Plasticca portrait lens construction?

[art_major]

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>does anyone know the Plasticca portrait lens construction? I cant info about it online anywhere. thanks!</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>My best guess, based on the description - fixed aperture without adjustable diaphragm, no shutter - and photos of the lens on the Antique and Classic Cameras site (URL blocked due to spamming a few years ago, but you can Google it), and the <a href="http://www.emilschildt.com/OLD%20LENS%20images01.htm">sample photos on Emil Schildt's site</a>, is that the Plasticca is a simple diopter, single element or doublet, similar to the later Spiratone Portragon and original Lensbaby designs for miniature format. A diopter of around +10 <a href=" a bellows</a> or in a focusing tube may be able to produce a comparable effect.</p>

<p><a href="http://thenewpictorialism.blogspot.com/2011/12/plasticca-lens-configuration.html"><strong>This site</strong></a> describes the Plasticca element as a meniscus which can be reversed for a softer effect, and demonstrates it on a Nikon D3 with bellows for focusing. That pretty much confirms my guesstimate.</p>

<p>The sample photos look identical to <a href="/photodb/folder?folder_id=775068">my results with a Spiratone Portragon</a> - moderately sharp center, tons of spherical aberration, and likely a lot of chromatic aberration on the edges of a full image - if you can find any full frame color photos.</p>

<p>Judging from the auction site prices it seems incredibly expensive due to the collectible value. You could probably emulate the effect much more affordably with elements cobbled from other lenses.</p>

[dan_fromm2]

<p>See http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/oscar_1.html . The last page says explicitly that the Plasticca has two groups. It sounds rather like a periscop.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I noticed that description of "two lens halves" on another site, but wondered whether it meant two optical groups or that the lens barrel assembly was threaded into two halves, with one part of the barrel containing no optical elements, for use with a shutter.</p>

<p>Also interesting that it's described as free of spherical aberration. I may be misinterpreting the type of edge and corner softness present in my Spiratone Portragon, the effect of which is identical to the examples shown on Emil Schildt's site using the Plasticca.</p>

[jodys]

<blockquote>

<p><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=442690">Dan Fromm</a> , Jan 25, 2014; 07:03 p.m.<br /> See <a href="http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/oscar_1.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/oscar_1.html</a> . The last page says explicitly that the Plasticca has two groups. It sounds rather like a periscop.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have at hand 1/2 of a Voigtlander Steinheil's Periskop (long story, I'm a sucker for 'mystery' auctions on fleabay). What I've seen of Plasticca lenses, again on fleabay, are nothing like the curvature of my Periskop.</p>

<p>I do agree that they are fantastically over-priced for what appears to be a simple plano-convex or positive meniscus lens in a fancy brass mount. I looked at the link, but what it says about the lens does not match what the photographs show on fleabay. I do also own a Spiratone Portragon in T-mount, which I use from time-to-time, and does an excellent job as a portrait/soft-focus lens on my dSLRs. The Portragon seems much closer, design-wise, to the Plasticca than my Periskop.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>For large a format soft portrait lens check out a 'Wollaston' lens. </p>

<p>There is an member over at APUG that sells them. He is located in Washougal, Wa. and the prices for lenses that would be used on 4X5 are under $100 shipped. He has quite a few sample photos and the lenses come mounted in plastic barrels with a set of aperture cards. For 4X5 I think you would want the 190mm lens for portrait use. </p>

<p>Cannot remember the name of the bussness, just google 'wollasten meniscus lenses' </p>

<p>No connection, not tried by myself, blah blah blah. </p>