Hi!
Because of a tragic loss, lately i'm not staying at home for long. Hence no large format photography, no B&W contact prints, no experiments with X-ray film.
I spend most of my time abroad, and i've restarted doing travel photography with my Pentax DSLR bodies, mostly with modern zooms (heaven forbid!), and with a few nice vintage primes (employed on a rotation basis, so i can at least try all my new purchases ).
I still buy a few collector's items every now and then, with the secret hope that sooner or later i will have time to actually try them on film.
When i have nothing better to do i browse Ebay in search of some nice find.
Very often, more often than before, i find lenses sold at hefty prices, and mislabeled as "portrait".
I don't think that it's coming from simple ignorance on the seller's side, not most of the times at least...
Have a look at this pearl:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-F-4-5-Co.../201152269380?
A long blurb on soft-focus lenses, a high price (IMHO)... but what you get is a very common focal, a very common model (albeit from an extremely good lensmaker).
The word "portrait" comes from nowhere. No such engraving on the lens, no adjustable element, nothing.
I contacted the seller, but i'm almost sure i won't get any reply.
Buyers beware!
Better buy the Vademecum before committing to the purchase of a lens which has just the capability to take portraits of human beings. No more no less than all the other glasses which can project a properly focused image on the ground glass plane!
What do you think?
Am i too picky, too naive, too concerned?
cheers
Paolo
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