The Petzval Petzvar Lens for my Pentacon Six TL

God almighty, I really want a stellar Petzval-style swirly, dreamy vignetted bokeh photo with my medium format Pentacon Six TL film camera. And so far, I have had absolutely NO SUCCESS with this endeavor.

Now I could find a 19th century original Petzval lens, and then try to integrate it with some sort of Rube Goldberg contraption so that it will work with my Pentacon Six TL. Nah. Too much work and too much of a pain.

Next step was to try to integrate my 35mm Helios 44-2 lens that already possessed the Petzval modification. No dice. There are no adapters that would connect non-Pentacon Sis lensese to a Pentacon Six camera. The mechanism won’t mech.

I even tried a screw-on front mount that would blur the border of my photos. I took one test roll of photos with it and gave up. The results looked like crap.

Then I came across this site. Link is here. Apparently this camera enthusiast – based in Munich, Germany – has built a “Petzvar” lens that can attach to medium format film cameras and give that same Petzval swirly, dreamy, desirable bokeh look. And I checked the available mounts. He can build one for Hasselblads, for Exaktas, for Hartbleis, for Kiev-60’s and for Kiev-88’s.

Oh, and he has a mount available for Pentacon Six and Six TL cameras.

I contacted him. He agreed to custom-build a Petzvar lens for my camera gear. This will essentially be my fifth – and, for all intents and purposes – my final Petzval-specific mount. After this, I’m done, there’s no need for any other glass.

At least, not for now. 😀

A few days ago, this little treasure arrived in the mail.

Say Guten Tag to my new Ivanichek Petzvar 120mm f/3.8 lens, serialized #350 in a continuing run.

And after a wee bit of fiddling, the lens locked into my Pentacon Six TL chassis.

Now to test this bad boy out.

I’ve learned that for good quality Petzval-like “swirly bokeh” images, I need the center subject at least one meter away from my camera, with plenty of background behind it. So a photography model’s head or a flower bloom or a centralized focal point needs to be dead center and about a meter away.

Okay. Let’s try this and see how it works.

The other day, I took the Pentacon Six TL and packed a roll of Kodak Portra 400 in the chassis. Now let’s see if this pays off.

The new lens on the frame. I took a few photos.

And here’s the best of the batch.

And look what I captured.

Okay. THAT is what I’m looking for. See the swirly background? The leaves and foliage swirling around the pot of mums?

THIS IS WHAT I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!

Okay. I now have to remember the formula. This lens will only work if (a) there’s a subject dead center, with a background in the distance; (b) there’s plenty of sunlight and good film; (c) I get a little luck on my table.

Don’t mind me. I just snagged the creamy, juicy bokeh and I got it with my medium format camera.

So … now I know it works. Now I know I can achieve this.

NOW I need to build from it.

And you know me. Once I get a goal … I’m going to run toward it.

I’ve got the tools. I’ve got the aim. Now I just need to dial in the proper subject.

(rubbing hands) (popping imaginary cigar in mouth) I love it when a plan comes together. 😀