Varisoft
Varisoft was the product name for a special portrait lens made by Minolta .
The Minolta Varisoft 2.8 / 85 mm was produced for the Minolta SLR cameras with manual focus for the Minolta SR bayonet with MD coupling.
Compared to conventional lenses , it has an additional adjustment ring, with the help of which a variable soft focus effect is achieved. In contrast to older soft focus lenses, this type of lens is completely corrected in the "zero position" and can therefore also be used for all other areas of photography.
The Varisoft construction is a lens with six lenses in five groups. The weight of the metal-framed lens is 430 g, the diameter approx. 70 mm, the filter thread 55 mm. There were three versions of the lens, which only differed in the lettering. The first two variants, which were produced from 1977 to 1981, were called Minolta Varisoft Rokkor for the non-American market and Minolta Varisoft Rokkor-X for the American market. After Minolta had given up the general lens designation Rokkor , the lettering was shortened to Minolta Varisoft from around 1981.
Other camera manufacturers took up the concept of variable soft focus later, and there was also a comparable lens construction for Minolta autofocus cameras with A-bayonet , the Minolta AF 2.8 / 100 mm Soft Focus, also with continuously adjustable soft focus. This lens is also normally sharp in position “0”. The soft focus lens can also be used on DSLR housings from Konica Minolta ( Dynax , Maxxum, Alpha) and Sony ( Alpha ) with an A-bayonet.