Soft-focus

[Zero_Exponent]

I’m not sure why this came out with the hazy, soft-focus effect. This is a cropped image, and the whole photo is like that. I don’t particularly love this one, but if I can figure out how to duplicate this effect that would be awesome. Any idears?

It wasn’t foggy, or even particularly humid, when this was taken.

[sleeping]

Were you shooting though a window screen or something like that?

[orionid]

Looking at the exif data and seeing 300mm at f/5.6 makes me guess either your focus was ever so slightly off, cheap glass, or a combination of both. My 70-300 is always soft at the long end, even tightened down to f/16. It’s just a characteristic of the glass that I’ve become accustomed to.

[Yugoboy]

I’ve had this happen when I brought a camera out of air conditioning into a humid environment. The lens itself gets foggy. Is that possible?

[orionid]

I’ve had this happen when I brought a camera out of air conditioning into a humid environment. The lens itself gets foggy. Is that possible?

Good call. I have seen that, too.

[olavf]

When I want that effect I usually put it in manual focus and take off my glasses. Works every time =/

[Zero_Exponent]

Were you shooting though a window screen or something like that?

Yes, that is probably it. Looking at the other pics next to the one above, I see the robin inside my fence, so if I’d gone outside he would’ve spooked–so they were shot through the screendoor. Both of these are also 300mm at f/5.6, without the same effect:
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/6974/robinground.jpg
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/317/sharted.jpg (warning-birdpoop)

Judging from the angle of those two, they were shot through the window as opposed to the screen. I suspect I had just the right distance from the screen to get that hazy effect. Not likely to repeat the results without some rig to hold a pice of screen the right distance from the lens, I reckon. Ah well, been meaning to try that vaseline trick anyway.

Olavf, I tried your tip, but it was not quite what I was hoping for ..

😉

[sleeping]

Not likely to repeat the results without some rig to hold a pice of screen the right distance from the lens, I reckon. Ah well, been meaning to try that vaseline trick anyway.

The other classic way to get that diffusion effect is to stretch a black stocking over the lens. Vaseline is much harder to get off afterwards….

[olavf]

Olavf, I tried your tip, but it was not quite what I was hoping for ..
😉

Funny. I get the same effect 😉

In all seriousness, I’m thinking about getting a reticule for my camera. I get schmutz on my glasses constantly, and it affects my ability to focus. I been putting it off, but whilst I was traveling the other weekend I picked up a photography pr0n magazine at the airport and they had these nifty glasses with flip-up lenses…

[CauseISaidSo]

I’m thinking about getting a reticule for my camera.

Is that reticle or reticule?

Either way, would you mind describing it a bit? If it’s a focusing aid, I might very well be interested as well. I don’t wear my glasses when shooting (I adjust the diopter), but with or without I have the same trouble with manual focusing that you and Zero have. I generally just use the autofocus and hope for the best but there are times when I’ve really wished I could manually focus reliably.

It seems to me that my old Nikkormat had a focusing mechanism that made it really easy to judge focus. But of course that was back when my eyes were 20/20 or better, too.

[olavf]

My bad. Look up ‘dioptric adjustment lens’. It’s basically a replacement for your viewfinder with a correction lens in it. For example, in my case m glasses are something like +1.25 so if I could find that, the diopter adjustment would be zeroed. I’m planning on getting a +1.5 and then dialing back the in-camera adjustment a bit.

My optometrist thought it was a good idea and gave me the correction factor to look for.

I’m on the road right now, but i’ll dig up a link s and theglasses which I want to look into later this evening.

[sleeping]

It seems to me that my old Nikkormat had a focusing mechanism that made it really easy to judge focus. But of course that was back when my eyes were 20/20 or better, too.

You can get replacement focusing screens with old school split image circles and/or microprisms for a lot of SLRs, e.g. http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/ (or cheap Chinese ones on ebay). The amount of work installing them, and potential interference with camera functions varies quite a bit with camera model, though.

[ravnostic]

olavf that’s very cool. Being optically challenged, this is worth looking into (I have my prescription around here somewhere, so all the better).

//another way to get the soft focus is to mate an 1879 lens to a 2005 camera. Worked for me, at least. 😉

[CauseISaidSo]

sleeping, I think that split image circle you mention is what my Nikkormat had. I checked out the link. It may be a possibility – have you tried it or know of anyone who has? The only problem is that unless I also got the installation service, it’d be a catch-22 situation – if I could see well enough to do the installation myself, I likely wouldn’t need the screen in the first place!

[olavf]

This is one of the ones for the Canon EOS cameras http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/12402-REG/Canon_2840A001_1_5_Diopter_E.html

But as a companion piece, these are some neat-o frames.
http://hoodmanusa.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HPF1

I think I’ll be getting those as soon as I’m up for lenses later this year.. (hell, they’re cheaper than most of the frames at my optometrist)

I don’t think I’m ready to perform surgery on my camera body. The nice thing about the adapters is that they can be slid off and someone else can use the camera.

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