Vintage Specialty
Zero Optik Rehoused
Kinoptik Tegea 9.8mm Prime
King of the Wide Lenses
- Focal
- 9.8mm
- T-stop
- T2.3
- Mount
- PL
Vintage Specialty
GL Optics Housing
Lomography Petzvalux Primes
5 specialty lenses 27 – 120mm T1.7 – T1.9 LPL only
The only cine lens with real-time, mechanical control over its signature “swirly” Petzval bokeh.
Sharp in the centre, it falls off into a beautifully chaotic, painterly swirl, with a dedicated ring to dial the effect from subtle to extreme. Ancient Optics expanded the set with three additional focal lengths beyond Lomography’s originals.
Character profile
How this lens renders.
Tunable swirl. Modern LPL build.
Five axes plotting how this set behaves wide-open vs a neutral modern reference. Larger area = more pronounced trait.
Focal lengths
5 focal lengths in this set
- 27mm T1.9* sources disagree
- 38mm T1.7
- 55mm T1.7
- 80mm T1.9
- 120mm T1.9
| Focal | T-Stop | Close focus | Weight | Front Ø |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27mm | T1.9* sources disagree | 1' | 2.6 kg | 136mm |
| 38mm | T1.7 | 1'2" | 1.9 kg | 114mm |
| 55mm | T1.7 | 2' | 1.5 kg | 114mm |
| 80mm | T1.9 | 2'9" | 1.7 kg | 114mm |
| 120mm | T1.9 | 3' | 2.5 kg | 114mm |
Talking points
Why DPs pick this set
-
Real-time tunable Petzval bokeh via mechanical control ring (settings 1–7).
Unique in cinema
-
Ancient Optics added 27mm, 38mm, and 120mm to extend the range
-
LPL mount only.
Built for modern full-frame cameras
-
Low-to-medium contrast gives a dreamy, romantic rendering
Technical
Full specifications
- Mount
- LPL only
- Coverage
- Full Frame
- Iris
- 15-blade circular
- Focus Rotation
- 330°
- Key Feature
- Bokeh Control ring: tune swirl intensity from 1 to 7 in real-time
- Notes
- 27mm, 38mm, 120mm are Ancient Optics additions beyond the standard Petzval lineup
Some figures here are marked *. Our sources disagree on those, so we're checking them against the lenses themselves. Ask us and we'll measure it for you.
Heritage
-
Origin
Joseph Petzval designed the original Petzval portrait lens in 1840, the lens that made photography practical. Its f/3.6 maximum aperture was unprecedented for the era, cutting exposure times from minutes to seconds, and the swirling out-of-focus rendering it produced became a signature of 19th-century portraiture.
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Filmography
The Petzval look has appeared in cinema whenever DPs wanted that handmade, period-photograph quality. Contemporary commercial and music-video work has revived the swirl for vintage atmosphere.
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Build
Lomography revived the Petzval design for stills photography in the 2010s. Ancient Optics rehoused the line for cinema in a modified Mk5 G.L. Optics housing, carrying over Lomography’s Bokeh Control ring (settings 1–7) that dials the swirl from subtle to extreme in real time, unique in cinema. Ancient Optics extended the range with 27mm, 38mm, and 120mm focal lengths beyond Lomography’s originals. LPL mount only, built for modern full-frame sensors.
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