In 2007 or so I started a Flicker Petzval Photographs group. It was great back then because it was all large format, no one had figured out how to get a Petzval to work on 35mm or digital. That changed with LOMO, who made their "petzval" which really is NOT that design. They cashed in on the word, but make a different design that basically creates a ton of swirl and aberrations. Today, the group posts 99.9% Lomo lens shots on digital. Too late to change it, but it's creating the image (no pun) in the photography world that every Petzval shot has to be wildly swirled. As we LFers know, in the 1800s they used a larger focal length petzval for format, and would "crop out" all that swirl.
Today it's still difficult to get a fast Petzval that will fit on a Speed Graphic so you can use the shutter. This is one of mine, but it still doesn't cover well. Yet, I like the look. I shot this this weekend. It's a Convair 340 Pilot's chair I pulled out of a boneyard and polished up. Used an 1867 Frederick J. Cox petzval on a Speed Graphic. Stopped down to about F5.6 with a waterhouse stop. Shutter 1/20. Ilford FP4. I shot a few more sheets, coming soon. Post em if ya got em....
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