Soft Focus ~ a consolidated short list of lenses

Here is a short list of soft focus lenses that I recently compiled.  I posted parts of this in several previous articles.  Of course there are many additional options, as can be seen on Jim Galli's old Tonopah site.  So do not take this as a definitive list, OK?

The first section came from browsing the Clarence White edited journal "Pictorial Photography in America" from 1920 thru 1922.  These journals reveal an interesting list of lenses -

• Aldis f/3 and f/4.5
• Goerz Portrait Hypar
  
• Pinkham and Smith -
  
• "Synthetic" for landscape
• "Visual Quality" for portraiture
• "Wolf Artistic" slip-on diffusion lens
• Spencer Portland Pictorial
  
• Struss Pictorial
• Turner Reich Hyperion Diffusion Portrait f/4
• Wollensak Verito f/4

Post-Pictorialist Era Large Format Soft Focus Optics

• Cooke PS945 9inch/229mm f/4.5
  
• Fuji Fujinon 180mm f/5.6 SF with strainers
• Fuji Fujinon 250mm f/5.6 SF with strainers
• Rodenstock Imagon series with strainers
• 120mm
• 150mm
• 170mm
• 200mm
• 250mm
• 300mm
• 360mm
• 480mm
  
• Yamasaki Congo 150mm f/5.6 SF
• Yamasaki Congo 200mm f/5.6 SF
  

120 Medium Format Optics

• Fuji GX EBC Fujinon GX/GXM SF 190mm f/8 
• Mamiya 645 Mamiya-Sekor SF C 145mm f/4 
• Mamiya RB67 150mm f/4 C Variable Soft Focus 
• Mamiya RZ67 180mm f/4 D/L Variable Soft Focus 
• Pentax 67 SMC 120mm f/3.5

35mm format glass optics

• Canon FDn 85mm /f2.8 six elements/four groups
• Fuji M42 85mm f/4 - four elements/four groups 
  
• Kenko 
• MC 45mm f/4.5 - two elements/one group meniscus 
• MC 85mm f/2.8 - three elements/three groups
  
• Lensbaby 
• Velvet lens series - 28mm, 56mm, 85mm
• Minolta 85mm Varisoft f/2.8 - six elements/five groups 
• Pentax 
• K-mount 85mm f/2.2 - two elements/one group meniscus
• SMC F/FA 85/2.8 Soft - five elements/four groups
  
• Sima 100mm f/2 Soft Focus - single element(?), no aperture control 
• Sony A-mount AF 100 F2.8 Soft - eight elements/eight groups
  
• Tamron T-mount 70-150 f/2.8 SF type 51A - fourteen elements/ten groups 
  

35mm format plastic lenses

• Kiyohara Kogaku 
• Soft VK50 f/4.5 - single element plastic
• Soft VK70 f/5 - single element plastic 
• Lomo Plastic Diana lenses 
• Yasuhara Momo 100 43mm f/6.4 Soft Focus

 

I think that's it for now.  Maybe a good photography project will keep me occupied after things open up a bit.  

 

Until then I'll likely go rather quiet.  Not much to write.  Not much to share.  Hope enjoyed the stuff that did get posted.

Bye for now.