In photography, how do I get a Soft Vintage effect?

How can I achieve this specific "soft vintage" effect as seen in these photographs…

http://seaw4ves.tumblr.com

*I have a DSLR (Nikon D200)
*I have Photoshop (what editing techniques should I do?)
*Should I get my hands on a certain camera for this?

What do you think?

Just use one of the blur filters in Photoshop

Your D200 can shoot in RAW, so start there with the highest resolution image you can

Actually what I see is a technique called selective focus using wide open apertures and focusing just on the subject. This is controlled by the photographer before pressing the shutter release.

There's a tool called in Topaz Labs add-on program called Tilt-Shift. It exaggerates the shallow depth of field.