Russian Projector Lens P-4 (Petzval) 100mm F/2

[Abbazz]

I recently bought a Russian projector lens made by GOMZ in Leningrad. It's a P-4 lens of 100mm focal length and f/2 maximum aperture. What attracted me was the original Petzval optical formula of this lens. The Petzval optical formula has 4 elements in 3 groups and was used as a portrait lens on the daguerreotype cameras thanks to its wider aperture than the other lenses of the time. It is usually quite sharp in the center of the field but is rather soft outside a narrow circle in the middle of the frame. The bokeh is usually quite nice.

Here are my first pictures taken with this lens. Of course, all were shot wide open as the lens has no diaphragm. No sharpening was applied:

1:


2:


100% crop of above picture:


3:


4.


5.


100% crop of above picture:


Cheers!

Abbazz

[Attila]

Looks very nice like a Helios 40!

[kds315*]

Works nicely for me Abbazz!!

Never tried this idea, though - learnt sth new from you!

[Abbazz]

Thank you Attila and Klaus for the kind comments.

[Bob]

WOW!