Oh man, am I TOTALLY EXCITED about this:

Back in July of 2013 I had an article posted on PetaPixel about my 20x24" wedding tintypes. Shortly after, I was contacted by the folks at Lomography who were starting a Kickstarter about a new Petzval lens design for DSLR cameras, asking if I would be interested in being gifted one to test out for future review. Wait, WUT??!?! I excitedly said yes, and after lots of back and forth emails, a lens arrived at the start of February.

I'm beyond excited for this lens and have some big ideas planned for how to give this a really great workout for it's review.

Here is a test shot taken with the lens and a few quick thoughts so far:

My initial reactions are that this lens is *not* for the casual shooter. This all-manual lens really needs to be massaged and finessed to get a good shot from it. I think most casual shooters won't have the time or patience needed for this. Focusing is a bear and the way the lens is made will find focus slipping constantly with even the slightest tip of the camera. To really get the effect from the lens, you need to have the subject dead center and you need to have something in the background that will really showcase the effects the lens creates. For full lengths you'll also need visual clutter in the foreground as well. This is a very specificportrait lens, and all the complaints I've been reading about this Petzval so far has been because the lens won't do everything the owner wants. This isn't that kind of lens. It has one main purpose only.

My review will be a little ways off, but I hope to really give it a serious workout.