Veritar instructions?

[russyoung]

Thanks for the upload, John.

Russ

[mdarnton]

I read instructions for a SF lens just the other day that cleared something up for me. I don't remember which lens it was, but the maker warned that the lens should be focused for sharpness, not contrast. That rang a bell with me because when I focus various SF lenses I have had a problem with this, vibrating between contrast and sharpness, which do not appear at the same point. The maker warned that it is tempting to stop when the view has the most snap, and this is wrong--that you need to look carefully with a loupe and ascertain the sharp spot, ignoring the way you would normally focus by looking for the best overall effect.

[lab black]

Thank you John. The Wollensak Verito instructions are most helpful.

[jnantz]

Thanks for the upload, John.

Russ

pleasure's mine russ !

Thank you John. The Wollensak Verito instructions are most helpful.

lab black, its for the veriTAR, a different lens than the veriTO
not sure if they ever printed instructions for the veritos ( would have been helpful thought ! )

[jnantz]

I read instructions for a SF lens just the other day that cleared something up for me. I don't remember which lens it was, but the maker warned that the lens should be focused for sharpness, not contrast. That rang a bell with me because when I focus various SF lenses I have had a problem with this, vibrating between contrast and sharpness, which do not appear at the same point. The maker warned that it is tempting to stop when the view has the most snap, and this is wrong--that you need to look carefully with a loupe and ascertain the sharp spot, ignoring the way you would normally focus by looking for the best overall effect.

hi michael

what do you mean by this ?
do you mean, once you find the sweetspot, and
construct your image around that everything else
hopefully will fall into place ?
kind of like " water finds its own gravity" ?
i hate to admit this, but i am terrible at understanding the mechanics of this
sort of stuff, and stopdown and focus, and squint my eyes for the contrast
to drop all the mid tones out, and kind of ... wing it.
the old manuals had great instructions, and usually written so formal, like poetry almost.

[LabRat]

I find that with my 9" Verito, I could roll the focus around and the effect will vary, and there will be other sharp points (more & less) through the range, so I can choose the effect I like, and there will be some skeleton bones of a sharp(ish) point to anchor the image "sharpness"...

I figure that the instructions were for the orthochromatic era, and would settle the focus for green/blue of the films, but now with pan films, if it will focus at other spectra also, that will also record, so that gives us more choices for effects... (Thank you, chromatic aberration!!!)

Steve K

[mdarnton]

No, I'm talking about using a magnifier, and the thing I read said specifically that you should not focus without one because you will be thrown off by the contrast.

Yes, my lenses float through focus too, but there seems to be one spot better than the others.

[LabRat]

No, I'm talking about using a magnifier, and the thing I read said specifically that you should not focus without one because you will be thrown off by the contrast.

Yes, my lenses float through focus too, but there seems to be one spot better than the others.

Yes I agree that there is a dominant focus point, and yes, you are correct... That would be better for a portrait or something that requires the sharpest (soft) point at that f stop, but for some subjects (like a flower, etc) that might be nice with the max "bloom" of the focus, one could roll around the focus and see what you like on the GG that should render well on pan film... So there are other "settings" too...

Steve K

[William Whitaker]

I focus for the most pleasing rendition on the ground glass, figuring that's what's going to be on the negative (using panchromatic materials). Trying to focus a lens which is inherently 'out of focus' is like trying to pee in the corner of a round room.

Before you hang me, yes, I know 'out of focus' is not strictly correct. But that's the way I think of it and in fact, spherical aberration, which in many SF lenses is what gives us their charming effect, is the result of different zones of a lens/mirror not bringing light rays to the same focus. So I'm not too far off, I don't think....

[LabRat]

I also find that there are several imperfect focus points if I roll the focus over a longish focus travel that I use as a softness "dial" setting... There is a primary point where most of these come into focus together, but as the focus is rolled (fairly far), a smaller percentage of these come together (with a softer effect)... So the # of points together are my softness "dial"...

I primarily shoot C/U with mine, and prefer using a monorail camera (with front and back focusing), as a front focusing camera C/U (2 or 3" away) changes the lens to subject distance and my softness "dial" becomes less linear while looking for these points (as the image size + focus points go a little screwy)... I also find that I can artificially create a DOF effect by carefully finding the point where a few points are in front or behind the primary focus point (of an inch or so)...

I remember reading in an old Wolly ad that they will send a rep to your studio to give you a full tutorial on their use with purchase of these lenses... I don't think they will make good on that now... :-#

Steve K