The Pentacon Petzval Particulate

In the past, I’ve tried to recreate the swirly bokeh created by a vintage Petzval lens. With that in mind, I’ve acquired a modded HELIOS 44-2 Russian piece of glass for my Nikon shooters. Which is all well and good.

But I want to add that swirly, dreamy bokeh to my medium format gear.

And this may be more difficult than I imagine.

See, my medicum format camera – the Pentacon SIx TL – doesn’t have the ability to couple other camera makers’ glass to its chassis. And the modern Petzval clone piece – the Petzvar – was only made in small quantities by a third-party hobbyist, who isn’t making any more. And the third option – trying to flip one of the lenses inside a Pentacon Six housing – brings with it its own spate of problems.

Yeah, trying to figure this out is like trying to decipher the infield fly rule.

Which brought me to an eBay seller who offered a 58mm screw-on lens adapter that promised (in his words) “swirly bokeh effect.” This is what he offered for sale.

Supposedly screwing this on the front of your glass will get that swirly background previously obtainable only with a century-old Petzval glass and a lot of tinkering.

He even showed a picture of what the lens could do.

I mean, yeah, that’s what I want. I want that Petzval swirly bokeh and I want to get it from my Pentacon Six TL camera.

Okay, $12.99 and a few days to travel from China to New York … I can handle that.

Purchase made.

And sure enough, the gizmo arrived.

So yeah, I have to test this out.

And I tested it at the Big E a couple of weeks ago. Packed a roll of Kodak T-Max 100 in the chassis, slapped the Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm f/2.8 lens on the body, and screwed this little doodad on the lens front.

Took a few shots … then hoped for the best.

Sent the film off for development, and …

Well …

I got these. And see if you can spot that “swirly bokeh effect.”

What Chinese for “you got swindled?”

This didn’t give me any bokeh. It basically looks like I shot these photos through the eyeholes of a luchador mask. Ugh.

$12.99 plus shipping down the drain. Oh well, live and learn.

Oh, wait. There’s more.

Because a few days after I received this filter … I also received a second bill, this time from the United States Postal Service. Because this product came from China … I was now responsible for paying the tariffs and import fees on the product.

Yep, Donald Trump just fucked with my photography. Fan-fucking-tastic.

So in the end, counting tariffs, shipping, and a product that’s basely adequate as a coaster, I spent about $30.

And I STILL haven’t snagged that medium format swirly bokeh.

Let me repeat.

Ugh.