Reviews on Rewind: The New Petzval Lens 85

The New Petzval Lens 85 continues to captivate the hearts of many photographers from its debut a couple of years back. A perfect balance between form and function, this lens closely mimics the look of the legendary Petzval lens of the 19th century and delivers eye-catching images with its signature tack sharp center and swirly bokeh background. Many photographers from both outside and inside the Lomography community have raved about the New Petzval 85. In this recap, we look back at four community-written reviews.

Petzval Art Lens: First Impressions by @sandravo

To round things up for now, I am falling head over heels for this lens. Both for its looks AND what it is capable of! I honestly can’t wait to fully explore what this lens can achieve given some more time and experience on my side.

The New Petzval Lens: For Portraits with Swirly Bokeh by @wesco

Because of the 85mm focal length, the Petzval is not an all-around lens but one that you’ll use mostly for portraits. If you’d like to create portraits with the unique swirly bokeh, then this is the ultimate lens for it. But it would require some experience, patience, and attention to finding the right background.

At Cemeteries with an Old Nikon F3 and the New Petzval Lens by @emmka

If you want to avoid the bokeh effect, you have to be ready to make compromises. Either you broaden the distance between yourself and the subject, or stop down. You can attain sharpness without a great loss of the bokeh swirls if you use aperture plate 4. If that’s overexposed, go for an aperture of 5.6 or 8. Or you can get a film that’s less sensitive.

Finally, My Own Petzval Lens by @pearlgirl77

I’m fascinated by the sphere of blurriness and, of course, the bokeh. Even if you don’t have a background that will get you the typical swirly Petzval bokeh, you’ll be left with pleasantly blurred bachground. After my first tests, I decided that you really have to have the subject in the middle of every picture, where the sharpness is.

written by Julien Matabuena on 2015-05-30 #gear #review #reviews-on-rewind #new-petzval-lens-85