A big softie

[pschlute]

My boy Rio is a big softie. So I thought I would take a picture of him with a soft lens. I know this effect can be done easily in software these days, but for this I used an old lens, a Pentax 85mm 2.2 SOFT, dating from the mid to late 1980's. The focus ring is closest to the camera and the more prominent aperture ring is at the front. The aperture is step-less and stops down in real time allowing you to choose the degree of softness while composing the picture.

[Shadowman]

Nice one.

[Manfred M]

An interesting image Peter. I have always had a deep interest in specialty lenses that create interesting optical effects. While the effects can often be emulated in post production these days, the actual optics that were purpose designed often give us superior results. I did not have a lens like this, but remember trying the Vaseline on the filter trick. I only tried that once as it required a very disciplined work flow and working with greasy hands was not an experience I ever repeated (I could not get my hands totally clean at the shoot site).

In these days where the photographic fashion is to have tack sharp images, especially of the key facial features of people and animals, the shot does look very retro.

The questions is "does it work?". On one level it does as you have a soft, fluffy look that complement the subject, but in these days where sharpness is very important, I suspect many observers will fine it just a touch too soft.

[pschlute]

I suspect you may be right Manfred, that this style is seen as a bit old fashioned. I own the lens from a collectors point of view but it is fun to give it an outing now and again.

Here is one i took about two years ago of my other dog Ripley. This was shot on b+w film.

[xpatUSA]

Nice one and a dreamy look.

My first true macro lens (Sigma f/2.8) was manual focus only and had an external aperture ring that went up to f/32. I miss that lens. Later models without the ring went up to f/45!! (or should I say down?) ...

[pschlute]

The optics of this lens are rather odd compared to more normal lenses. It has just two elements both right at the very front. Because it has no aperture linkage (it stops down in real time) the interior viewed from the mount end is one vast cavern. Pentax did produce two later versions of this lens with autofocus in the late 1980’s early 1990’s. I doubt anyone produces this kind of lens anymore. A quick google search tells me the first soft lenses were produced in the 19th century ! One suggestion was that it was to emulate the work of impressionist painters. True or not I find the whole subject quite fascinating

[rpcrowe]

I especially like Rio's image. Can you adjust the softness of this lens? How about using different apertures?

Many years ago, I purchased a Canon EF 135mm SF (soft focus) lens, not necessarily for its soft focus capabilities but because it was a fairly sharp and very lightweight full-frame (and very-very inexpensive) lens for Canon DSLR cameras when the soft focus was dialed in at zero. I still keep this lens because occasionally it is a lot of fun to use. The Canon 135mm SF was one of the first AF lenses for the Canon EF lens line.

It has three "soft" settings zero, one and two. There are many combinations of effects depending on whether you select setting one or two and what f/stop you are using. If I want soft focus, I tend to only use setting one because setting two is too overboard for me. At a mid-range aperture and softening at level one, it just takes some of the sharpness from the image. It's quite nice for videos...

If a person is interested in any type of soft focus effect, there is a plethora of filters available relatively inexpensively on eBay Some examples: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...ilter&_sacat=0 which will help you achieve soft focus on standard modern lenses...

Hee is a YouTube video on diffusion filters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbulaQDz_Pg

[pschlute]

I especially like Rio's image. Can you adjust the softness of this lens? How about using different apertures?

Thanks Richard. The aperture is the only way to adjust the "soft" effect. The aperture ranges from 2.2 to 5.6 stepless. At f4-f5.6 it sharpens up considerably and loses the fuzzy effect. The centre is always sharper than the edges at all apertures. When mounted "correctly", looking down on the lens it does not display the aperture value as with normal lenses of that era, but a visual display of the degree of softness. Having no aperture linkage it can of course be mounted in any of three different orientations on the mount.

That Canon lens looks very interesting, especially as there is a softness control independent from the aperture itself.

ps. Rio's image I took at between 2.2 and 2.8

This is the lens.... http://kmp.pentaxians.eu/lenses/shor.../k85f2-2-soft/

[george013]

Did you ever try using a neutral filter with vaseline?

George

[pschlute]

Did you ever try using a neutral filter with vaseline?

George

I never did George, and judging from Manfred's comments above I don't think I will !

I do recall owning a soft-focus round filter at one point, but don't think I ever used it.

[rpcrowe]

Did you ever try using a neutral filter with vaseline?

George

Like Manfred stated... Using petroleum jelly on a filter can really be dangerous to your gear despite trying to be careful in its use...

A friend of mine had what he thought was a solution by taking two cheap UV filters and smearing the Vaseline over one of them and then covering that side with the second filter. Thereby making a sandwich with the Vaseline between the two filters. Worked great until one of our 100 degree Fahrenheit days when the Vaseline began to run. Bit of a mess

If you want an "el-cheapo" diffusion filter, stretching the mesh from a woman's hose over the lens (securing it with a rubber band) is a safe way to get diffusion. The color and density of the hose material will impact the final product - white, black, and various tan colors will all produce different effects as will the number of layers of material you use. Obviously it will not adversely impact your lens as could the use of Vaseline...

However this is only a "cheap" way to diffuse your images if you have access to ladies hose from a wife or girlfriend. If you have to buy the hose, it would probably be less expensive to purchase a diffusion filter on eBay.

Fabric stores like Joanne's or craft stores like Michael's also sell various types of mesh than can be stretched over a lens...

The impact of the mesh material also depends on the focal length of your lens. Longer focal lengths require more diffusion to obtain the equivalent diffusion impact...

There is a great difference between diffusion and soft focus. With diffusion, the highlights bleed into the darker areas forming a halo effect...

[bambleweeney]

I've got a glass clear filter that I used to smear with vaseline in times gone by, it sort of worked depending on the subject and the amount of vaseline. This is a nice shot and the image suits the lens, I would possibly have tried to get the eye sharply in focus (two shots, two lenses really hard with a moving animal so I would probably have resorted to software for the soft focus or delicately removing some of the vaseline from the filter - no I wouldn't have bothered, very glad you did though)