Soft focus lens for 35 mm?

charlemagne · Thursday at 9:39 AM

Dear Apug / Photrio community,

For years I have been working with a Rodenstock Imagon lens. I have the 120, 150, 200 and 300mm. I mainly do landscapes on 120 or 4x5. Lately I started to photograph some architecture with it.
The Imagon is an achromatic lens equipped with diffusion or sieve aperture discs and produces soft images.
I like to exaggerate the soft effect by not using the discs, it can give marvelous optic/photographic effects.

Working on 35mm format I can use the 150 mm on my Nikon because that one came with an F-mount tube, but the angle of view is too narrow for the things I want to do.
So now I am looking for a soft focus lens in 35 mm format with a focal lengt of about 50mm with (kind of) the same optical qualities as an Imagon. Does such a lens exist? Can anybody help me with my search?

Thank you all in advance.

BrianShaw · Thursday at 10:37 AM

For the Nikon... I don't think so, and especially in such a short focal length.

You might want to explore the multitude of SF "filter" options. I've tried many. Some work better than others (to my eye). They are somewhat affordable so getting a selection and experimenting is quite possible.

p.S. I'd give a recommendation on which to start with but it's quite clear (fuzzy?) that you like much more softness than I. My recommendation wotu probably be a complete failure in your situation. OK.. changed my mind. There is a set of Nikon SF filters that I like. I use only numbers 1 and 2, but you might prefer 3.

Edit: https://imaging.nikon.com/imaging/information/story/0051/

retina_restoration · Thursday at 10:45 AM

Some of the Lensbaby lenses do "soft focus" effects of various kinds, but I don't know for a fact if they have a lens that emulates the Imagon.

grain elevator · Thursday at 10:46 AM

Maybe something from here https://lensbaby.com/collections/lenses or here https://shop.lomography.com/eu/lenses/petzval suits your taste?
More usual soft focus lenses for 35 mm are 85 mm and up.

ags2mikon · Thursday at 11:12 AM

Tiffen black net and Nikon soft 1 and 2 are my favs. YMMV.

Sean Mac · Thursday at 12:24 PM

The Helios 44 is 58mm.

A Zeiss Biotar clone apparently.

The front element has been reversed by some people in search of more extreme soft focus effects.

Lots of information out there....

xkaes · Thursday at 12:26 PM

Nikon never got into soft-focus lenses, but there are a couple that can fit on a Nikon. Tamron made a great 75-150mm f2.8 SF zoom but it's hard to find and pricey. There are some others like the Spiratone Portragon 100mm f4 SF lens that might meet your needs -- easier to find and inexpensive.

You could try "soft-focus" filters, but most just break-up and scatter the image. Softar filters are much better but they are expensive, and really only work on longer lenses (85mm and up) wide open. Hoya made similar filters that are reasonably priced. Minolta made Portrayer filters that are completely different -- they are great and work at any f-stop or focal length, but they are expensive too.

But you can always make your own. This page has lots of links on the bottom of the page on how various people have done it -- for various formats. The challenge for making a 50mm SF lens is that there is not much room to work with. The lens mount is about 45mm from the film, so you only have a few millimeters for an adapter -- such as a reversing ring.

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

dynachrome · Thursday at 12:58 PM

A few years ago a lens was delivered to me from an auction site. I put it on a camera but couldn't get anything into sharp focus. What happened? The lens came with a fog filter attached!

blee1996 · Thursday at 1:28 PM

Minolta makes a 85mm soft focus lens, but I have not tried it.

I have a Canon EF 135mm soft focus lens and like it, but it is too long for your purpose.

Nikon made 105mm and 135mm Defocus Control lenses, which again too long for you.

I like Zeiss Softar as well.

xkaes · Thursday at 2:43 PM

Fuji made an 85mm SF lens and it MIGHT have come in a M42 screw mount which would work on a Nikon.

loccdor · Thursday at 3:15 PM

Regarding the example picture you posted, I have seen similar achieved with double exposures, one wide open and focused close, the other taken normally.

Sanug · Thursday at 5:41 PM

xkaes said:
Fuji made an 85mm SF lens and it MIGHT have come in a M42 screw mount which would work on a Nikon.

I owned one. Yes, M42, but there is no switch for manual aperture. Most adapters don´t trigger the auto aperture pin and leave the lens always wide open. This may be the reason why all images you will find in the web are taken at full opening and maximum softness.

However, this was not an issue with my Praktica MTL5. But I had much trouble with focusing. And I did not like the effect at all, even stepped down it was too harsh for me. I bought the Fujinon SF quite cheap and was happy to sell it for the same price.

I can recommend the Zeiss / Rollei Softar, but they are not available in the 52mm Nikon size. Look for Hoya or Hama Softener, it is the same structure.

Nicholas Lindan · Thursday at 8:40 PM

I also find the Nikon soft-focus filters to work well.

My favorite in the reasonably-priced-soft-focus-lens is the Spiratone Portagon coupled with a Nikon 201 2x tele-extender (I am sure any other 2x extender would work just as well, sharpness not being an issue here). The Portagon shows up on ebay from time to time for $20-$50. It is a T-Mount lens so figure adding a adapter to your ebay purchase if you don't already have an adapter.

Yer not-so-humble author:

beemermark · Thursday at 11:20 PM

Vaseline. Cleans off and you can try different amounts.

MattKing · Friday at 12:09 AM

beemermark said:
Vaseline. Cleans off and you can try different amounts.

