[Leica] Focomat/Focotar Q cont'd

["Johnny Deadman" <deadman@jukebox.demon.co.uk>]

Thanks for the info about putting gels over the condenser... only slightly
less elegant than my current method!! ;-)

I like the enlarger very much, but the Nikkor is nothing special. That's why
I'm wondering about the Focotar.

In some of Bill Klein's shots it is clear that some kind of halation or
diffusion has gone on during the enlargement... the blacks bleed into
neighbouring areas, though the main image is sharp. The most famous example
of this is the subway picture with the checkerboard tiles, where the effect
is extreme.

You can get a similar look, obviously, by simply diffusing below the lens
with the frosted glass from a 6x6 slide, but it always looks cheap to me. I
want my cheap distortions to look expensive, dammit!

I get the same effect, only with the whites bleeding, with my Canon LTM
28/2.8 wide open, and wondered if anyone here had ideas for old enlarging
lenses which I might look out for to achieve the same thing on the Focomat?

I know the whole idea of f***ing things up this way is going to strike some
people as strange, but getting things PERFECTLY f***ed up is a great joy. As
Iggy Pop observes on "Lust for Life"

    When things get too straight, I can't bear it
    I feel stuck, stuck with a pin

    That's when I need
    Some wierd sin....

- --
Johnny Deadman