Soft Focus Portrait Lens

[wfwhitaker]

...this Perscheid lens went for $2025.00. That's two thousand twenty-five U.S. greenbacks....

I didn't buy it.

 

[Flauvius]

Availablity Of A Veritor 11 1/2" Lens

Fans of Veritors may be interested to note, that as of November 23nd, Classic Cameras of Runnemede, NJ, - U.S.A. - had an 11 1/2" Veritor for sale. The owner's daugther - when I last spoke with her some months ago - stated that her father wanted $175.00 for the lens.

When I inspected the lens: the lens is not in any type of shutter, the iris seamed a little stiff, and the front element had what appeared to be either "sharply defined white dust", or some type of dry white fungus. However, the rear element on this big lens looked to be in excellent condition.

Yet, given the noted cirusmstances, I chose to pass on this lens. FWIW, the lens is on a large wooden lens board that is affixed to a very old wooden 8x10 studio camera.

Lastly, I would like to state: that I neither have any financial interest in this lens, nor do I know the name of the store's owner. Indeed, this information is simply presented solely for the benefit of the APUG community.

Flauvius

 

[jd callow]

Flauvius,
Thanks a bunch. I am watching for soft focus lenses on ebay -- this price is (if all things are equal) on the low side.

I am also pretty hyped about trying one of these things, but don't have a lot of money to throw at more equipment (I'm getting ready to move, build a darkroom and I'm married -- that last bit being crucial)

Beside Jeremy Moore and I, is there anyone interested in going in on this or another soft focus? We could do a time share; 2-3 months each investor (with a paying job taking precedence over the share schedule) with a buyout and print exchange included.

This way, if you're like me, and want to explore prior to purchase (on not) your investment is minimal.

PM me or jeremy or post here if you are interested.

jdc

Fans of Veritors may be interested to note, that as of November 23nd, Classic Cameras of Runnemede, NJ, - U.S.A. - had an 11 1/2" Veritor for sale. The owner's daugther - when I last spoke with her some months ago - stated that her father wanted $175.00 for the lens.

When I inspected the lens: the lens is not in any type of shutter, the iris seamed a little stiff, and the front element had what appeared to be either "sharply defined white dust", or some type of dry white fungus. However, the rear element on this big lens looked to be in excellent condition.

Yet, given the noted cirusmstances, I chose to pass on this lens. FWIW, the lens is on a large wooden lens board that is affixed to a very old wooden 8x10 studio camera.

Lastly, I would like to state: that I neither have any financial interest in this lens, nor do I know the name of the store's owner. Indeed, this information is simply presented solely for the benefit of the APUG community.

Flauvius

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

My 11-1/2" Verito just came back from S. K. Grimes. Check out the fine job they did of squeezing it onto a Wista/Technika lensboard (apologies for the cross-posting from lfphoto.info)--

The 11-1/2" f:4 Verito is too big to mount on a Technika board via the regular mount behind the shutter, but the rear threads are deep enough for a ring that can support the weight of the lens, so they made a mounting ring that goes right through the lensboard and just fits inside the light trap on the back of the board. With the front standard on the end of the rail on my Tech V, the lens focuses just past infinity, and at full extension magnification is about 1:1.

I've got a Polaroid Type 55 test neg drying on the line, but when I take some more interesting pictures with it, I'll post them in the gallery.

 

[BradS]

That's excellent! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see the sample photos.

 

[rbarker]

That looks fabulous, David. I'm anxious to see your results with the lens.

What's the speed on the Studio shutter? Any X-sync possibilities?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Here's the test shot and a detail that really shows the Veritocity of the thing (I know--it's totally lame to be taking photographs of cameras, but it was the closest interesting thing at hand that would generate some good specular highlights). Polaroid Type 55, neg scan, f:6.3 or so, 6 sec., one desk lamp and a large sheet of white paper as a reflector.

The Studio shutter only has a B setting, so the max speed is as fast as I can open and close it (about 1/4 sec.), and for strobes it's open flash technique. I could look into adding X-sync, but I have a big front mount Luc-type shutter (not sure if it's actually made by Luc, but it looks like it), and I think I'll get that one modified for X-sync one of these days so I can use it on all my big portrait lenses.

 

[Ole]

For those interested,Lotus View Camera has a Voigtländer Heliar 300/4.5 for sale at the decent price of 430 Euro. It's even in a shutter, a #5 Compound.

While this is not a soft-focus lens, it will have the ultra-smooth "bokeh" that the Heliar lenses were designed for. I would buy this if I had any spare money at the moment - I know what my Heliar 150mm is good for, and it's a little short for portraits.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Here's a landscape test shot I took this morning--Type 55, f:18 or so, about 1/4 sec. (my fastest speed). You can't tell from this scan, but under a loupe, you can see the effect of chromatic aberration even stopped down past f:16, though the spherical aberration that makes the soft-focus effect at wide apertures diminishes significantly past f:8 or so. I should try it with a yellow filter, just to see if there are any residual Verito effects with the chromatic aberration corrected.

