Testing the differences of diffusion control with Verito rear element

[xkaes]

There is something going on with these early Wolly lenses that hasn't been explored enough... or I've missed that conversation. Example: I snagged an early (1906?) Wolly Portrait A (6x8), and removed rear, reversed the front to rear (as suggested by some texts in an old catalog), and it REALLY worked! A once so-so lens turned around to sing (to my eyes).

Taking the rear group off of a Wollensack Portrait, and moving the single meniscus front element to the rear creates a Wollaston Landscape lens. There's no magic there -- you end up with a longer focal length, softer, less-corrected lens. Still usable, and the softness is still controlled by the aperture.

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

[Mark Sawyer]

Taking the rear group off of a Wollensack Portrait, and moving the single meniscus front element to the rear creates a Wollaston Landscape lens. There's no magic there -- you end up with a longer focal length, softer, less-corrected lens. Still usable, and the softness is still controlled by the aperture.

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

The f/5 Wollensak Portrait is a Petzval design, so the front element is a cemented plano-convex achromatic doublet. The Wollaston is a single non-achromatic meniscus.

Achromatic doublets, plano-convex or meniscus, are by far the most common soft focus lens design, though there is a lot of subtle variation in design and results. Using the front cell of a Petzval as a landscape lens, well stopped down for sharpness, was fairly common long before soft focus became fashionable.