petzval

Petzval 80.5mm f/1.9 MKII Review: A Stunning Vintage-Style Lens

Just over a year ago, Lomography launched the 180th Anniversary Edition of the Petzval 80.5mm f/1.9 MKII Bokeh Control Art Lens which promised a bevy of improvements over its 85mm predecessor. It looked as though it would put a historic lens back in the hands in creatives at an affordable $549 price. So does it?

Bringing a Giant 160-Year-Old Petzval Lens Back to Life

It was a normal Saturday afternoon in November when I walked into a flea marked. I met some friends there, looked around a little bit, and in the end I bought this Gasc and Charconnet 500mm Petzval lens in the hopes that I could bring it back to life.

This Guy Made His Own 90mm f/2.8 Lens from Scratch

Plenty of photographers these days try their hands at making their own cameras, but Swedish photographer, inventor, and camera maker Mats Wernersson recently did something a little more unusual: he made his own 90mm f/2.8 lens from scratch.

An Exclusive Glimpse Into How Lomography Petzval Lenses are Made

Back in June, Lomography raised nearly $1 million on Kickstarter to launch its new Petzval 58 Bokeh Control lens. It's a lens that takes a classic design and adds a new twist: a bokeh control ring for adjusting the look of out-of-focus areas in your shots.

Today we have some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of how Lomography's Petzval lenses are manufactured by the skilled optical technicians at the Zenit factory in Russia.

11 of the Most Interesting Lenses in the History of Photography

For almost two centuries, the science and art of photography has allowed people to capture the world around them through carefully crafted lenses. However, not all lenses are created equal. While most lenses just aim to please, others aim to impress. Today, we are taking a look at some of the most exotic lenses we could find.

The Lomography Petzval 58 is the First Petzval Bokeh Control Lens

Back in 2013, Lomography resurrected the 19th century Petzval lens for Canon and Nikon DSLRs, creating a modern 85mm version of the classic portrait lens. Today, the company one-upped itself by announcing a followup, the new Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art lens.

It looks like this new lens is going to be a home run: the company reached its $100,000 goal on Kickstarter in just 3 hours after announcing this lens.

A New Old Lens

Like a lot of photo history buffs, I’ve been quite excited about Lomography’s new iteration of the Petzval lens in …

Why Lomography Loves Kickstarter

Last week, Lomography announced their first instant film camera: the Lomo'Instant (a quirky name to match a quirky camera). And rather than outright launching the product, or even just announcing a shipping date, they chose to introduce the new camera through a Kickstarter campaign.

This isn't Lomography's first attempt at crowdfunding. They did the same thing when launching their Petzval Lens and their Smartphone Film Scanner last year. Given the trend, we're likely to see more of their future launches taking the form of Kickstarter campaigns as well. But why?