Lomography announced that they have reached over $1 million on Kickstarter for their upcoming Petzval lens (more info available here):
Petzval (D)SLR Art Lens Raises $1 Million on Kickstarter.com in One Week
Petzval Rocks Kickstarter: We partnered with Zenit to reinvent Josef Petzval’s historical 1840 lens. In four hours, we surpassed our goal of $100,000 and in one week, reached $1 million thanks to the support of our Kickstarter backers!
Reineventing History: The rebirth of the 175 year-old Petzval Lens enables photographers to create wonderful and unique photo effects with today’s (D)SLR cameras
The Petzval Look: Enjoy a swirly Bokeh effect, strong color saturation, artful vignettes, sharpness and narrow depth of field
PETZVAL ROCKS KICKSTARTER
Wow! We were all truly surprised when we surpassed our $100,000 Kickstarter funding goal in just a few hours, and reached $1 million in just a week! Thanks to the support and feedback from our Kickstarter backers, we, together with Zenit, can fulfil the high expectations of the newly reproduced 1840s Petzval Lens. The Petzval lens was invented 175 years ago, and we’re thrilled to help celebrate its biggest success in the 21st century!
REINVENTING HISTORY
Joseph Petzval invented the lens in Vienna in 1840. It had a huge impact on the development of photography as it was the most widely used lens in the 19th century and marked the beginning of modern analog photography. With Zenit, we took the challenge of reinventing the Petzval Lens for 21st century photographers and videographers. Not only did we rebuild the lens, but we also redesigned and re-engineered the optics to work with a whole new generation of cameras! The high quality, Russian glass lens works perfect with Canon EF and Nikon F mount cameras, allowing you to get the unique Petzval photographic look with (D)SLR and 35mm analog cameras for the first time.
THE PETZVAL LOOK
What makes this lens so special is the swirly Bokeh effect that turns everything in focus super sharp while the out-of-focus zone of the photo gets blurry and swirls away. The lens is made of Russian glass, has a maximum f2.2 aperture, narrow depth of field, field curvature and an unbelievably high resolution in the focus area. When shooting with the aperture wide open, you'll get a beautiful vignetting effect in your shots, making it the ideal portrait lens! Our Petzval lens is a high quality, multicoated glass lens with a super high contrast and color saturation produced by Zenit in Russia.
Visit our Petzval Microsite or the Kickstarter project page for more information and FAQs.
Technical Specifications:
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Focal length: 85mm
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Maximum aperture: f/2.2
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Apertures: Waterhouse aperture set
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Minimum image circle: 44mm
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Field of view: 30 degrees
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Lens mounting Profile: Canon EF and Nikon F
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Electronic contacts: No
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Closest focusing distance: 1m
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Optic/ Lens tube special features: Gear rack focusing
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Filter thread requirement: 67mm
