Barrell Lenses and Long Exposures at Wide Aperture

[giganova]

I am thinking about buying a vintage barrel lens for my 4x5, preferably one with a bit of haze, and shoot it wide open to get "dreamy & soft" images. Barrel lenses don't have a shutter and if I use the the "lens cap shutter" method, I need to have exposures above one second to get realizable exposure times.

The problem is, of course, how do I shoot at wide apertures (f/4.5) and long exposures? I guess a +10 stop ND filter would do the trick, but most vintage barrel lenses don't have a filter thread.

Any ideas how I can shoot long exposures at wide aperture? Maybe glue a Lee filter holder to the barrel or use a circular filter with gaffer tape?

[Two23]

Two ways. The easiest and cheapest is to get a 10 stop filter. I do this with Petzvals when shooting film. I sometimes tape them over the front of the lens but mostly simply hold the filter in front with my hand. Second way is to shoot wet plate. Either way it's not hard to get a 1/2 second exposure by hand.


Kent in SD

[peter brooks]

If you have darkroom facilities you could try paper negs instead of film. At ISO 3 or 6 you should have plenty of exposure time. You'd have to scan and invert on a computer, or contact print but it's also very cheap for experimentation.

There's a great - and long - thread on it here - https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?72984-Paper-negativeshttp://

Be careful you don't get too near to the edge of the soft focus lens rabbit-hole...

Cheers,
Peter

[Andrew Plume]

Hi

No problem in using a filter - in composing the image I usually ensure that the front standard is facing down a little, I then place a circular filter (of whatever kind)
over the rear element and gently remove the lens cap

Good luck and regards

Andrew

[giganova]

Great ideas!

I think I'll tape a step-up ring on the lens and then use a 10-stop ND screw-in filter.

Cheers!

[tonyowen]

you could try paper negs instead of film. At ISO 3 or 6 you should have plenty of exposure time. You'd have to scan and invert on a computer, or contact print but it's also very cheap for experimentation. Peter

Don Kittle has written three very complete and thorough essays on Paper Negatives. BUT he no longer pre-flashes the paper before use.
Don can be contacted through the PM section of this forum.

I use cut-down 8x10 Ilford paper in a 4x5 camera and do not pre-flash the paper.
I use a rating of iso6 and process using a Jobo rotary tank and PQ Universal developer

regards
Tony

[Two23]

You don't need a step ring. Just buy a filter large enough to go over the whole lens tube and tape or simply hold in place.


Kent in SD

[jp]

Haze doesn't make it dreamy. It makes it like a big holga and we can do better. You can have dreamy and good contrast with soft focus lenses. Especially since most of the lenses made for soft focus don't have many elements.

I use a speed graphic which has a shutter in the body and get roughly 1/10 to 1/1000 on the older ones, and 1/30 to 1/1000 on the newer ones.

You could also get a packard shutter and affix that to the lens and get 1/25 or so. Use multiples of that if need slightly longer.