What Photographers Think About Lomography’s New Daguerreotype Lens

Lomography’s brand new Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens is the ultimate throwback to the world’s first optic lens from 1839.

Handcrafted by expert craftspeople, this lens brings silky soft focus to your digital or analogue camera. It allows depth of field control with endless bokeh effects. You can get that 19th century feel on modern-day photos.

Unsurprisingly, the response to this new Art Lens has been overwhelming. In less than 24 hours, photographers from all over the world doubled the expected funding on Kickstarter. The pre-ordered Canon EF and Nikon F SLR mount lenses will be shipped out starting August 2016.

Here’s what four photographers who’ve already used Lomography’s Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens had to say:

“The best feature is that there is no need to retouch the pictures afterwards, they already have the unusual light and effect as if I applied some sort of filter on it. The Daguerreotype Achromat Art Lens is different from other lenses because of the blurry effect it gives, almost foggy. And the bokeh on the background looks surreal. I think it’s cool to use a special Art Lens in order to break the routine, to change from the usual lenses we are used to work with.”

-Anna Rakhvalova, Paris
Shot with a Nikon D800

“The lens came with the most interesting aperture plates I ever saw. They make special and unseen textured bokeh. The photos look 3D like and the subject is completely isolated from the background. If you want something different a special lens helps to create a more artistic look. And it is much more fun to shoot with.”

-Martynas Katauskas, New York City
Shot with a Canon Rebel K2

“The Daguerreotype Achromat Lens is a lovely insight into the history of photography, it truly has the classic rendering that a fan of that period of image making might be looking for. The brass body with knurled barrel gives the lens a great grip, and the long focus throw allows for very precise control for the discerning shooter. Shooting with the Daguerreotype Achromat Lens is phenomenally simple, I’m a big fan especially of the drop in key apertures, which let me find the look I’m seeking quickly and efficiently.”

-Daniel Schaefer, New York City
Shot with a Sony A7S

“The Daguerreotype Achromat Art Lens’s design is already so dreamy that it can easily belong to an imaginative long gone world: precious navigation tools, telescopes, golden astrolabes. The pictures produced by this lens are unique and impossible to replicate in terms of sensitivity to movement and light. The depth and vividness of its colors is really impressive. The atmosphere given by the Daguerrotype Achromat Art Lens is painterly and physical, less cold compared to many excellent lenses that I use in my daily job.”

–Irina Mattioli, Rome
Shot with a Canon 5D Mark III