DIY Perscheid lens

[arri]

I try to make my own soft focus lenses because I don´t want to spend so much money for a 420mm Imagon oder for a Perscheid lens.
My own 400mm Imagon is ready an I´am pleased with it.

Now I want a Nicola Perscheid lens the Emil Busch company made since the 1920th in coorporation with N.Perscheid.

The lens is a four element lens in two groups. The achromatic lenses are not as good corected as possible and that´s the reason why the lens has a much higher spherical aberration than a standard aplantic lens.

For my lens I use two Leitz Elpro achromatic close up lenses, a VIIa and a VIIb lens. I mount it in a compound III size aperture barrel and god a 450mm f/9 lens.

It is much slower that the Perscheid lenses but the full open apertures of this lenses are not really usable. You can´t focus a Perscheid lens at f/4.5 and the optical quality is so "soft" that it looks really bad, absolutly not acceptable for me.
My sample shot were made with f/9 and a green/yellow filter.
Sheet size is 9x12cm. Very small for this long focus but the 18x24cm shots will follow.
The negativ were partial pre flashed, absolute no idea how it happens but the picture shows what I want to know.

Around the leafs it shows beautiful halos and in the unsharp backgound it shows discs and rings, I did not await this.
The first example is very interesting and I cna´t await to use it more.
In the next days I get a second Elpro VIIa lens. Than I can make a 340mm lens with f/6
Than I want to test both lenses in the larger format. I´am sure that the results will be different to this here.

Film is Fuji xray UM-MA in Kodak HC 110, at ISO 160. 1+39
Sheet film 9x12cm, Sinar Norma

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53276084937_5f496bd0c4_h.jpg

[xkaes]

Very nice. Thanks for the info. Do you have an aperture than you can use to stop-down? I do the same sort of thing with Minolta & other two-element 55mm supplementary filters on a #1 shutter and control the softness with the aperture.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm

[arri]

Very nice. Thanks for the info. Do you have an aperture than you can use to stop-down? I do the same sort of thing with Minolta & other two-element 55mm supplementary filters on a #1 shutter and control the softness with the aperture.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm

The Elpro lenses are mounted in an aperture barrel in Compound III size, I can mount in a shutter of this size as well but I use the Sinar/Copal shutter.

[arri]

The new toy.

Leica Elpro close up lenses mounted in a Compur II shutter.
I made adapter rings for three lenses, 2x VIa and 1x VIb

The both VIa lenses are a 200mm lens with f/5.4 and one VIa and one VIb lens are 134mm with f/3.7

The lenses are good usable for 4x5". The 200mm for 5x7" as well.

I use the short Compur II shutter with 1" (25mm) length. Maybe the results will be diffrent when the longer shutter is in use. I has 38mm, I guess.

A lens set with 134mm, 200mm and 400mm foci.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53289384932_e33bd4ab79_z.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53289384917_db711a7377_z.jpg

[J. Patric Dahlen]

It looks very usable. The sharpness is surprising, and the softening effect is a s good as it gets. And mounted in the shutter you could think that the Elpros were made to be used that way!

[arri]

Here are the first sample shots, I use the Fuji xray film UM-MA in 9x12cm size.
Developed in Kodak HC 110, 1+39, ISO 160.

"Leitz Elpro Lens" 200mm f/5.4
B&W yellow/green filter -1EV

The last two shots with Rodenstock Imagon 250mm with no yellow/green filter


Leitz Elpro lens @f/5.4
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307929475_206efc75d7_b.jpg

Leitz Elpro Lens @/22
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307813969_a7d691cb17_b.jpg

Rodenstock Imagon 250 @H=5.8 (no sieve)
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53306591097_d03e0105bf_b.jpg

Rodenstock Imagon 250 @H=9.5
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53307815399_57412d0232_b.jpg

[xkaes]

Thanks for posting those comparisons. That Compur II looks like a perfect match for 55mm Elpro lenses. Although I also use 55mm lenses (Minolta, Hoya, Kenko, Opteka, & Spiratone), my widest shutter in #1, so I can only go so wide/soft.

[arri]

Thanks for posting those comparisons. That Compur II looks like a perfect match for 55mm Elpro lenses. Although I also use 55mm lenses (Minolta, Hoya, Kenko, Opteka, & Spiratone), my widest shutter in #1, so I can only go so wide/soft.

For 55mm thread lenses a size 3 shutter is nescessary.
The Compur 2 shutter has a ~46mm thread and this works only with the shown smaller Leitz Elpro VI lenses with 44mm thread.

The Elpro Vii with 54mm can be adapted to the Compound III shutter with 56mm diameter.

[xkaes]

OH. I was under the impression that the Elpros were only made in 55mm -- see:

http://fuzzcraft.com/achromats.html

They welcome any new information.

