Soft Dreamy Female Nudes in 8x10, what lens to use what focal length?

harlequin

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Hello Team,

Now that I have your undivided attention, I shall be shooting some dreamy softfocus nudes in May.shot in B+W 8x10, Ilford materials.

Questions...

A). I have a large plasmat razor sharp that would not be suitable for this project. I am looking for advice or suggestions as I want to be in the 360mm to 450mm focal length.

B) as opposed to using a softening filter over lens, I would like some suggestions based on experience, unfortunately a Cooke multi element variable focal length is not in the budget. Which leaves the possibility of a barrel lens

I have a 150 SF lens for rb 67 which gives nice softness yet good definition as well, looking for the same effect only on 810 format. Any lens suggestions appreciated.

PS**Promise to post contact print here once complete.

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions on this!

Regards,

Harlequin
 

wiltw

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If you know the shooting distance, appropriate FL is easy.

If 10', 210mm gets a FOV of about 9' x 11'
 
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btaylor

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Look up Jim Galli. He is here in photrio and was a big participant over at LFPF- look up his posts, you’ll learn a lot. The whole soft focus thing is a big subject, I am looking forward to having more time to spend with my Verito and Kodak portrait lenses. Of course you can always put a stretched stocking over the lens or shoot through Saran Wrap or glass with some Vaseline on it as they did in Hollywood for years- that costs nothing (but is not as fun as playing with vintage glass!).
 

iakustov

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I used Fujinon SF 250mm lens (with yellow disk) with Whole Plate film - dreamy look, yes. For 8x10 there is 420mm Fujinon SF in barrel, but it can be mounted into a shutter.
Also, there is a Tessar type Fujinon L 420mm f/8 single coated, it is sharp, not dreamy / softfocus, but could be more pleasing for portraits, I shot it wide open and results were good.
 

Rick A

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"Back in the day" some of us used a thin smear of petroleum jelly on a filter to achieve that effect. Experiment away.
 

removed account4

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what sort of $$ do you want to spend ?
the modified petzval that Wollensak made
( I can't remember .. I think it was the vesta ) might work for you...
you might also consider taking a lens you like and removing the front element
and convertiblizing it and seeing how that works for you
sometimes sharp lenses can be magical when you just tweak them
or try putting something over the front element
or shooting through piece of glass ( filter ) that is dirty/ schmutzzy
teasers are really sweet wide open too... and 8x10 would be nice and shallow DOF
and nice OOFA.

good luck !
John
 

TheFlyingCamera

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You don't mention a budget, so... a Hermagis Eidoscope will do nicely- they made them in 300mm and longer versions. Also a Wollensak Vesta (they sold them to many other lens retailers to brand with their own names - I have one in Seneca guise, and I've seen them sold as SeRoCo and others as well). A Kodak 305 Portrait is an option, and those were sold both in barrel and in Ilex #5 shutters. The Kodak 405 portrait will cover much bigger sizes, but is only suitable for use in a studio portrait camera - you need a 9" lens board to mount that sucker, and it requires a big-ass Packard shutter. If you're budget constrained, look for an f/8-ish Rapid Rectilinear and just shoot it wide open, and maybe crank the front element out a couple mm's from the default position.
 

gone

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I don't have any faith in putting vaseline on a lens, using soft filters or photographing your model through a stocking. For the shots you want, I would reach back in time as far as possible and select a nice, uncoated, long barrel lens.
 

BrianShaw

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TheFlyingCamera said:
If you're budget constrained, look for an f/8-ish Rapid Rectilinear and just shoot it wide open, and maybe crank the front element out a couple mm's from the default position.
Click to expand...
This is an interesting option and infinitely easier for 4x5. Most are US8, though. Surprisingly, though, these are rather sharp lenses... even for color photography. A beautiful look but not soft. Adjusting elements would likely be necessary for softness.
 

Alan Gales

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Never put Vaseline on a lens. Put a filter on the lens and put the Vaseline on the filter. Vaseline, soft filters and stockings can soften a photograph but will not give you that same "glow" you get from spherical aberrations caused by a true soft focus lens. Backlighting the subject helps too.

The 150mm RB soft focus lens that you use takes "strainers" inserted in the lens as you well know. Imagon and Fuji SF lenses also use strainers. If you buy one of these lenses make sure you get all the strainers. I've seen lots of these lenses as well as the RB and RZ SF lenses on eBay that some or all of the strainers are missing.

I didn't see Heliars mentioned. They are nice too.

Most true SF lenses for 8x10 are on the expensive side. As mentioned above, Jim Galli is the expert on soft focus lenses and can tell you some inexpensive alternatives. He has sold lenses in the past. I'd contact him if I were you.
 

MattKing

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grat

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There are also the pro-mist filters from Tiffen-- The "warm pro-mist" is probably closer to what you're looking for.
 
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