Probably not necessary to say this, but For clarity - Vaseline on a filter, not on the lens itself.

Richard Man · Friday at 12:22 AM

Just get a Holga. Larger negatives too.

mshchem · Friday at 12:26 AM

Nicholas Lindan said:
I also find the Nikon soft-focus filters to work well.

My favorite in the reasonably-priced-soft-focus-lens is the Spiratone Portagon coupled with a Nikon 201 2x tele-extender (I am sure any other 2x extender would work just as well, sharpness not being an issue here). The Portagon shows up on ebay from time to time, figure $20-$50. It is a T-Mount lens so figure adding one to your ebay purchase if you don't already have one.

Yer not-so-humble author:

View attachment 406807

Spiratone, that's a good old Pop Photo advertising name. They sold everything.

Would it be possible to "3-D Print" or maybe use a paper punch like device, not sure if it would need to be symmetrical to get a disc device that could be fixed to an old crusty manual focus lens?

If one was adventurous and had access to some junk lenses might be able to invent something. A perforated black vinyl adhesive patch

Petrochemist · Friday at 3:43 AM

Sean Mac said:
The Helios 44 is 58mm.

A Zeiss Biotar clone apparently.

The front element has been reversed by some people in search of more extreme soft focus effects.

Lots of information out there....

Removing the rear group from many lenses also gives a soft focus effect, but it does tend to increase the focal length. The Pentax 50mm I tried it on became about 120mm, perhaps trying it on a wider lens might be effective?

Just using a close up filter without a lens at all is another option. Though you'd need around +20 diopter to be around 50mm focal length & focusing would need some thought especially on a Nikon as it's rear flange distance is about 46mm giving you very little room if you want infinity focus.

One third option is to add a wide angle adapter to your Imagon. I'm not a fan of these but that's because of a drop in IQ which may not be relevant if you're after soft focus. something similar to these:

Wide Angle Adapter 0.3x for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Wide Angle Adapter 0.3x. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

charlemagne · Friday at 8:07 AM

Good day all, thank you for your replies.

I experimented with lots of soft, haze, mist and diffusion filters, including Zeiss Softars. But I haven't tried them all yet, maybe the Minolta Portrayer is nice.
However, to my opinion nothing beats a proper soft focus lens.

The Lensbaby might be worth to try.

So Helios is a Russian version of Zeiss' Biotar, if I'm correct. I found different versions of Helios and Biotar lenses. I wonder if there would also be a difference in softnesss? Does anybody know which version is the softest? Or if a specific versions comes close to an Imagon?

The Spiratone might also be worth to try, that seems to be a real sf lens with at least 2/3 of the angle of view that I am using now. The sf lenses from Fuji and Minolta have an even shorter focal length, so they seem more practical to me. Of course I will have to use an adapter or have it converted to Nikon F.
Maybe first I will have to look for some examples of how these lenses perform in the field.

Maybe I can mount a 35 mm format lens (of about 85 mm focal length) to a medium format camera, perhaps with bellows and maybe I have to find a shutter.

A wide angle adapter might actually work for me. But I will have to find out how it performs and how it influences the Imagon's characteristics.

charlemagne · Friday at 8:07 AM

Sean Mac said:
The Helios 44 is 58mm.

A Zeiss Biotar clone apparently.

The front element has been reversed by some people in search of more extreme soft focus effects.

Lots of information out there....

I don' know yet if I am going to buy a Helios and perform surgery on it, but I sure would like to know more about that.

charlemagne · Friday at 8:08 AM

xkaes said:
Nikon never got into soft-focus lenses, but there are a couple that can fit on a Nikon. Tamron made a great 75-150mm f2.8 SF zoom but it's hard to find and pricey. There are some others like the Spiratone Portragon 100mm f4 SF lens that might meet your needs -- easier to find and inexpensive.

You could try "soft-focus" filters, but most just break-up and scatter the image. Softar filters are much better but they are expensive, and really only work on longer lenses (85mm and up) wide open. Hoya made similar filters that are reasonably priced. Minolta made Portrayer filters that are completely different -- they are great and work at any f-stop or focal length, but they are expensive too.

But you can always make your own. This page has lots of links on the bottom of the page on how various people have done it -- for various formats. The challenge for making a 50mm SF lens is that there is not much room to work with. The lens mount is about 45mm from the film, so you only have a few millimeters for an adapter -- such as a reversing ring.

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

None of my browsers open the website unfortunately...

jeffreyg · Friday at 8:09 AM

Here’s a different approach if you are doing your own printing (I never tried it with a camera but it might work). I got two pieces of quarter inch glass and put a few drops of baby oil between them. I sharply focused the negatives and then held the glass under the enlarging lens until I got the look I wanted. I then made a test print to be sure of the exposure time and then made a print projecting through the glass. This way I had a sharp negative and an adjustable “filter”. One of the images I did that way I photographed and had it enlarged to six feet for an exhibition. It reproduced very well.

charlemagne · Friday at 8:10 AM

loccdor said:
Regarding the example picture you posted, I have seen similar achieved with double exposures, one wide open and focused close, the other taken normally.

That idea is very interesting.

loccdor · Friday at 9:23 AM

charlemagne said:
That idea is very interesting.

This photographer has many images in that technique.

xkaes · Friday at 9:56 AM

charlemagne said:
None of my browsers open the website unfortunately...

Reset your security setting or try another "computer" or OS. It's there and has SSL.

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

Soft focus lens for 35 mm?

charlemagne

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