Dallmeyer 10" f/3.5 Portrait Anastigmat w/soft focus

Following up on Professional's suggestion. I've been sick and so spent a lot of time in my studio (bedroom) over the weekend, and shot some examples for this lens on 4x5 (FP4) developed in Rodinal at 100/1. Since my models are on strike, these are all self-portraits. And since my fake Packard shutter is acting up, they were all shot (except the last) with the flash technique (I set everything up, turned out the lights, pulled the darkslide, sat down and triggered the flash).

To engage soft focus with this lens you merely unscrew the front element. It has been compared to the Cooke Knuckler, and I think the look is very similar. The Cooke has five marks for levels of soft focus, while this lens has ten turns before the threads begin to appear, so I am assuming that two turns on the Dallmeyer are equivalent to one mark on the Cooke (which I think my tests suggest is more or less correct). Interestingly, you can turn the element a further ten turns before it comes out of the barrel, so it is possible to "over-clock" the soft focus feature, but I have not dome that except in the last example.

I'm really not very good with soft focus, but these tests did suggest to me a way forward, and I think I will try again with some daylight and backlighting (and more attractive model).

f/16 full sharp


f/16 full soft - A f/16 the soft effect is not too noticeable, at least with no background.


f/3.5 full soft - I forget to stop down after setting up this shot, so it was several stops overexposed, but it does give a sense of the extreme softness possible with this lens (especially consider there are nine more turns available!).