Jim Galli
July 29th, 2008, 09:04 AM
This one is new as of yesterday. I bought a 5X7 Speed Graphic expressly to be able to use this lens. It will do many other things well also but I'm in love with the look of this Pinkham & Smith Series V Synthetic. Shot wide open. 1/40 sec f6
http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/57Speedy/4_SeriesV_Synth_f6.jpg
desert summer shade
Shade in the desert is never to be taken for granted. When you find some shade you stop for a spell.
Asher Kelman
July 29th, 2008, 09:17 AM
Hi Jim,
Of course I like the photograph of your magical set. What lens could not do well here? Still I admit I do value the picture and am impressed. Was it mean to be used wide open and for such scenes or for portraits slightly closed?
Yes the lens does give a gentle mood to the picture. The sun still seems high but the shadows from the car are soft suggesting no harsh sun. Perhaps some of that is dues to light filtered through leaves of the trees. The image circle at this lens is tested to cover the entire area and the corners are exactly what such pictures require, a subtle gradual loss of illumination, to make the center more powerful by sending our eyes there.
there seems to be a vertical bar one inch from the lower left border, but this may be just a visual illusion from the lining up of OOF plants.
Was this recently on freeBay?
Asher
Jim Galli
July 29th, 2008, 09:43 AM
Hi Asher.
Yes, I suppose the original intent for these was fine portraiture and it would certainly excel at that. I love bending the rules though. The vertical line is just part of the scene, it wasn't an artifact. No, this one I've had for a while. I did bid on the recent Ebay one but got blown out of the water by other bidders.
The Speed came with a gorgeous Cooke 6K series iii lens of about 8 3/4" focal length. I contacted Barbara Lowry about the odd named Cooke. She surmised that Cooke used the number system for their lenses made for Eastman Kodak. A #6 would cover 5X8 and the K is for Kodak. Fun to know. Between the 2 lenses I have quite a range of possibilities from VERY sharp to dreamy glow.