RE: dreamy Nikon lenses

[Mike Kirwan <mkirwan@pacbell.net>]

I remember a Pop Photo Article where Herb K waxed lyrical about the
sharpness and detail obtained by those early Nikon lenses. They became
really popular during the Korean war. Many photo journalists used these
lenses on their Leica's.

Now what you might be seeing is the result of some of the local lenses of
that time, like the lens that came with the Argus line of cameras. They were
not that high in resolution and they definitely had a distinct look. Sort of
sharp in the middle and soft at the edges.

So my guess is an el-cheapo lens as opposed to a sharp Nikon or leica lens.
Unless of course the photographer shot the images with some sort of
diffusion.

Mike 

-----Original Message-----
From: Christina Z. Anderson [mailto:zphoto@montana.net] 
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 6:57 AM
To: alt-photo-process-l@usask.ca
Subject: dreamy Nikon lenses

Good morning!
Some of you are quite knowledgeable on lenses.  Do you know of a Nikon 35mm 
lens that would have been in use in, say, the 40's, that produced really 
dreamy, glowy images?

The slides I have are from the 40's to the 70's and there is a major 
difference in lens between earlier and later.  Or was it the film?  I pulled

apart one of the glass slides and it is Kodak "safety" film.
Chris