Entries by George Bogatko (25)
Voigtlander - ca. 1865 Petzval
I'm still housebound, so to while away the time I aim the camera at whatever is there. The best ones so far are from the ol' Voigtlander brass cannon. I managed to mount this on a Cambo 6x6 board. Shutter is whatever I can hold in front and move fast enough. Film is Ekfe 25 4x5 in D76. The plant is an Amyrillis I got from a buddy, and the castor set I got from Mom. There're all soft but very understated. All shot at about f/6 or so, which is wide open for this lens.
Pinkham vs. Imagon
Could someone with a P&S and an Imagon (probably Jim) post a side by side comparison? Imagon is single meniscus, and I believe one of the P&S varieties is single meniscus as well. Flowers in a vase would be a good subject as there are many focus areas and halo opportunities.
Focus by eye
I tried focusing the Verito without a loupe, just moving the glass until it "looked right." It sorta works. There is less overall halo, but ultimately nothing is really defined.
Looking at the P&S manual that Jim posted, in particular the lovely head and shoulder portrait, it struct me that the texture of the print added a lot -- it has that gum look to it. So I scanned the 8x10 with a piece of ordinary letter paper between it and the light source to simulate the gum look. This is the result. This may come awfully close to the 'no digital' rule, but the effect is marvelous. (I'll delete it if requested of course).
Going for depth
I've had some free time on my hands, and decided to experiment with trying to get a 3D effect by using various lenses and shallow depth of focus. The best results came from a Wollensak Focus 5 (aka Vesta), next an Imagon, then a Ross. The Wolly and the Ross are petzval formula, and the Imagon is (... someone help me here). I got six good ones out of 15 shots, here are three of them.
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Ross lens, about 6 or 7 inch. Waterhouse stops. This was shot wide open (about f/3.8). I deliberately darkened it because I thought It looked good that way.
Imagon 250mm. This is using the smallest of the fuzz rings, which puts it about f/11. There is a definite 3D look to the result.

Wollensak Focus 5. This is a petzval formula lens ina studio shutter. This one gives (at least to me) the best illusion of depth.
Cheers,
George
Fern
Also from the Water Gap area. I particularly like the way the fern seems to float up towards you, but still always out of reach. The Verito remains a difficult lens to use correctly. 14.5" on 8x10