up to fart around with. I have a couple 35mm primes which I dont mind screwing up with superglue and such. As far as what lenses I have- 100 wf ektar and 180 symmar. I would like to use the soft effect in different ways- in periphery for macro, and a diffused look for some beachscapes/landscapes. I'm looking at old oscillo-raptar for macro and hope to find a sharp 300mm or so.
I love the enlarger gadget... Ill fabricate some things myself and keep an eye out for one. Hopefully, assuming I can get instant film by then I will post some of my first pictures this weekend- including some softened beach kitsch :)

[BKLZ]

Get a rapid rectilinear and use the rear element only, put perforated diaphragms in the slot for waterhouse stops. Not exactly an Imagon, but you may like it. I will absolutely keep an eye out for a good deal on one of these lenses. . . .

[jnantz]

hi BKLZ

if you don't have the patience to wait for
an old RR lens ... get a old junk folding camera
take the lens out / off of it ...
remove the fstop ring
take a piece of black cardboard and a drill
and drill a larger hole in the middle and smaller holes around it
and make your own sink strainer ... mount it infront of your lens.
or don't use it at all, or remove the back cell or the front cell ...
you might like the results if you front focus.

john

[fenderfour]

"Johnnyoptic" on Flickr has been doing a lot of work with DIY lenses. He is working on small format, but his work can be extrapolated to large format.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/homemadelens/discuss/72157623873502868/

[cjbecker]

Vaseline

[C. D. Keth]

Vaseline

That's nowhere near soft focus. Vaseline is more like completely-F-it-up focus.

[BKLZ]

thanks for the link. Nice stuff....

[SURF]

Hi JB,

have you read that?

http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/505

http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/505/6/W%20Russell%20Young%20PhD%20thesis.pdf

Title: The soft-focus lens and Anglo-American pictorialism
Authors: Young, William Russell

You can read there also about focusing of the soft lenses. To summerise there is no one solution. Every photographer uses his own method. And all that depends on the amount of magnification also. What is worse - you can not see what you will get till you finally print it. Or in a case of semidigital - till you not get it ready for printing.

Best wishes
Al

PS. I think it is the best book about soft focus lenses ever.

[ederphoto]

Want a soft focus lens ????? Simple ...
Buy a Polaroid DS with a tominon lens like 105mm and remove the lenses from the shutter ,next buy a kodak autographic 2c ,2a ... Now remove the rear element from the Kodak lens and place it in the back polaroid shutter .There you have a meniscus mounted on a shutter !! The kodak will cost you around $20.00 , the polaroid may cost you around $50.00 . That simple and that cheap !