New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens

New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens

A reinvention of the original 19th century Joseph Petzval portrait lens for modern-day analogue and digital SLR cameras with our first Bokeh Control Ring for even greater experimentation.
  • Become the boss of your own bokeh
  • Capture vintage aesthetics with contemporary SLR cameras
  • Take full creative control over seven levels of beautiful swirly bokeh
  • Classic gear rack focusing mechanism
  • Waterhouse aperture system
SKU: petzval58

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Highlights

Strong characteristics including rich color saturation and artful vignetting.

Strong characteristics including rich color saturation and artful vignetting.

Waterhouse Aperture System for a truly 19th century-like photographic experience.

Waterhouse Aperture System for a truly 19th century-like photographic experience.

The Petzval is really fun to shoot with. Besides the striking bokeh, I was especially impressed with the contrast and saturation of the lens.
Dallas Nagata White
Produce rich and patterned backgrounds through the insertion of special shape aperture plates, sold separately.

Produce rich and patterned backgrounds through the insertion of special shape aperture plates, sold separately.

Compatible with analogue and digital cameras including Canon EF and Nikon F bodies and many more when using an adapter.

Capture authentic vintage aesthetics from the 19th century with your contemporary SLR cameras.

Capture authentic vintage aesthetics from the 19th century with your contemporary SLR cameras.

It’s just so different from the norm that in this day and age of black zoom lenses and iPhones, the Petzval really stands out with its striking looks and design.
— Steve Huff Photo
Get velvety swirly bokeh across the frame thanks to the unique Petzval optic design which is unlike any other lens out there.

Get velvety swirly bokeh across the frame thanks to the unique Petzval optic design which is unlike any other lens out there.

Join the family of Petzval pioneers around the world all sharing their best tips, tricks and results from shooting with this extraordinary lens.

Join the family of Petzval pioneers around the world all sharing their best tips, tricks and results from shooting with this extraordinary lens.

Available in two gorgeous finishes. Choose between stunning satin or classic black brass for a sleek, vintage look.

Available in two gorgeous finishes. Choose between stunning satin or classic black brass for a sleek, vintage look.

58 mm focal length ideal for compressing perspective when taking portraits and closing in on small details.

58 mm focal length ideal for compressing perspective when taking portraits and closing in on small details.

The Petzval Lens creates shots whose look is almost impossible to replicate with digital tools.
— Wall Street Journal
The New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens has a brass body construction. It looks absolutely gorgeous and ages in a fashion that means the more you use it, the better it looks.
— Wex Photo Video
Large f/1.9 aperture for great low-light performance and beautiful foreground and background blur.

Large f/1.9 aperture for great low-light performance and beautiful foreground and background blur.

Sweep from sharp to soft with small apertures rendering razor sharpness and large ones rendering stunning swirly bokeh effects.

Sweep from sharp to soft with small apertures rendering razor sharpness and large ones rendering stunning swirly bokeh effects.

Deliciously dreamy to strikingly sharp – rather than changing the aperture to modify the bokeh effect, the New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens includes a dedicated Bokeh Control Ring – for more flexibility than any other traditional lens.

Story

This is our first lens to boast the revolutionary Bokeh Control Ring mechanism that makes it easier than ever to adjust the swirly bokeh effect in your photos. Located on top of the lens, it lets you adjust the level of swirl between 1 and 7 for unparalleled creative freedom. This amazing Art Lens also sports an exciting Waterhouse Aperture System as well as a classic gear rack focusing mechanism for that manual, ‘hands-on’ feeling reminiscent of that experienced by our photography forefathers almost 200 years ago! Lastly, the versatile 58 mm focal length and maximum aperture of f/1.9 mean you can enjoy faster shutter speeds and a narrower depth of field no matter your specialism, be it landscape, architecture, street, fashion and portrait photography.

