On 2024-01-31 22:18, Moose wrote:
On 1/26/2024 8:22 AM, Wayne Shumaker wrote: At 1/25/2024 10:23 PM,
mOOse wrote: This year's amaryllis has put up three flower stalks!
The first one was kinda short and has now collapsed. I took the
opportunity to do some play with lenses for overall rendering and
bokeh.<http://www.moosemystic.net/Gallery/tech/Lenses/TTArtisan_&_Oly12-200/ThreeinOne.htm>
All three are hand stacks. Lots of spots from the dirty window on the
natural bokeh samples. I didn't worry about that, as blurring was
anticipated.
Tastes will vary as to which is "best".
A different test n process . . .
Mixed Results Moose There seems to be a halo effect around two of the
top ones.
Is that from the stacking?
No; from imperfect masking. As this is one a a series of tests, not a
finished image, I left them.
What is different between TTArtisan 100/2.8 and the original below?
Same for Nikon NewSoft filter?
The bottom row is as they came out of the camera. The top row is with
messed with background/bokeh.
I'm working on two, maybe three things. I am a gadget guy. I like things
that do stuff. Especially, I may like lenses a bit overmuch. A new, or
new to me, lens is fun. I can handle it, adjust it, put it on a camera,
peer at things, take pictures . . . so I have a lot of them.
But I also have a problem and a desire.
1 -------------------
The problem is travel. We usually, pandemics allowing, are gone for 7-9
weeks in the fall involving travel across the country and/or an ocean.
The vast majority of my Alt lenses, esp. my favs, are for FF. The
vintage ones and some contemporary ones are classic brass and glass --
big -- heavy.
I can't/won't carry an additional body and a big, heavy bag o' lenses on
these trips. Not a big problem in new places and on the move. capturing
all the new stuff in straightforward ways is fine.
OTOH, we revisit many places in the NE. And this year, we caught COVID
and spent 10 days in self quarantine in Maine. Some alternative imaging
options would have been fun.
This test was about that. I'm looking for ways to get images on µ4/3 at
least close to what I can make on FF, preferably with small, light
additional gear. So the comparison for me is of the Sony Soft filters on
my ordinary lens vs. the TTArtisans lens.
2 -------------------
My desire is to make, on FF or smaller gear, photos that are like many
old LF photos. The particular example I always have in mind is Karsh's
famous portrait of Winston Churchill. I had plenty of uncrowded time
with a full size print at Boston's MFA. At normal viewing distance, it
had what I might call a gentle overall look. Close-up, there was a lot
of fine detail, but without sharp edges. I remember particularly the
folds of skin on his knuckles.
I've thought for a long time that the "look" of these old, LF lenses is,
at least in part, a function of absolute aperture size and absolute
distance to film. Diffraction effects don't depend on relative measures
such as f-stop. Thus, perhaps, the combination of edge softness with
detail and great DoF?
Clearly, with conventional lenses on small formats, smaller apertures
for greater DoF and softness are antithetical. I have LOTS of lenses,
both vintage and contemporary ones designed for various form of
softness, dreaminess, swirly or bubbling bokeh. The one thing they all
have in common is that all their "special" qualities diminish, vanish at
small apertures.
In the early '80s, some lenses with adjustable softness came out. I have
the Canon 85/2.8 Soft Focus and Minolta 85/2.8 Varisoft. Both work the
same way, optically, by increasing spherical aberrations, though using
mechanically different operation. With both, as aperture gets smaller,
one may up the softness setting, part way, anyway.
In my travels I encountered the Nikon Soft filters, and along the way
found out that Nikon's designer abandoned the lens approach after
developing a prototype using, guess what, adjustable spherical
aberrations, for softness. His reasoning was apparently the same as
mine. So he developed filters that attempt to emulate lens softness, but
aren't affected by the aperture of the lens behind them.
<https://archive.fo/ICZOA>
Some time ago, I tried them out a bit, but something, likely my love of
gadgets, led me to continue trying lenses. After all, there's nothing to
fiddle with, adjust, hardly anything to fondle to a filter. 😂
Anyway, I seem to be trying again, looking for a lens with interesting
rendering at wide apertures and a cross-over to interesting rendering a
small apertures combined with deep DoF, with a filter. And, of course, I
would be pleased to manage it all with a µ4/3 compatible lens, with
EXIF(?), so I don't need yet another body when traveling.
Impossible? Well, I may find out.
That still leaves the problem of bokeh at small apertures. I'm afraid
that may only be modified in post.
I guess I'm not quite clear on what you did?
I vote for TTArtisan Origiinal bokeh.
Yes, that's very nice. OTOH, the middle top one, regular zoom with
filter, is rather appealing to me too. The color/contrast can be
modified to be more like the TTArtisan, if desired. And I can do it with
nothing more than a filter!
Swamp Slogging Moose
Let me see if I am misunderstanding this incorrectly. You like the LF
lens rendering of Winston. Is it because of the LF lens, the way it
renders, even at smaller apertures, which does not happen with
conventional 35mm alt lenses?
What happens when you use a focal reducer with an alt lens on u43?
So, you are looking for an alt lens/filter, that you can easily travel
with, that can render like the LF version of Winston?
WayneS
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