Hands-on: Lomography New Petzval Art Lens

The New Art Petzval Lens Lomography is not your typical camera lens again. It is a manual of Prime Focus gunmetal, without electronic contacts and the aperture is controlled by the fall of a selection of small plates in a barrel. After being funded on Kickstarter, the peculiar lens has now made its way into the real world, and Gizmag recently gotten a chance to go hands-on with one.

The large screw head to the bottom of the lens controls Lomography New Petzval man … The New Lomography Petzval lens feels like a piece of photographic history despite being b … Focus information can be viewed in part Lomography top Petzval lensLomography New Art New Petzval lens comes in Canon EF or Nikon F mountsView all
The Lomography Petzval is a modern recreation of an iconic portrait lens 19th and comes in Canon EF or Nikon F mounts, which means it can be used in many analog or digital cameras. When launched in Kickstarter flew quickly past your target U.S. $ 100,000 and an amount close to $ 1,400,000 was pledged by photographers who want an experience of retro and old-time images of their modern cameras.

While the lens incorporates optical glass High quality engineering at the Zenit factory in Russia, it is not intended to compete with most other modern lenses in the market. It is a portrait lens of 85 mm (approximately 130 mm equivalent on a crop sensor). When shooting wide, has a very thin depth of field and bokeh swirls unique feature, giving an image of the old dream world.

Picking lens made heavy brass hand feels like holding a piece of history of photography. Yes, you know very well that it is new and has been manufactured in the last couple of months, but the design and the feeling seems so authentic that if not so easily mounted to your DSLR, would be inclined to question his age. Due to the size and weight of the lens, it feels more appropriate for use with medium and large DSLR than small entry level would not be in balance too.

By using Lomography New Petzval lens, you’re immediately reminded how much we as photographers have come to rely on modern technology. Suddenly faced with a lack of autofocus, no ability to score quickly at its opening and (depending on the camera), possibly not in the measuring chamber, you’re forced to slow down and think about what you are doing. This can be a good thing, and photographers who want exactly this kind of creative and artistic experience that has made so popular lens.

Manual focus is controlled by a large screw head to the bottom of the lens barrel (instead of a typical ring around the lens) and it works well with what feels like a very precise control. Depending on your view, and the quality of your display, you may find yourself with back monitor a more precise digital SLR, although I am aware that this idea is almost sacrilegious to some Lomo fans.

Although most SLR and DSLR users probably have the experience of shooting with manual focus, the way the New Petzval occupies opening is likely to be very different from what we are accustomed. The lens has a maximum aperture of F2.2 and different settings can be selected by inserting one of the aperture plates included – each has different sized holes – in the lens barrel. I found this a fun novelty, but I experienced a problem where by tilting the camera, aperture plates staggered, and fell in one case