Lomography Art Lens Family

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

Lomography Petzval Art Lenses

In 1840, in Vienna, Professor Joseph Maximilián Petzval invented the very first portrait lens. His groundbreaking design became the most widely used in the 19th century. We have been reinventing this amazing original since 2013. Our quest to translate this unique optical design into lenses that would work with modern-day cameras has resulted in four extraordinary Art Lenses to date. The New Petzval 85, the New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control, the New Petzval 55 f/1.7 MKII and the New Petzval 80.5 f/1.9 MKII.

Who was Joseph Maximilian Petzval?

Joseph Petzval was born on 6 January 1807 in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – modern-day Slovakia. In 1835, at the tender age of 28, his reputation as an exceptional mathematician earned him the title of Professor. He also founded his own glass-sharpening workshop, where he acquired a reputation for being a skilled lens sharpener and precision mechanic. It is here where his acclaimed brainchild – the Petzval lens – was born.

On 9 January 1839, the French Academy of Sciences announced the daguerreotype process, the invention of French artist and physicist Louis Daguerre. It was the first-ever photographic process and involved photos being printed on silver plates. But, with exposure times needing to last half an hour or more, portraits were impossible.

A little further east, Vienna was also a fruitful place for science and innovation at this time. Petzval was affected by a great hope among scientists to discover previously unseen things in the world and he specifically believed that math had a higher calling, namely to uncover nature. By May 1840, Petzval finished his latest lens calculations and handed them over to the company Voigtländer & Sohn. This new lens design was the first to be based on scientific calculations, not just the experience of the optician. This first lens sealed the company’s global reputation as a leading camera manufacturer. It won awards with Voigtländer and Petzval both receiving standing ovations for the precision of the camera’s shots, which took just a few seconds to take.

Joseph Petzval’s Legacy

While Petzval may have gained significant recognition for his work on the Petzval lens he, unfortunately, did very little to protect his intellectual property rights. Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Voigtländer manufactured the Petzval lens as part of the conical Voigtländer camera and thus made a fortune off the sales of the camera and Petzval lens.

In the 1850s, Petzval was approached separately by the Military Geographic Institute to develop his previously attempted landscape lens. By 1854 he had finalized his invention and collaborated with Viennese optician Carl Dietzler, who manufactured the lens to fit onto a suitable camera. Petzval’s former business partner Voigtländer had also started production of a landscape lens called “Orthoskop.” Though equal in sharpness, Petzval’s lens was three times faster and significantly smaller. Despite this victory, it turned out that Carl Dietzler was bankrupt and his company had to be dismantled. To top it all off, the rights for Petzval’s landscape lens were eventually handed over to Voigtländer, who became the main provider for the military.

Joseph Petzval passed away on 19 September 1891. While his later years were plagued by the tumultuous unraveling of his original lens design, his legacy in the photographic world rightfully lives on today.

Bokeh or Not Bokeh

The word Bokeh describes one of the most important optical features of the New Petzval Lenses. But what does the word actually mean? Bokeh is the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.

The New Petzval lenses don’t just give you a basic Bokeh, you can get what we like to call “Swirly Bokeh”. Unlike modern lenses designed to minimize field curvature, thus eliminating any curve across the focal surface, the Petzval lens design embraces the curve and renders photos with a totally different optical effect. This lens renders crystal clear in-focus images that seamlessly transition to silky-smooth out-of-focus areas. It provides velvety watercolor bokeh when shot wide open. When stopped down to smaller apertures, the lens displays extreme sharpness across the frame. Combined with versatile focal lengths, they creates three-dimensional portraits, evoking the style of the earliest photographs.

Question & Answers

Does my New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens work on my mirrorless camera?
Yes.

Will the Aperture Plates of my other Lomography Petzval Art Lens fit this lens?
Sadly not. The New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens plates are a different size from those of our other Petzval Art Lenses.

Package Contents

  • New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens
  • Standard Waterhouse Aperture Plates
  • Front and Rear Lens Caps
  • Leather Pouch
  • Photo Book
  • Instruction Manual

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