Lomography has been known for doing this differently than everyone else for a very long time. And with that said, they’ve just launched their new 27mm f1.7 and 135mm f2.4 Joseph Petzval lenses. This is a higher-end line than their previous petzval lenses, and makes photography really fun. Last year, I purchased their 35mm f2 Petzval and I had a whole lot of fun with it on the Nikon Zf. These lenses are being targeted to cinematographers and photographers both.
So what makes these lenses unique?
- Metal construction
- A few control rings: focus, bokeh control, and aperture
- The ability to change the shape of the bokeh pretty easily
- Designed for mirrorless cameras
- Focus coupled bokeh control that prevents issues with focus breathing — which is more of a cinema issue than a photography issue
My review of the 35mm f2 is finished, but it has to yet be published. However, I have to be honest: it’s one of my favorite lenses that I’ve bought in recent years. I just wish that it were weather sealed and had focus confirmation contacts built in. The image quality is something that really makes this lens unique with the swirly petzval look. Sure, there’s bokeh control: but there’s barely any point in even using it.
Any time that I picked that lens up, all I wanted was the bokeh swirl. In fact, it’s why I’d shoot with the damn lens in the first place. It’s surely nice that you can dial in the effect as you want.
Stopping the lens down lessens the effect of the bokeh swirl. As it is, at 35mm, it’s hard to see the effect. But on the 80mm f1.9, the effect was very strong. So I expect the 135mm f2.4 to have a very strong petzval effect with its rendering.
Here are some images from my upcoming Lomography Joseph Petzval 35mm f2 review.
Lomography now has a whole set of five Joseph Petzval lenses: the 27mm, 35mm, 55mm, 80mm, and 135mm. The company sells them all as a bundle. That’s more than most photographers would really need. All of these lenses are designed with full-frame cameras in mind.
All of the lenses are priced at $599.99 when sold individually. I can’t imagine that any photographer would want and need all of these lenses. Instead, I anticipate that they’ll end up purchasing their favorite focal length and sticking with that. Otherwise, there are lots of great lenses on the market and most photographers use autofocus.
Where Lomography is really shining here is with giving photographers the control to be able to make images without a lot of post-production. Anything that makes photographers have to exercise their brain is much better than seeing all the stuff that otherwise looks like AI slop online.
If you’re looking to try something brand new, I really recommend that you check out the Lomography Joseph Petzval lenses because no one else is doing anything like this on the market with the same quality.