Eartha Kitty with Spiratone Portragon soft focus lens

Exposure Date: 2013:12:15 22:41:24;
Copyright: Lex Jenkins 2013;
Make: NIKON CORPORATION;
Model: NIKON D2H;
ExposureTime: 1/15 s;
FNumber: f/4;
ISOSpeedRatings: 1600;
ExposureProgram: Manual;
ExposureBiasValue: 0/6;
MeteringMode: Pattern;
Flash: Flash did not fire;
FocalLength: 100 mm;
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm: 150 mm;
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Windows);
LR4_LEX_0021-1

Spiratone Portragon 100mm f/4 fixed aperture soft focus lens.

Checking out the Spiratone Portragon soft focus lens after a long while. The Portragon predated the first Lensbaby by a decade or so. It was too far ahead of its time, in terms of the recently trendy retro-chic. And it's not any better than the original Lensbaby - just a simple single front element. You can mimic the effect with a 10x or so closeup diopter on a bellows, or focusable tube - even a simple tube within a tube trombone style focusing doodad would work.

Aesthetically it's not quite as effective on a crop sensor digicam as on 35mm film (or, presumably, full frame digital, which I don't have). Crop sensor digicams crop out the super-soft periphery, leaving a semi-sharp center, which often appears just plain unsharp without the context of the full image circle. Even with the full image circle you won't see a Petzval effect with swirly out of focus edges. It's just simple spherical aberration. The chromatic aberration is nice in color photos in bright, contrasty lighting as well.

For some reason I tend to prefer it on digicams at higher ISOs, perhaps because the grit and lower dynamic range suit the overall lo-fi look. This was on the Nikon D2H at ISO 1600. My D2H barely works anymore - it freezes up after any delay in use. But it's okay around the house where I don't have to depend on it for anything important.