Fujinon SF 85mm f4

[Attila]

[A G Photography]

The model is beautiful, the photog is able but the result isn't my ballpark sincerely...
It'd be interesting to make a comparison with this Fuji, the Imagon and some softening filters like the Cokin diffuser.

[Attila]

I think result is super crap , looks front lens covered with oil or spent 20 years in dust. I really don't know people why respect this lens much. I sold within one days when I listed this lens.

[A G Photography]

[Attila]

Yes, exactly this is THE soft focus ! Great one! I knew you would say "crap" just you were polite so I said

[Orio]

I think this kind of trick should be used with ugly subjects.
For instance if you photograph me this effect is very good!
I think with beautiful subject it is a real shame to deface what mother nature has created by use of "artistic smoked" lenses
Smoke is better used on sausages

[ChrisLilley]

[Attila]

[estudleon]

I request excuses but it had not seen this topic before.

Attila, excuses the primary questions that I will do to you, but it surprises the evil to me result of the lens, in spite of the pretty model. I have that lens and the results are not even similar.

Have realised you the new focus turning the ring until the red mark? Sometimes this detail usually escapes.

When scane my pics I will send them.

Rino.

[Attila]

Thank you Rino, that would be nice to post good pictures with lens, I couldn't make any. Perhaps I couldn't recognize what you say I don't remember. I don't have it this lens anymore.

[koji]

[Fujinonuser]

I cannot compare the Fujinon to the "original" Imagon, but I would take sides with Rino that it is far better than discussed here. I have just acquired a copy and fell in love with it from the very first shoot. The sample shots posted here were apparently taken at the maximum aperture of f=4 and may be slightly out of focus. It is difficult to catch focus with this lens and Fuji has included a detailed description how to achieve this. There is a second focussing index (a red line) similar to the IR index in other lenses. Alternatively, one may use a focussing aid (a silver ring) that will correct the visual focus caught in the photographer's eye to match the photographically effective focus.

As soon as you stop down the lens, an increasingly sharper area will be formed from the center of the image, very similar to the Imagon sample published here. At f=11 there is no spherical aberration left and the lens demonstrates its supreme performance and high state of optical correction. I loved it at that aperture. A lens with a very special feeling that strikes the eye as a "great lens" in a high state of optical correction. No cheap imitation like some spurious "macro" lenses around.

[Attila]

Proper usage certainly help a lot now I hope smarter than 2-3 yrs before. It would be nice to see more samples, rare lens. I sold mine, I can't repeat it to show better pictures.

[Fujinonuser]

Thank you, Attila. I didn't mean your samples to be out of focus. You have demonstrated to be an excellent photographer. Yet even at the widest aperture of numerical 4 there should remain a sharp nucleus that is overlayered with aberrations, extending from the center of the image up to the margins.

I found an interesting information that I would like to share with future Fujinon users. This is from the November 1974 Popular Photography profile of the new lens introduced at the Cologne Photokina:
"A special feature of this lens allows for the fact that when using the split-wedge focusing aid in the Fuji ST-series SLRs the viewfinder's optical system produces a focusing aperture of f/6.3, rather than the full aperture of f/4. The result is that a focus shift is produced because of the deliberately large degree of uncorrected spherical aberation. To compensate for this focus shift and to make sure that the same degree of soft focus appears on film as observed in the finder, a narrow ring that's located behind the focusing collar is grasped together with the focusing collar, and the two are turned in the direction of an engraved arrow until a stop is reached. This extra step is best taken after best focus has been determined accoreding to the split-wedge focusing aid in the viewfinder. If the plain frosted portion of the viewscreen is used for focusing, there's no need to go through this focus shifting step."