Those with good memories for trivia may recall my meanderings about photos with soft focus, aberrant focus, etc. and the
lenses and filters to make them.
I've now added to my menagerie it's oldest member, a Canon FL 58/1.2.The FL mount version was introduced , along with a
bunch of others, in 1964. It's low serial number indicates it's from that time. Optically, as with most of the original
set of FL lenses, it's the same lens as the R mount version, in this case, introduced in 1962.
The slightly newer design Rokkor 58/1.2 is a cult lens, fetching relatively high prices. After looking at some reviews
and some photos, I concluded that the Canon is much the same; in at least one head to head comparison, a little better
in bokeh to my eye.
I also hadn't gotten around to comparing the Nikkor Soft filters. Carol likes to put a lot of nice stuff under our tree,
including many animals, from elephants to banana slugs, so I had a widely varied, highly 3D subject.
The LensBaby Velvet 56/1.6 is a successful soft focus lens, and pretty well matched in FL and speed to the Canon 58/1.2,
so I used it alongside the Canon with Nikon Soft 1 and Soft 2 filters. Sony A7, tripod, remote release, each lens/filter
focused using LCD magnification on the head of the central turtle. Canon focused @ f1.2. LBV has nothing to focus on
wide open, so focused @ f2.8 or f4.
Magnification of the lenses is different. Velvet cropped to the same FoV as the Canon at full size, then both
downsampled to 1200 px wide, so mag is close to the same for the comparison. Color is also quite different. The Canon
probably has the famed rare earth glass that yellows with age, and is much warmer. As this is not about those things, I
pretty much matched the Canon color to the LBV.
<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Lenses/Camom_LenB_NikonSofts/NikonSoft.htm>
Things to notice, beyond the overall 'look' of the options:
1. Some clipping of highlights in the top right of the Canon images are artifacts of the color/brightness matching, not
inherent in camera or lens.
2. The LBV has some wild field curvature. Starting at f2.8, the polar bear at the bottom, which is the closest thing to
the lens, is suddenly in rather sharp focus, sharper than the bear to it's left, which is further away. Yet, the turtle
in the center, on which it was focused at about this aperture, is also sharp. In the Canon images, the progression of
focus into deeper DoF is natural. Then look at both top right, the furthest away part with detail. At f2.8, the LBV is
just mush, slowly gaining detail as stopped down, but never close to the Canon.
I think the difference can only be ascribed to field curvature. It looks to me as though the Canon field curvature is
small, as the progression of DoF with aperture looks natural. Perhaps what there is of it is opposite to the LBV?
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All the melange of soft lenses I have do interesting things wide open or close to it, at various AoVs and to various
degrees. What they all have in common is the inability to combine greater DoF with softness.
Clearly, the Nikon Soft filters do that job rather well. For those who may be curious, here's why and how the Nikon
Softs are different than other soft filters. <http://archive.fo/ICZOA>
There are other possibilities, as well, but only for static subjects. With shots with and without filter, it's possible
to adjust the strength of the effect with layer opacity. I've also found a technique to approach the quality of fine
detail without edginess of some old LF lenses.
I've made some images I quite like with the LBV, including an 11x14 print recently framed and about to be hung on our
walls. OTOH, I've been frustrated with some subjects where I couldn't get the shot/effect I wanted. The Nikon Soft
filters look like they will address that, and without needing to carry separate camera and lenses in the field.
Softly, Softly Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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