Portraiture with Soft/FX -3 vs soft focus lenses?

[Michael Heald]

Hello! I tried a portrait of my son with my 210mm Sironar N with TMax 400 developed normally in TMax RS
I used a #25 filter and a Soft/FX - 3, and I tried to increase the soft feeling by using f5.6.
How does the Soft filter compare with with true soft focus portrait lenses? Best regards.

Michael A. Heald

[Toyon]

It's hard to tell from you image because of the aliasing in the out-of-focus areas. There are two types of soft focus lenses that I've worked with. One creates diffusive flaring (e.g.: verito, imagon) the others seem more like normal out-of-focus without showing edge diffusion. I've never used a soft filter, but I understand that the effect is uniform, not specific. I don't believe they vary by stop. Therefore you have more control and ability to alter the effect with a lens. Read Purdom's article on this website, if you haven't already.

[Jim Galli]

This is a very subjective subject of course. The best of the soft focus lenses like the Pinkham & Smith Visual Quality will actually have a sharp image within the glowing softness. That is very different than mush.

[russyoung]

There is also the issue of bokeh. The better soft focus lenses produce very pleasing out of focus backgrounds. Another important issue is the apparent increase in DOF with a true soft focus lens; a filter simply destroys resolution uniformly across the field.
No comparison IMHO.
Russ