winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

This, I assure you, is SOOC. Thoughts?

(Download)

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Nice idea Rob but feel you need all the bench and different camera settings as that large out of focus chunk in the middle is a distraction. A gentler softness would have been better.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Thanks, but it's more about the rather weird swirly "bokeh" the lens produced....

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

I agree with Billy, there is an interesting photograph here ( somewhere, but the image here is boring as all H***
Part of the bench being cropped off and the "swirly" spot , the lighting IM sorry but it just don't work.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

I guess you don't see what I'm getting at.....

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

I'm not thinking this is in any way a photo of any merit. I posted it to maybe gain comment on the unusual out of focus effect this lens produced.....

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

What lens and camera, what settings did you use?

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Come on Rob ya know we need it kept simple here! You're expecting people to think?

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

It appears the former occupant of the bench has sauntered into a vortex and is now in another dimension.

This is sort of what the vision in my right eye is like most days.

Must be an interesting lens.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I recall that a thin swirl of petroleum jelly/Vasaline on the lens (or on your uv filter...) has a similar to identical effect, depending on the thickness and smoothness of your "swirl" .

Dave

conkerwood

So I get that your request for a response is related to the effect that this lens of yours produces in OOF areas rather than the merits of this as a pic. An interesting question which deserves a close look. I guess my first reaction is that I am a little confused by the way this lens of yours behaves as it doesn't seem consistent. On the left just above the centre of the bench there is a dark section of trunk which has none of the effect but there is a patch of leaves in front of it, and therefore less OOF, which does have the effect. I thought at first it may be related to the fact that the trunk area was dark but there is an area on the right near the edge is quite dark and the swirl is quite obvious. On the bottom right the streak effect isn't circular it is linear and strangely at one point at the top of the bushes on the right edge it overlaps the background swirl. The same overlap occurs close to the bottom of the pic under the left of the dark grass clump. Even stranger is that in the top left corner the streaks come from the top left and again they are linear. Some of the streaks seem to continue behind the dark trunk and show some overlap on the swirl. So my conclusion is that this lens of yours is one weird lens which really makes no sense to me. But the question is could it be useful? My concern would be the predictability of the affect. Would you, when you take the pic, be able to frame and focus your shot in such a way as to know where the swirl/straight streak would occur? Can you moderate the result so as to make it more or less subtle? If the answer is yes then you may have something worth playing around with but I suspect the answer is that it would be far too cumbersome to use this lens of yours particularly when exactly the same photographic result could be achieved through software manipulation. But with software manipulation of course you would have far more control over the end result. Which all of course begs the question which someone else has already asked,what is this lens of yours?

I hope this helps.

Peter

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

Thank you for your close analysis Peter, this is not some trick....the effect appears to be the most prominent wide open and then only in certain lighting/subject conditions. Here is a bad photo of a pussycat SOOC showing the effect a bit more clearly

(Download)

conkerwood

That is really interesting, the same sort of lines but certainly mitigated. The diagonal from the top left isn't there but the cross over on the bottom right and left is. Now on this pic I really like the result it is subtle and tends to focus the eye on the subject. But it still seriously weird. So the answer to my question is that yes you do have some ability to predict the outcome which may make it useful. I would still prefer software for the control, but you have got my intrigued, what is this lens of yours. BTW just checked out the weather for where you live today, a bit better than ours up on the Gold Coast, hot muggy and dripping with sweat.

Catch you soon.

Peter

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

My ex-neighbour mentioned how sticky and humid it has been in your neck of the woods. It's just beautiful here today, 27c, not a cloud and a slight breeze. I just returned from a very enjoyable run in the countryside in the yellow beastie.

The lens is a HELIOS 44-2 58mm f/2. Made in Russia by the millions apparently, several versions, cheap but built like the proverbial tank.

There are many sites dealing with them, here is one such....


http://jonasraskphotography.com/2013/05/17/helios-44m-4-58mm-f2-review/

Cheers, Rob.

winterrose Loc: Kyneton, Victoria, Australia

What if you only have butter handy? :lol: