Hi George. So now that you are using the Verito can you share you method for focusing the lens?

Steve

PS. I keep trying to get out to use mine but this time of the year is busy for our business so in a week or so "look out"

George, I've been enjoying a 1921 copy of the Pictorial Photographers Annual. This would fit right in as would your tree shots below. Actually there is a very nice mix in this old journal but of course the 1921 repro quality is pretty dismal. Struss and Smith lenses were like Stutz and Mercer. Dinosaurs roamed the earth.

First, determine the part of the subject that should be in "best" focus. With the iris wide open, find the rough focus for that. Using the loupe move the rear standard until that 'best' spot is adjustable. Now move the rear backward 'out of focus', then slowly forward. You'll now see the subject come into focus -- keep moving forward just until that point starts to go out of focus. Tighten down. Again, do all this wide open. The biggest amount of halo comes when the standard is at the 'rear' point of this spread, and the least when it is at the 'front' of the spread.

In areas of high contrast the halo will bleed fully from the bright into the dark. Branches, for example, will appear light gray, not dark. This is when you start to close the iris -- to get some dark back inside the halo. The "art" of this lens comes at this point -- determining just how much of the halo to cut down. I'm still struggling with that.

One thing to note while you are finding the best focus is that you will not only see white halo, but blue and red as well. If your film is red blind (Efke 25 is like this), then you should take this into consideration.

--- more as I think of it.