A young woman with vibrant purple hair, wearing a blue patterned dress, poses with her hands near her head on a bustling, colorful city street with blurred people and lights in the background.

Lomography announced a new line of Petzval lenses in July. The five prime lenses range from 27mm to 135mm and, in some cases, deliver all-new lenses built by recalculating Joseph Petzval’s original designs for his iconic 19th-century portrait lenses. Here’s how Lomography’s engineers brought a nearly 200-year-old optical design back to life in 2025.

Why Recreate 185-year-old Petzval Lenses?

Before diving into how Lomography built all-new Petzval lenses based on the original 1840 optical design, it is worth considering why the company wanted to do so in the first place.

The company cites the iconic “swirly bokeh,” subject isolation, and beautiful image rendering as primary motivations to bring Petzval lenses to a new, modern photo and video audience. The lens engineers tell PetaPixel that the Petzval lenses deliver character to pictures and videos straight out of the camera, no fussing about in post-processing.

The original Petzval lens design from 1840.

This is not Lomography’s first go at a modern Petzval lens. The company released its first recreation, the Petzval 85 Art, for DSLR cameras back in 2013 via Kickstarter. At that time, they extensively studied the original 1840 Petzval lens, so the team is familiar with the optics.

“More than the glass and coating, the Petzval ‘look’ relies on the field curvature created by the arrangement of the optical group elements,” Lomography tells PetaPixel. “We’re using multi-coated glass, producing gentle red flares and a warm veiling glare which add to the dreamy, vintage-inspired look of the lenses.”

New Changes to ‘Old’ Lenses

The new Petzval lenses take things even further by introducing focus-coupling bokeh control technology, which is integrated into the mechanical designs of the five lenses. By linking the bokeh to the focus, the lenses promise a more natural transition in rack focus and depth-based changes in the appearance of the bokeh. Further, the bokeh intensity is controlled via the chrome ring on the five new lenses.

In previous versions of the Petzval Art lenses, users had to readjust the focus whenever they changed the bokeh intensity, which was frustrating for photographers and also limited the lenses’ usability for video applications.

“For photographers, this is not too disturbing, but we were aware from the videographers we’ve worked with, that this was one of their paint-points,” Lomography explains. “Strengthening or reducing the Swirl effect is an incredible tool for storytelling — which could not fully live up to its potential due to the focus shift.”

To achieve this, the team had to work around the established optical designs. It would not be possible to adjust the optical construction to achieve focus-coupled bokeh control. The swirly bokeh look is a direct result of the field curvature of the Petzval optical design, so the team “knew that this was our inner construction and everything else must adapt to that.”

Five camera lenses of varying sizes and focal lengths are arranged in a row on a white background, each with metallic details and labeled "Petzval" on the front.

“This limitation was quite challenging when designing the lenses,” Lomography remarks.

Each new lens went through extensive design processes, frequent testing, and lots of revisions to ensure that they remained loyal to the original “and very coveted” Petzval look. Each lens is calibrated by hand to ensure that the focus-coupling bokeh links perfectly and consistently with the calculated depth of field.

With the focus-coupling now, the workflow is much simpler. Users focus on their subject, adjust the bokeh using the control ring manually or with cinema gear controls, and adjust the bokeh level on the fly as desired. There is no focus shift to worry about this time.

Despite these limitations, filmmakers nonetheless managed to use Lomography’s original Petzval lenses for major motion pictures. True Lens Services (TLS) rehoused Lomography 58mm and 85mm Petzval lenses for filming scenes in the award-winning 2023 film, Poor Things.

Given the prior Lomography Petzval Art lenses, it is unsurprising that the new 55mm f/1.7 and 80.5mm f/1.9 lenses were the easiest to develop. However, the new 35mm and upcoming 27mm lenses were more challenging.

“The 35mm was the logical continuation for our Petzval development,” Lomography says. “We know its’ a versatile and sought-after focal length in the community of both photographers and videographers.”

A woman with short dark hair in a black sleeveless top stands outdoors. The background is blurred in a circular pattern, drawing focus to her calm expression.

The company is currently working on the 27mm and 135mm Petzval lenses, which are scheduled to arrive later this year.

“Developing the Petzval look for wider focal lengths has been quite challenging, but very interesting,” the company says. “We were completely blown away when we tested our 35 mm focal length prototype for the first time! With the specifics of the Petzval optic, you must find a good balance between the sharp area, and the out-of-focus swirly area. There was intense conversations every day for a while about what would be ideal proportions, between the two.”

Three Petzval camera lenses are displayed side by side against a black background, labeled 80.5mm, 55mm, and 35mm from left to right, with reflective bases and metallic detailing.

While some lens families, especially ones designed with video applications in mind, feature unified apertures across the board, Lomography opted for different apertures. Ultimately, this was necessary to achieve a unified design across the series. To have the same diameters and control ring positions, the team had to utilize different max apertures across various focal lengths.

“Consulting with trusted [community members] and contacts in [cinematography], we realized that compatibility, flexibility, and efficiency are very important considerations,” Lomography says. “We wanted to meet the needs of both amateurs and professional videographers. Giving the option to switch efficiently between different Joseph Petzval focal lengths without the need to re-calibrate or buying/renting multiple sets of accessories, was one of our big priorities.”

Vintage Spirit for a Modern Audience

Vintage aesthetics are very hot right now, both in photography and especially in filmmaking. Lomography hopes to capitalize on that with its new lenses by making them more useful than ever.

“We come from an analog photography standpoint, and embracing imperfections is a big part of our identity,” Lomography says. “Our strategy with the Lomography Art Lenses line-up, has been similar. We are looking to include aberrations in each design, instead of correcting them, and study ways to make them creatively interesting. Whether in developing analogue photography or art lens products, we enjoy bringing out the most unexpected features that will help creators think outside the box.”

A man wearing sunglasses sits inside a green vehicle, looking out the window, with a white dog beside him also gazing outside. The background is blurred, suggesting a shallow depth of field.

The company has been dedicated to human-first creativity since 1992 and believes it’s even more important to stick to that philosophy in the age of AI.

“The Petzval look falls very much in that market demand, as can be seen from fantastic movies such as Poor Things, The Northman, and more.”

The team would love to see an entire movie shot using exclusively Petzval lenses, “utilizing the full set of focal lengths we’ve created.”

A woman with light brown hair and a neutral expression stands in front of blurred, circular string lights at night, creating a bokeh effect in the background. She wears a sleeveless top and gold hoop earrings.

The first three lenses, the Petzval 35mm f/2, 55mm f/1.7, and 80.5mm f/1.9, are available now for full-frame mirrorless cameras. They come in Sony E, Nikon Z, and Canon RF mounts. The 27mm f/2 and 135mm f/2.8 lenses will be released by the end of the year. Each lens is available for $599, although they are $516 when bundled.

Lomography is also working on PL mount versions of each of the new Petzval Art lenses. Cinematographers can sign up to be notified when they’re available on Lomography’s website.

Image credits: Lomography