For the Soft Focus Junkies only....

[jimgalli]

I owe much to Mr. Louis Pacilla who was the lucky first caller on a 5X7 Flatbed outfit that had a Karl Struss Pictorial lens included on Craigs List!! The seller offered to pitch the Struss lens in the trash if Louis didn't want it. Oh my God!!

In any case Louis was a willing conspirator and graciously sold / traded the lens to me. No, I did not steal it from him. The price will be forgotten soon, the images made with the lens may be un-forgetable if I can get it right.

Anyways, HERE is a 3 page spread of first fruits for those of you who are following the ever unfolding story of the re-discovery! Comments are of course more than welcome. I learn much from you all.

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Harrahs121308/Harrahs_pg1.html

I posted this earlier over at LFForum but some of my friends here don't stop in there and vice versa. Hope it's OK to double post. I have to wait until I'm home these days to post at APUG. Something about the firewall at work I guess.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Hi, Jim. I love the softness to the photographs. I'd say it was a steal, even if you didn't steal it.

 

[Uhner]

Excellent. It appears to be a quite interesting lens.

 

[jimgalli]

Frustratingly, it seems we build our knowledge base one puzzle piece at a time. Some could care less but I always enjoy knowing as much as possible about the different lenses I own and use.

Oh, how I hope that explanatory booklet shows up some time!

 

[Toffle]

Hi Jim;
Once again I find myself living (looking?) vicariously through your beautiful lenses. Wonderful work.

Cheers,

 

[Frank Szabo]

I have a lens I built from available pieces and parts hoping for this result but have never really tried it out.

Now, I have to, after looking at Mr Galli's photos.

Very pretty, Jim.

 

[jimgalli]

Thanks. BTW even though I have this on a speed graphic in order to use the curtain shutter so the lens can be wide open, for these, I never used it. The shortest exposure all day was 1/3 second and the longest was 5 minutes. No shutter needed.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

I had read, I beleive it was in 'View Camera', where a school teacher had taken kids' plastic magnifying glasses, mounted them on lensboards, figured out the focal length and played with images. They had a soft focus to them as well. I always wanted to get around to playing with that myself.

 

[Frank Szabo]

I had read, I beleive it was in 'View Camera', where a school teacher had taken kids' plastic magnifying glasses, mounted them on lensboards, figured out the focal length and played with images. They had a soft focus to them as well. I always wanted to get around to playing with that myself.

I did that years ago - snatched my grandmother's old glass and brass magnifier and taped it to the front of a camera.

It actually worked - I was amazed then, but not so much now considering what a simple critter a camera actually is.

 

[jimgalli]

I had read, I beleive it was in 'View Camera', where a school teacher had taken kids' plastic magnifying glasses, mounted them on lensboards, figured out the focal length and played with images. They had a soft focus to them as well. I always wanted to get around to playing with that myself.

You're onto it. That's all this multi-thousand dollar lens is. Do a search over at LFForum for 1F99 and 2F99 to see some of Mark Sawyers pictures he did with his high school class. View camera published them. They were gorgeous. It's the collector in me that wants the one in the 1912 aluminum barrel that says Struss Pictorial Lens.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Yup, that's the one. Dangit! Now I've got work to do. Thanx ;p

 

[richard ide]

Jim,
Outstanding!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[seawolf66]

Jim: As always your work Inspires me a lot , those lens are all great But that Cooke sure does give you the detail of what your shooting, But all of those shots are very good
and I know deep down your darn happy with those lens you, have obtained for your own use : Happy Holidays

 

[mikebarger]

Thanks Jim, neat to see the different lens with same subject.

Between the two, I liked the P and S everytime.

Of course if I had that Cooke, the other two would never get out of the bag.

Mike

 

[cdholden]

Jim,
Thanks for another great photo post. I really liked the shot of Mr. Jolson's '33 Cadillac. Even beyond his time here, we can still enjoy it. If I ever find myself out toward the west coast again, I'll be sure to set aside a day in Reno for this pitstop.
Looking at the shots you captured, I find myself leaning toward the look of the Pinkham & Smith over the Struss almost every time. Soft focus and out of focus add an artistic view I like in stills. The shots represented by the Cooke have so much detail, I admit that I find myself curiously looking at the front of my under-used camera and thinking how it could appreciate the ability to snap up that much detail from such a lens.
Happy holidays.
Chris

 

[Nitai108]

I like mostly the Struss, but the P&S is also very nice, it has those round kinda bokeh reflections, which sometimes are good, sometimes are distracting.
The '21 Copper Rolls Royce Struss is the one I liked the most, it really struck me, but the P&S is also kinda interesting, after looking for a while at the P&S and the Str. the Cooke looks kinda uninteresting. Great work