Kenko 45mm F/4.5 Soft MC
Standard prime lens • Film era • Discontinued
- Announced:
- · 1995
- Production status:
- ● Discontinued
- Country of design:
- · Japan
- Original name:
- · Kenko MC SOFT 45mm 1:4.5
- Class:
- · Slow full-frame standard prime lens
- · Soft Focus lens
Abbreviations
| SOFT | The lens features soft focus effect control. |
| MC | Multi-layer anti-reflection coating is applied to the surfaces of lens elements. This anti-reflection coating increases light transmission, eliminates flare and ghosting, and maintains color consistence among all lens models. |
Specification
| Optical design: | |
| 35mm full frame | |
| 45mm | |
| F/4.5 | |
| 2 elements in 1 group (Doublet) | |
| Interchangeable mount (T) | |
| 51.3° (35mm full frame) | |
| Diaphragm mechanism: | |
Diaphragm type: | Manual |
Aperture control: | Aperture ring |
| 10 (ten) | |
| Focusing: | |
| 0.35m | |
| <No data> | |
Focusing modes: | Manual focus only |
Manual focus control: | Focusing ring |
| Physical characteristics: | |
| 210g | |
| ⌀61×47mm | |
| Accessories: | |
| Screw-type 52mm | |
| Not required | |
| <No data> |
Source of data
- Own research.
From the editor
Rare Japanese soft focus lens, part of the triad of 35/4, 45/4.5 and 85/2.5. It has a super-simple optical formula consisting of 2 elements in 1 group, i.e. a doublet, plus a protective glass in front of the aperture blades.
Please note that the T-mount on this lens is non-standard M42x1 instead of M42x0.75.
Since the entire optical system is deeply recessed into the lens barrel, this lens does not require a lens hood.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Soft Focus effect and what are its benefits?
Spherical aberration has been purposely introduced into this lens to produce photographic images that are sharp yet which have an alluring softness.
Because of the ethereal glow that can be achieved by using Soft Focus, the lens is ideal for creating scenes with a dreamy feel. It is also good for masking blemishes in portrait photography, leaving the model's skin looking flawless.
The effect of Soft Focus is a complex phenomenon that depends on focusing distance, distance to background, relative aperture etc. It is not the same as an out-of-focus image, and cannot be achieved simply by defocusing a common lens.
The effect can be approximated in post-processing but it is not as trivial as just applying a blur filter over the image.