What are all those lens that renders all the imperfections and yet produces beautiful negatives/positives?

baachitraka · Nov 15, 2022

I have very limited collection but mine are,

- Triotar from Rolleicord (wonder swril)

- Helios 44 (sharp, imperfect, etc.,)

what are yours, disregarding formats?

awty · Nov 15, 2022

Holga Optical.

gone · Nov 15, 2022

The op picked two of my favorite lenses. My Rolleicord Triotar pics never gave me swirley backgrounds though, the Helios is the king of that, at least in my pics. The Triotar sure gave me some great portraits, much nicer than the "better" lenses because it isn't overly sharp until you stop it way down, and stopped down it is darned sharp.

I'd also nominate the Summar. Most people think they're not so great because so many of them have haze issues, but a clean Summar is a force to be reckoned with. Probably the best 50mm rangefinder lens I've ever used. Lots of character.

baachitraka · Nov 15, 2022

awty said:
Holga Optical.

Those plastic/glass lenses are beasts in rendering the imperfections. At the same time I looking for a lenses in large format esp., for close portraits.

baachitraka · Nov 15, 2022

momus said:
The op picked two of my favorite lenses. My Rolleicord Triotar pics never gave me swirley backgrounds though, the Helios is the king of that, at least in my pics. The Triotar sure gave me some great portraits, much nicer than the "better" lenses because it isn't overly sharp until you stop it way down, and stopped down it is darned sharp.

I'd also nominate the Summar. Most people think they're not so great because so many of them have haze issues, but a clean Summar is a force to be reckoned with. Probably the best 50mm rangefinder lens I've ever used. Lots of character.

Triotar in Rolleicords exhibit swril only when the aperture is wide open and I shoot mostly the half-body portraits.

Europan · Nov 15, 2022

One interesting design is the Petzval portrait lens. Its development never stopped. Wide open, some Petzval descendants go to f/1.6 and more, you have a swirley impression. By increasingly stopping down the image gets cleaner and sharper outwards.

Another fancy lens is the Celor by Goerz. Also not an anastigmat it delivers cool effects wide open and used at shorter distances. The Kodak anastigmats f/1.9 were copies of the Celor.

Alan Edward Klein · Nov 15, 2022

I don't need a special lens to render imperfections.

FotoD · Nov 15, 2022

I reach for my 21cm Xenar with a scratched rear element when I want that nice glow in the image.

I also have a 75mm Skopar where I unintentionally replaced the balsam between the two rear elements with isopropanol while cleaning it. It also makes fantastic images.

Sirius Glass · Nov 15, 2022

Some imperfections are the subject of the photograph, not the purview of the lens' foibles.

Maris · Nov 15, 2022

My Seagull TLR has a HAIOU 75mm f3.5 triplet lens which is still edge sharp at maximum aperture but also delivers low micro-contrast. I've heard this effect called "butter smooth" rendition. Nice for portraits. A useful imperfection that disappears completely with a bit of stopping down.
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What are all those lens that renders all the imperfections and yet produces beautiful negatives/positives?

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