Re: Matching lenses - distortion/Digression

["Paul A. Lehman" <palehman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Eric Goldstein wrote:
> I think APO lenses began
> being designed and produced by the turn of the century as a result of
> Mr. Schott's new catalogue of glasses with a broader range of indices...

You are quite right. To add a few more limited details, (but you
are forcing my memory to work on a Friday afternoon...ouch). The
photographer wanted "soft focus" from a lens not specifically
designed for it. His reasoning was that by taking advantage of
the (do I have this right?) circle of diffusion (focus) at the
film plane, by altering the colors of the scene, he could soften
selected areas of the scene. For example, having the background
red lit and the subject blue lit, the red areas would be softer
on B&W film as they would focus slightly behind the film plane
whereas the blue would focus at the film plane. However, this is
a second hand, second generation story. I was told his work was
spectacular, but I have not seen any of it.

BTW, a couple of months ago I picked up a near perfect 8.5"
Verato Soft Focus lens (c1930). The (2D) portraits it makes in
B&W are stunning (4x5 B&J camera). Maybe I should try a chug-chug
(its too heavy of a camera and lens for a "cha-cha") for a 3D
soft focus portrait some time. A soft focus 3D picture might just
bring tears to ones eyes. ;>)

Paul A. Lehman