Nicola Perscheid trial

Huge and ultra heavy 45cm f4.5, soft focus portrait lens. Focus is

pointed at a gentleman sitting at the center, the owner of the studio

and of the lens. Aperture stepped down to f9 without movement, in

order to check the focus condition. Very strange result! Is it good

or bad? I wonder why Mr. Perscheid designed such a lens.

INteresting photo. Too bad the back row is not sharp.

Thank you, Irv. That is the character of this lens and the aim of this test. Only one got focus and other 7 are all out of focus, but in different degree by different distance from the lens, you see? But as a whole, it has good atmosphere. Don't you think so?

This photo would be great if focus in last row was inside the DOF band. 3/5

Hello,

I guess Perscheid designed this lens as a portrait lens. Seems not to be specifically good for groups. I would have loved to see everyone sharp. Very nice posing of the men.

 

stefan

This is the lens very difficult to manage. DOF is very thin like a paper even by F9, as you see in this photo. Image on the ground glass is vague. The owner of this lens, portrait photographer-sitting at the center, says he is always focusing at "vertical slit of lips", not at "eyes" as usually everybody is doing by other lenses. Focus on the back row will be moderately covered by tilting a bit, but this was the test to check the difference of out of focus images by the distance: all of them were keeping different distance from the lens. Please check details by attached photo. I agree with you, Stefan, this is not a lens for group photos.

 

I would kill to get a lens with DOF like this for my digital Olympus E20. At F4, everything and I mean everything is still sharply focused. I need to check out more of your intresting images.

Thank you for your attention, Alex. This lens is too big for small format cameras. But if you want to have this kind of effect, there is a way. By the help of adapter, you can set old lenses to present SLR cameras. I have not much idea about Olympus, but you can utilize extention tube, reverse rings or even body cap to make an adapter, as Olympus is keeping the same flange back and mount in digiral camera. It is enough if you get infinity. It will be an inteligent game to make an adapter. Any way you have to choose a lens at first. I will show you some examples (1), (2), (3), (4), all taken by old lenses.

Hey, the DOF is not simply thin. It has parabolic shape whose bottom is on the optical axis.

 

You can see the shape: The SWC near the left edge was located on the same distance to 3 gentlemen, and is clearly out of focus. The white bearded gentleman looks rather sharp.

I will study your images.

Thanks for comment, Toru. Your analysis is right and professional. I think this lens has its own individuality: focusing is better on right side and on foreground than rear?

 

By using this lens for a group portrait, you have created an unusually interesting photograph with a unique look, and one that I like a lot. The effect you've achieved is one often duplicated to different degrees by digital photographers using image processing programs in computers.

 

Since this appears to be a studio shot, and the lens is owned by a portrait photographer, I would be interested in knowing lighting details and exposure time and shutter speed. I love the light and the tones.

 

Have you printed this?

Thank you for your favorable comment, Jim.

 

This was done under the condition ready for the cliant as usual in this commercial portrait studio. Normal lighting from the ceiling. Roller blind shutter, you can see a grey box in the picture, may be 1/30 second approx. with an aperture f9. Background sheet drawn from the ceiling to the floor. I haven't yet printed it. Thanks.