Three quick test shots from the Petzval Lens on the Sony A7s

Three quick test shots from the Petzval Lens on the Sony A7s

Received the gorgeous Petzval lens today and was expecting it to be soft and low contrast. Hmmm. Not on the Sony A7s. This is a crazy lens and reminds me a ton of the Canon Dream Lens I just re-visited. Like, a lot. This is a GOOD thing. Really good. With just four quick test shots I know it will deliver that dreamy artsy look that I love on some occasions, and the best part is that it is so easy to use and focus on the Sony A7s. A breeze to focus. I am using the Nikon mount version with an adapter for use on the Sony and it is a joy to use. I will be doing a full review of this lens in the next two weeks but for now, due to about 10 requests via email, I will post the 4-5 test shots I snapped in my yard today. This will give you an idea of how it renders an image. VERY classic, VERY dreamy, VERY intense. It is an 85mm f/2.2 lens and based/re-created from the 1839 version of the lens. This lens was considered the 1st successful portrait lens back then and now it has been recreated and it offers up the same look and swirly bokeh as the original.

Screen Shot 2014-09-25 at 8.35.04 PM

FULL review soon. Will be shooting in Vegas with this guy, the Leica X and more next week. I have to say…this A7s from Sony is such an amazing camera capable of using so many lenses and with its low light and full frame abilities, it may just very well be my favorite camera. I am able to shoot the well corrected and modern Sony/Zeiss lenses, manual Leica M mount lenses, old screw mount classics and so many more including this unique Petzval lens. I would NOT want to use this lens on a DSLR, the mounts they made it for..would be too hard to focus. With the A7s’s large EVF it is easy to nail focus using the peaking (which is how these were all shot).

This one came to me from CameraQuest.com as they are now a Lomo dealer, and they have this lens in stock at $599. From its unique packaging, styling, design, heft, and rendering of course.

31 Comments

  1. I have the same problem as Katherine, the Canon version won’t work with the Metabones adapter. I bought a couple of cheaper adapters that it will work with though. Vizelex ND Throttle Adapter and the Vello Adapter. Both work like a charm. Focus peaking works with these as well.

  2. I love this lens but am having some difficulty using it with the Sony 7S. The Petzval lens is for the Canon but I have the metabones adapter to use with the Sony. Any thoughts? Thank you.

    • What is the difficulty you are having? I’m using a Nikon to E Mount adapter and have no problem at all. If you are having focusing issues try magnifying the EVF for focusing. I have mine set to magnify with the press of the C2 button if I need it. Let me know what the issues are that you are having and maybe I can help. Thank you!

      • No focusing issues. I have the release w/o lens enabled and whenever I push the C2 button I receive the prompt: Attach the lens correctly. If I loosen the lens to the adapter enough, I can take the photo but that’s a disaster waiting to happen as the lens can easily fall into my hand or worse. For some reason the camera is not picking up the connection from either the adapter or lens or both. The lens works fine on my Canon Mark III but I would really love to use it on the Sony 7s. Thanks for any help you can provide.

  3. Leave that beard stand for a few more years and we can enter in competition we me. The Bokeh of this lens is quiet stunning, same as it’s design.

  4. Very similar swirly bokeh to my Zeiss Nettar, as said previously, makes me a bit dizzy! I’d love to see some portrait shots from it with a simple, plain background, that’s when I think this lens will come into it’s own 😉

  5. Can’t say I like the look, the bokeh and over all look is too busy for my liking, but art is subjective.

  6. Cool. Probably a bit too much for me for a niche lens, but I bet it would be lots of fun to mess around with.

  7. It’s great that you test all these cameras and lenses for us all to see…it makes for compulsive daily reading. And when I see the results even you got from this lens I know it is not for me and I don’t need to give it a second thought! Keep up the good work.

  8. Steve, I’m about to leave my M8 for the sony7s, would you be comfortable quiting the optical VIew finder for good?? Or should I save up for the M240?

  9. It does what it does very well but I have to say that looking at those out of focus areas for more than a few seconds makes me feel nauseous. I couldn’t imagine using a lens like this very often.

  10. Don’t think they had many tricks back in 1840. Looks like an entertaining conversation piece that’ll see 3 or 4 uses, maybe portraits of your freaky BFF’s at a Civil War re-enactment and then off to eBay. What’s the resale value of a Russian retro brass monster that’s a b*tch to nail focus without focus peaking???

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