[LargeFormat] Wollensak Velostigmat Series II Soft Focus Lens

[Marco Milazzo]

Clive,

Thanks for that interesting information on Hurrell. I haven't unsed my
lenses yet because I'm waiting for film holders, but when I have something
presentable, I'll post it (with fear and trembling, I'm sure, because I'm a
rank beginner).

It wouldn't surprise me to see a revival of some type of pictorialism.  You
may know that Cooke is about to roll out a new 229mm, f/4.5 Soft Focus Lens
for 4x5 format.  See this link:

http://www.cookeoptics.com/

Marco



----- Original Message -----
From: "Clive Warren" <cocam@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: <largeformat@f32.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 14, 2002 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] Wollensak Velostigmat Series II Soft Focus Lens


> At 9:58 pm -0600 9/7/02, Marco Milazzo wrote:
> >Other than being variable, how does the look of the Velostigmat soft
focus
> >compare to the Wollensak Verito?  (It's variable by stopping down) I
> >recently acquired a couple of them, (14 and 18-inch lengths), and am
looking
> >forward to trying them.
> >
> >Marco
>
> Marco,
>
> Seems as though you are the only one on the list to have these
> lenses! You may be interested to know that the famous Hollywood
> glamour photographer George Hurrell used a Wolly Verito for much of
> his early work - stopped down to f22! When employed by MGM studios he
> took the lens with him and made use of the excellent lighting
> facilities that he found there.
>
> The Verito as you say becomes sharper as you stop down, however
> because of its design there are still aberrations even at f22 when
> the softness has all but disappeared. This is one element of the
> "Hurrell look" portraiture. He also used diffusion screens under the
> enlarger lens which would have had a very different effect to the
> lens ie the shadows would bleed into the highlights rather than the
> other way around. Shooting at f22 he would also probably not have the
> light halos around the highlights.
>
> Hurrell used arc lights before joining MGM to light his subjects as
> he was using such small apertures and slow film in those days. He was
> known to remove the protective screens from the lights thus putting
> his subject's retinas at risk!
>
> So, with modern strobes you may like to experiment a little with your
> Veritos and perhaps post some photos in the f32 Discussion Forum at
> http://www.f32.net/discus/
>
> The Wolly Velo is a very different lens - you have probably already
> seen the demo. photos posted in the Forum. Essentially you set the
> amount of soft focus desired, then stop down to obtain the desired
> depth of field.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Cheers,
>         Clive
>
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