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For a seamless fit with your Nikon F mounts, or your mirrorless cameras using an adapter, the Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens in a sleek, silver graphite aluminium finish lets you experience the unique and ethereal aesthetic of this advanced Art Lens, inspired by historic 19th-century design.

What may appear to be ephemeral visions or dreams can now be captured in reality with the Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens, inspired by the world’s first photographic optic lens. Seamlessly blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, alternate between razor-sharp details and silky-soft focus with this advanced Art Lens. If you can imagine it, then you can make it with this extraordinary handcrafted art lens. Compatible with both SLR and mirrorless cameras, including Canon EF and Nikon F bodies, as well as many more when using an adapter.

Lomography Art Lens Family

Lomography Art Lenses feature the finest glass optics to produce photos that will astonish you with their colors and optical character. As well as being designed and assembled by hand, these lenses have been engineered using modern techniques and multi-coated to produce vibrant, strong, wonderful photos with a whole range of contemporary cameras. Each Lomography Art Lens brings with it a wide variety of creative possibilities, no two are the same.

Let There be Light

The Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens is a revival of a nearly two centuries old lost aesthetic. This aesthetic was courtesy of the world’s first-ever photographic optic lens, invented in 1835. This historic model was built on a unique achromat design that bathed the world’s earliest photographs in a powerful, alluring veil of light.

Aperture Adventures

The Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens optical construction has been redesigned to allow both ethereal soft focus from apertures below f/4, or razor-sharp results with deep contrasts from f/5.6 onwards. Asides from the classic Waterhouse Aperture plates, for this lens, Lomography has created the Lumière and Aquarelle Aperture plates. The Lumière aperture plates soak images in a radiant, soft glow – and create delicate dotted backgrounds, enriching depth of field. The Aquarelle aperture plates produce a rich and very textured, painterly effect – comparable to watercolor masterworks!

Inspired by the World-First

In 1835 Charles Chevalier and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre changed history – they gave the world practical photography. Daguerre combined a Daguerreotype camera with the very first photographic lens in the world, built by Charles Chevalier. The Daguerreotype Camera captured the first-ever picture of a human being, at Boulevard du Temple in Paris, 1838.

Daguerre was the kind of guy who made things happen. In addition to having invented photography – as you do – he also designed and fabricated things like the Diorama, was an accomplished painter and often worked as an extra at the Opéra de Paris too – the hottest 18th-century club in town. To top it all off, he was also well known for his tight-roping skills and nifty moves on the dance floor.

Charles-Louis Chevalier was a bit more of a technical nerd – the son of a prominent French instrument maker and a leading Parisian optician – he began designing lenses as a teen. He handcrafted the first optic lens in the world after he received an order from Daguerre to use on his Daguerreotype camera. In 1840 Chevalier received the top prize at Paris’ Société d’Encouragement for his discovery.

The Daguerreotype camera complete with the Chevalier lens was publicly announced on 19 August 1839, when the French government presented its patent as a gift “free to the world” and 1839 has been heralded as the year in which photography was born ever since.