Zeiss softar filter question

Could someone who owns a Zeiss softar filter please look at theirs,

and tell me whether the raised "globs" are on the outside of the

filter facing away from the film, or inside the filter facing the

film.

I am attempting to replicate this soft focus effect with a uv filter

and small drops of clear nail polish. Now, I know, I know, I know,

that the results could never be as good as the real thing, honestly,

I KNOW, but at the moment I can't afford the real thing.

Please respond only if you have the information I am requesting, I

don't want to know about other methods of soft focus etc. If you

could also kindly tell me approximately how many of these

refractive "globs" there are on a number 1, and number 2 softar. I

would appreciate this information very much.

Thank you in advance, Frank S.

Frank,

 

The "globs" are on the inside, i.e. the side facing the lens/film.

 

I had a look at my only Softar, no. 1, and a (very) quick and dirty count says there are about 100 - 150 "globs" on it.

The nail polish glob idea is actually a very effective technique. Only a few important considerations: Experiment first to see what the effect will be (you can always remove the nail polish with nail polish remover and try again if it's not quite right), and remember, the more you stop down your lens the more likely you are to see the individual globs. Try to space each glob somewhat close to the next glob leaving just a small amount of room for the sharp image to pass through as well. Get very cheap nail polish...it doesn't have any color tints.

???? I have the B&W softar, which is made by Carl Zeiss and my 'blobs' are on the outside, the side that would be facing the subject

Frank,

 

I looked at my Carl Zeiss Softars I, II, III (B57, bay 50), here are the results:

 

2) Softar I: there are 97 �globs� on it, diameter of each one is 2.5-3.0 mm, high is twice less than glob's high on

the Softar II, III (if the Softar II glob�s high is about 0.01, the high of Softar I glob is 0.005mm). Distance between adjoining globs is about 2.5-5.0mm.

 

2) Softar II: about 150 globs, 1.0-2.0 mm in diameter.

 

3) Softar III: about 150 globs, about 2.5mm in diameter.

 

I also understood that the main problem you will have is to make every glob as thin as possible, about 0.00X mm.Try to use an hair from a very thin paint brush, and very liquid (two-component) optical glue that is used for gluing an optical elements of a lens and does have the adequate coefficient of refraction as of an optical glass. Not a clear nail polish of course.

 

Good luck

 

Victor

Let's do a quick poll: are the refractive globs on the filter projecting towards the subject, or towards the film?

I'm wondering if perhaps the Hasselblad Softars' globs are on the inside side of the filter, and the B+W softars' globs are on the outside side of the filter. Please hurry, I'd like to do this this afternoon!

Thanks, Frank

Victor,

 

Just out of curiosity: how did you measure a height of 0.005 mm?

Why not just go buy the Hoya copy as you won't rplicate the effect

of the Softar with drops. The copies are not as good as the Softar

but are much less expensive.

 

FYI the Softar is only made and mounted by Carl Zeiss.

 

It is sold by Heliopan and B+W and Contax in screw in mounts

and Rollei and Hasselblad in bayonet mounts. All Softars are

identical, regardless of supplier, the difference is the mount.

Each manufacturer has to send their rims to Carl Zeiss who then

mounts the Softar in them and returns it to the company.

 

Softars are acrylic with molded lenses in them. They are not

simply a glass filter with drops on it.

Thanks for your input guys,

 

No luck this afternoon with the nail polish though. As the blobs dried, they shrank as the solvent evapourated, leaving flat crinkly globs. I like the idea of the Hoya replicas.

 

Frank

"I like the idea of the Hoya replicas"

 

Not replcas. They give a different result then the Softar.

Frank,

 

I understand that you don't have the money to drop on a Softar, but Bob is correct, the Hoya, and for that matter every other soft focus filter out there is an approximation of the Softar's effect...it will not duplicate it.

 

I personally have never been a fan of soft focus, but I recently worked on a project where the client specifically requested that look, so I figured it was time to see what was available out there, and do some testing. Surely with all the optical advances made by the big manufacturers someone had come up with a better mousetrap since I bought my Softar 12 years ago!

 

Nope.

 

I tried the Hoya, Tiffen's Soft FX series, B+W's Soft Image, Harrison & Harrison, everything my very understanding dealer had in stock.

 

Nothing looked as good to my eye, or rendered as nice an effect as that battered old Softar II.

 

This is a VERY subjective thing, hard to describe, but when you see it, you will know instantly. Nothing I could find duplicated the look of this particular filter.

 

Just trying to save you some time...

 

And no, I did not count my globs, I have never been that bored in my whole life.

Well said Moses.

 

We have also found that people who experiment with various

other soft focus filters invaribly spend more in small chunks then

they would have had they just bought the Softar first time.

 

i know lots of people with lots of soft focus filters sitting in

drawers while the Softars are in use.

There are always Softar filters for sale on Ebay, I bought a brand new one from a dealer for $70 which is a lot cheaper than the $200 I would have paid in the UK.

I have tried various different types of soft filter but none have matched the effect produced by the softar.

Q.G.:I have to get the value of magnitude only. I disassembled the filter and looked at its edge through the microscope equipped with the measurer. I measured very very approximately only a few cut globs are being on the very edge on the filter surface. But now I can say that the height of every globs isn�t equal each other and isn�t equal 0,1mm �1mm as I suggested before. I disassembled only one an older Softar III with a heavy chrome mounting, the rest three ones in black mountings I didn�t.