Lomo's Petzval Lens. What does it mean?

mr rusty · Aug 13, 2013

OK, there's other threads about this, but I am amazed to see today that the kickstarter project for this has $1.2 Million pledged against a target of $100 thousand. Why? It is very strange. If going backwards is a successfull marketing strategy, what comes next? If Lomo's russian partners find that this new "old" lens is a succesful money spinner, how interested might they be in other new "old" products.

I have no answers, but something is going on. Where will it end? Will lomo develop Belair into a folding rangefinder with decent lenses? Will one of the big boys decide that there is enough interest to try a slice of the action and re-introduce a limited production of a mid-market film camera? - they have to do something because digital cameras have hit the glass ceiling - no-one is really interested in video, megapixels are already far beyond what anybody really needs and gimicks like GPS tagging etc are, well, just gimmicks, so they are faced with diminishing returns.

Rose tinted outlook? maybe? or maybe not.................

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Aug 13, 2013

APUG people are in deep love for Ilford and Ilford gave them an pinhole camera for 300 dollars or so.
Same people hate the Soviets , Russians and LOMO and Lomo gave them an brass petzval lens for less than the our NATO friends Britishs.
I think Ilford saw a fat Dutch cow in APUG to milk.

bsdunek · Aug 13, 2013

I too, was suprised at the success of the Petzval kickstarter project. Of course, this lens can be use on both film and digital cameras. I just can't see it being a really big seller, as most people, in my humble opinion, don't care about such things. It would seem to be attractive to only those with an 'artistic' bent.

In any case, you're right that more new photo equipment, especially that geared towards film, can be a good thing. Some of the Lomography stuff is, in my opinion, kind of silly. Still, if people have fun with it, and increase the market for film, I'm happy.

Guess we'll just wait and see how it all pans out.

removed account4 · Aug 13, 2013

i guess it means that the lomo-folks saw a niche and decided to fill it ?
you don't need to go to any exotic photography forum or search very hard on
ebay to see that photographers ( numeric or analogue ) enjoy using eye bleedingly sharp lenses
as well as those that are from a bygone era. the lensbaby people made their own version of
one of the greatest portrait lenses ever formulated ( 6-7 years ago ? ) so why not lomo and a petzval ?
plenty of people spent silly money on old ones. i guess crowd sourcing is the way of the future
both to test public interest AND to get $$$ ..

vpwphoto · Aug 13, 2013

My OG Vitax will go up or down in value? I'm keeping it longer than my Leica gear.... which I am contemplating selling.

jp498 · Aug 13, 2013

Old fashioned and simple tools are important to people of all hobbies dependent on craftmanship.

It might be new to photography or at least a different direction to mainstream photography, but it's nothing new for woodwork for example. http://www.lie-nielsen.com/ has been making old fashioned tools for at least 30 years in my area.

I think old fashioned photography tools will continue to be popular as long as they aren't rendered useless.

mr rusty · Aug 13, 2013

I think so far everyone is missing the point I am trying to make. I don't believe that the backers on kickstarter are well-established photogs at all. Have you watched the video? Dead Link Removed presented by young people IMHO aimed at young people. I believe this is part of the "vintage" movement that is embracing old style fashion, clothes, cars. http://www.yourvintagelifeblog.com/ a quick google search for vintage, retro, etc brings up 10000s of hits. (or is this mainly a UK phenomenon only??). Whatever. It's interesting.

maderik · Aug 13, 2013

mr rusty said:
presented by young people IMHO aimed at young people. I believe this is part of the "vintage" movement that is embracing old style fashion, clothes, cars.

Isn't that lomography's main demographic? If you're an old fogey and want a vintage look, you just grab a camera (or polyester leisure suit) out of your closet. You mainly *sell* vintage to those who never had it before as they don't have inconvenient memories of how much it used to cost and are not as reluctant to pay premium prices.

jp498 · Aug 13, 2013

mr rusty said:
I think so far everyone is missing the point I am trying to make. I don't believe that the backers on kickstarter are well-established photogs at all. Have you watched the video? Dead Link Removed presented by young people IMHO aimed at young people. I believe this is part of the "vintage" movement that is embracing old style fashion, clothes, cars. http://www.yourvintagelifeblog.com/ a quick google search for vintage, retro, etc brings up 10000s of hits. (or is this mainly a UK phenomenon only??). Whatever. It's interesting.

I've noticed most gear is sold/promoted by gearheads, not prizewinning photographers. Rare is the modest manufacturer that does both well. Maybe Karl Struss was one of the few. Lomo makes up for it with creative marketing rather than creative photography. If they had the budget of Nikon or Canon, they could have polished and enviable professionals and famous celebs doing cool stuff with the lomo gear.

All advertising is aimed at people younger than the actual audience. Old people medicine ads have people not of retirement age who might use the medicine if their life is being cut tragically short. The person reliving their youth with a 60's era sports car is more likely to be late 60's or early 70's in age, not just barely graying like in the ad.

But I think Lomo actually has a youthful niche, and if they are interested in photo living-history more than instagram filters, that's super cool in my book. Just like young people with old muscle cars or vintage motorcycles are definitely more interesting than young rich people with brand new drug-dealer-mercedes. It's not because they blew too much money on stuff.

mesantacruz · Aug 13, 2013

Being someone who is somewhat young 26.. i became interested in photography not because it was cool and in.. but because i have a genuine interest and desire to do this. Having seen what petzval lenses could do... i was interested in one, and thought it interesting and good, that lomo decided to remake it for 35mm.

Instead of looking for a lens to retrofit on ebay which might not work well. here we have a company who decided to make something that will fit well, and with somewhat good quality control... yeah it's overpriced, but for a unique product that will give a nice look... i think it's money well spent.

I shoot both digital and b/w 35mm/120.

As for no one being interested in film?... you are completely wrong! digital hitting a glass ceiling.. you are wrong there as well... I will give you that it digital will never be film, but that's kinda redundant on this site.

I'l also say, that i'm happy there is a younger generation who are getting into film.. and i can only hope that more of them turn over to darkroom work so that i can continue with my passion for as long as i live. ;-)

Mark Layne · Aug 13, 2013

Is kickstarter the only way to buy this lens?
Mark

erikg · Aug 13, 2013

The shocking thing to me is they raised 1.2M from under 3000 sponsors. Obviously there was strong interest. OP: no one is interested in video? Are you kidding? I bet people are looking to shoot video with this lens.

summicron1 · Aug 13, 2013

erikg said:
The shocking thing to me is they raised 1.2M from under 3000 sponsors. Obviously there was strong interest. OP: no one is interested in video? Are you kidding? I bet people are looking to shoot video with this lens.

that's only 400 for each sponsor -- one wonders if they can actually tool up to only make/sell 3000 lenses. But of course it's pretty crudely made -- unfinished brass -- and the whole point is to produce unique images. Very Holga-esque.

what the heck, people want it, they're willing to pay. Fine by me -- anything to move the economy.

vintagesnaps · Aug 14, 2013

Seems like I remember reading some time ago about Lomography wanting to get into producing cameras of better quality w/better optics than the plastic cameras, still in a retro style. I like the idea of bringing something from early 1850's photography into use in the 21st century.

I wouldn't have expected with a goal of $100,000 that it would have exceeded $1 mil. I think the only way to preorder at this point is thru their Kickstarter campaign.

Lomo's Petzval Lens. What does it mean?

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