 

[JG Motamedi]

David,

Can you detail more about the chromatic aberration? I was under the impression that the Verito lenses, as modified Petzvals (petzvaloids?), were fairly well corrected for color. Do you see banding?

jason greenberg motamedi

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yes, you can see obvious color fringing at all apertures with color film, banding with B&W if you look closely at details. I've attached a fragment, 0.375 inches wide from a 600dpi scan of an 8x10" color transparency that shows this effect (you're looking at cactus needles). The lens is a 14.5" Verito, stopped down around f:22 if I remember correctly.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

14.5" Verito on eBay--

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3861021020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Should be a good deal, because it doesn't have "verito" in the item title.

 

[Jeremy]

14.5" Verito on eBay--

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3861021020&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

Should be a good deal, because it doesn't have "verito" in the item title.

David... shhh!

My girlfriend put this on her watch list as an early b-day present for me

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

(Okay, I won't tell anyone else).

Meanwhile, I deleted the landscape with the 11.5" Verito on Type 55 above, and I'm posting a new one that I made at the same time--Astia, f:32, 1/4 sec (as fast as I can open and close it). The scan looks pretty sharp on the computer screen, but compared to one made with a sharp lens, it's still quite soft at f:32. The chromatic aberration visible in the macro shot of the cactus isn't as obvious with the lens focused near infinity, though.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

More Verito examples (soft focus lens fetish porn)

I just bought this lovely original box for my 10" WF Ektar from Mike Whiting here on APUG, and made an 8x10" Polaroid of it with the 14.5" Verito, that shows a good example of the front bokeh vs. the rear bokeh with the Verito. Here's the full shot (Type 809, 1/3 stop down from f:8, 2 sec., 81B+81C filters)--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The first detail attached shows the characteristic Verito glow a little behind the plane of focus. The second detail shows the "bad" double-line bokeh in front of the plane of focus.

 

[bobfowler]

I know I'm answering this a bit late...

I use a wonderful old B&L Rapid Rectilinear for my 8X10. It's not REALLY a soft focus lens, but negatives made with it have a wonderful "creamy" look.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists) in my gallery was shot with that lens last weekend. (J&C Pro 100 was the film)

 

[BradS]

I just bought this lovely original box for my 10" WF Ektar from Mike Whiting here on APUG, and made an 8x10" Polaroid of it with the 14.5" Verito, that shows a good example of the front bokeh vs. the rear bokeh with the Verito. Here's the full shot (Type 809, 1/3 stop down from f:8, 2 sec., 81B+81C filters)--

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The first detail attached shows the characteristic Verito glow a little behind the plane of focus. The second detail shows the "bad" double-line bokeh in front of the plane of focus.

The glow....beautiful. Thanks David for sharing these examples. The way the prices on these verito's are rising, it won't be long before the Cooke PS starts to look affordable.

Brad.

 

[johnnywalker]

I have a Schneider Symmar 210 convertable (to 370 I think). I understand that the 370 is "soft" compared to the 210. My question is, would the 370 make a reasonable portrait lens?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have a 210/370 as well. I like the 210 for portraits, though it's not a "soft" lens. The 370 might be attractive, but you need lots of bellows for it, because the cell should be used behind the shutter. You need about 18" to focus to infinity with that lens as a 370mm, so for portraits, you might need around 24" or more, depending on how close you want to be.

 

[removed account4]

I have a Schneider Symmar 210 convertable (to 370 I think). I understand that the 370 is "soft" compared to the 210. My question is, would the 370 make a reasonable portrait lens?

hi johnnywalker -

on the schneider website they suggest the longer focal length of their convertible symmars make nice portrait lenses -

i also have a 210/370 and use it on a 5x7 to shoot portraits from time to time - its not as soft as a verito or other "portrait lens," but it is a "plasmat design" so it works pretty well

 

[johnnywalker]

Thanks John. I'll have to try it. I have a long and short rail that tie together, so should have enough room that way, if the bellows will stretch.

 

[brianjnelson]

10 Inch Veritar on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=30077&item=7508830789&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

[Mongo]

10 Inch Veritar on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=30077&item=7508830789&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Why is it that someone would auction off a lens and not show at least one picture of the glass???

 

[wfwhitaker]

Why is it that someone would auction off a lens and not show at least one picture of the glass???

I'm just guessing, but probably because they have 37 other items up for auction at the same time, most of which are non-photography-related. Suggests that maybe they're both busy and not as atuned to the important aspects of lens buying as we are.

It's worth noting, however, that this buyer also has two different 12-inch Wollensak Velostigmat Series II lenses for sale. One appears to be in a Betax and the other is in a Studio shutter. The latter does appear to have the markings on the rim indicating that is is the variable soft focus type. Series II came in both variable soft focus and "non-soft focus" (commercial) versions. Hard to tell what the Betax one is.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I'm just guessing, but probably because they have 37 other items up for auction at the same time, most of which are non-photography-related.

You just never know what you'll find among the skookum dolls and the chamber pots.