I have done some more experimenting using old lenses. In this post I will show some close-ups with the Brownie lens, and using a 50mm Paterson enlarger lens – a budget lens from the 1970s/80s.
First I will show some of the close-up photos taken with the Kodak Brownie lens. As expected with the lens there is, not just softness around the subject, a distinct blurred halo:
The next lens I am experimenting with is a darkroom enlarger lens supplied by Paterson who were a leading budget darkroom supplier in the 1970s-80s. This is from a secondhand darkroom kit I bought for my daughter when she was studying photography at school. I hadn’t realised how bad the lens quality was!
There is a type of photography, the best known being Lomography, which uses non-standard techniques for aesthetic effect. I understand the Lensbaby (a more expensive brand) lenses do something similar. I am getting comparable effects using this old lens for a lot less money…
A technical note: The lens has a short focal length such that it wouldn’t focus when mounted on the front of the bellows (used for focussing). But, as the lens was small enough, I managed to mount it inside the bellows as shown here:
