Image softness storytelling

Following my thoughts on image storytelling (in this post) I now can reason why I like this image I captured the other day.
Would the photograph "tell the story" in the same way if the image would be pin sharp?
I don't believe so...


adapted X-Fujinon 50mm f1.6   1/8000sec

This image is a combination of slight miss-focus with a lens that is not that sharp to start with.
As I used an adapted old SLR manual-focus lens wide-open the view appeared slightly blurry and glowy. That lens renders a sharper image and much better contrast when I close its aperture a bit; but in doing that I would have lost the vintage appeal and separation of the main subject against the background.

Would I have been using instead my superbly sharp (comparable angle of view) modern lens done a better job?
Maybe.
If the viewer is bent on sharpness and precision, recording an event and place with minute details, then yes, by a long margin.
But if the viewer can create in his/her mind a story around that image then I am afraid to say that the super sharp lens would probably not help to create that look of nostalgia.
And that is why I burden myself with the awkward old glass from film days, where I can create "the feel" that my modern lenses can not.

Kodak Cine Anastigmat 63mm

In my discovery of adapting old manual-focus lenses I have come across the wonderful old ones intended for 16mm cinema cameras of the 40's and 50's: specifically the Kodak Ektar and Anastigmat.
It is possible to use them on smaller sensor digital cameras that have a flange distance so much closer than a typical DSLR. Micro 4/3 cameras are ideally suited for these old beauties.
The images that one can produce with them are truly unique, where the edges of the frame start to darken and the background that is not in focus begins to swirl.
Among them I found the Anastigmat 63mm f2.7; a rather long focal length with a unique capability to extend the focusing for close-up subjects.



I have tried several times to use modern lenses for details photography and none offer me the ease of use and the instant feedback as much as manual lenses. But the way the out-of-focus background (bokeh) is rendered by the Anastigmat is superb, in my eyes.



Prone to flare, the lens can be used creatively to achieve dreamy soft images, something I can not reproduce with any "app" or post production work. The lens is however hard to use, with its small focus ring and stiff actuation. Not best suited for fast moving subjects.


When I want to create a photograph with precise level of blurriness and depth, a touch of vignette or a unique soft bubbly look, I generally reach for the Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7.
And now Petra has discovered the same: it was "love at first click"


taken with adapted C-mount Cosmicar 50mm f1.4

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Real and fake

I have a thing for vintage lenses; they often render the images in a peculiar way.
Once I get to know the "faults" of an old lens I can use it to create a particular look that I can not with my modern super sharp auto-focus lenses. Or can I?
Maybe it's true if I consider not working on an image in post production but I wanted to try if one razor-sharp picture could be "detuned" to make it look as it was taken on a simple optical design.

Using two lenses of similar focal length, one 50 years old one modern, I chose a fast moving subject with plenty of detail and texture surrounding the main focal point.
I wanted a swirly out of focus effect typical of some old lenses, Petzval leading the bunch but the effect too strong (and expensive) for my taste.


Jupiter-8 50mm f2  @f2.8  1/200sec


M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8  @f2.8  1/640sec

I am now looking at some other, smaller lenses that would give me even more character.
Ah, BTW...the second image of the (red) rider is manipulated :-)


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