Originally posted by joefru I want to play around with taking horrible-quality, but artsy photos. Are there any really, really bad K-mount lenses? Vignetting, low contrast, slow, soft, etc. Are there any plastic lenses? Those would probably be perfect.
You could always try a lensbaby.
Lensbabies >>> Selective Focus SLR camera lenses
I don't think there are any really bad Pentax made lenses. Some are definitely a lot better than others, but none are downright awful.
You could look around for cheap third party lenses. Some of the larger chain stores in the 80s put out house brand lenses that could be pretty bad.
Ummmm, check eBay for a Sima Soft Focus Lens.
That might be just what you want.
This guy has a nice portfolio of examples:
Sima 100mm Soft Focus Lens Photo Gallery by Yu-Lin Chan at pbase.com
There are also a lot of ways to take the edge off of a decent lens.
You can put plastic sandwich wrap onto a filter, or take the glass out completely and replace it with some sort of diffusion material.
An old school method that I have used with great success is to take a cardboard frame foe a filter gel and put some material from an old nylon stocking into it. You control the level of diffusion by stretching the fabric, and you can also burn a few holes in it with a lit cigarette to give a less diffused effect.