My 55mm lenses would be great on a #3 shutter, but they'll have to "settle" for my #1.

Anyway, any lens can be adapted to any shutter -- the diameter of the lens or the shutter, whichever is smaller, being the maximum f-stop limiting factor.

[arri]

Here´s a list of the Leitz Elpro lenses with thread sizes, diopter and possible combinations.

243563

[J. Patric Dahlen]

Interesting that the stopped down dual Elpro lens looks what you could expect an aplanat to perform.

[arri]

Interesting that the stopped down dual Elpro lens looks what you could expect an aplanat to perform.

End of the day it is an aplanatic lens but with a shorter distance between the elements.
Aplanat lenses with this short dimensions are more like the wide angle lenses but much faster.
I want to use my Elpro lenses in portrait taking in the next month.
I prepare a small studio with lightning equipment.
A complete new kind of photography for me.

I can´t imagine how a real Perscheid lens will perform, it is not possible to find images to compare.
Maybe someone has further information?

[xkaes]

Interesting that the stopped down dual Elpro lens looks what you could expect an aplanat to perform.

It's the same with the Fujinon, Rodenstock, Congo, etc. soft-focus lenses -- because they are all very similar.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm

[Keith Fleming]

When considering making a soft-focus lens with these closeup filters, don't forget that places like S. K. Grimes can make adapters that fit the filters into shutters. The shutter does not have to be dedicated to being used with the filters. With the adapters, you can unscrew the lens elements from one of your lenses, and quickly convert the shutter to a soft-focus lens--and just as quickly return your regular lens to full use.

[arri]

When considering making a soft-focus lens with these closeup filters, don't forget that places like S. K. Grimes can make adapters that fit the filters into shutters. The shutter does not have to be dedicated to being used with the filters. With the adapters, you can unscrew the lens elements from one of your lenses, and quickly convert the shutter to a soft-focus lens--and just as quickly return your regular lens to full use.

This is exactly what I did.
I made adapter rings for the Leitz Elpro lenses, one set for the Compound III shutter and one set for the Compur II shutter.
It is much cheaper to turn the rings by my self.

Mr. Grimes makes a great job and his work is very important to save a lot of photographic equipment but it is a challange for me to make all adatering works by my self.

[arri]

It's the same with the Fujinon, Rodenstock, Congo, etc. soft-focus lenses -- because they are all very similar.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm

For a real soft focus lens you need a spherical under or over corrected lens. That´s it. It can be realise with one single element, like the Wollaston or the Kalosat, with an achromat, like the Imagon, three lenses like the Verito or with four elements like the Perscheid Lens, Suter Stella, Fuji Congo etc.

To buy a lens is not a problem, ok you need money, but I want to create my own lenses. I learn a lot of things during manufacturing the lenses. The different designs, distances between the elements, speeds, coated or not, different kind of glasses.
A lot of factors having an influence.

It would be great to see samples made with the lenses from the lensmakers but it is not easy to find images to compare.
The most pictures were optimise for the net and don´t show the real character.

[xkaes]

When considering making a soft-focus lens with these closeup filters, don't forget that places like S. K. Grimes can make adapters that fit the filters into shutters. The shutter does not have to be dedicated to being used with the filters. With the adapters, you can unscrew the lens elements from one of your lenses, and quickly convert the shutter to a soft-focus lens--and just as quickly return your regular lens to full use.

There are other sellers on EBAY, etc. that offer off-the-shelf shutter-to-lens adapters (ex. 42mm-to-#0 shutter). These are basically your typical step-up-rings used for filters.

[Dan Fromm]

For a real soft focus lens you need a spherical under or over corrected lens. That´s it. It can be realise with one single element, like the Wollaston or the Kalosat, with an achromat, like the Imagon, three lenses like the Verito or with four elements like the Perscheid Lens, Suter Stella, Fuji Congo etc.

Really? How about, e.g., Boyer's Opale, Berthiot's Color and the Hermagis/Berthiot Eidoscope? These use chromatic aberration to get softness.

[Mark J]

I didn't know that - v.interesting, thanks. I just read the write-up on galerie-photo.com

[Vaidotas]

There are some worth to read threads related to Nicola Perscheid lens here in this forum.
Interestingly chromatic aberrations are reported using triplet Nicola Perscheid lens variation.

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?55306-Busch-Nicola-Perscheid&p=589364&viewfull=1#post589364

[arri]

Here`s a sample I made with two Elpro VIIa lenses, mounted in a Compound III size barrel.
The lens has a 301mm focus length anf f/6.4 and I use it at full open aperture.
Fuji UM-MA xray film, yellow/green filter -1EV, Kodak HC 110, 1+39
18x24cm sheet film
Sinar Norma

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53327355698_dd7e7896c6_k.jpg