Still life photography with a new Petzval lens on the Fuji X-E2

The Petzval portrait lens was invented in 1840 by Joseph Petzval. This innovative design allowed much faster apertures than previous lenses, and significantly cut down the exposure times needed for taking pictures. A new version of the original Petzval design to fit Nikon and Canon cameras has recently been re-manufactured as part of a Lomography Kickstarter project.  I will be writing a full blog post on this lens on a Nikon camera in a later post, but for now I couldn't resist the temptation to mount the lens on a Fuji X camera using a Nikon to Fuji X adapter.

The lens is noted for its flattering use in portraiture, and a soft, swirling bokeh effect in out of focus areas. To harmonize the characteristics of the lens with my still life project, I kept to muted colors and soft, bright lighting.

The Petzval lens was mounted on the X-E2 using a Nikon to FX adapter. The lens uses rack-and-pinion focusing and  has Waterhouse stops inserted in the top for aperture settings, the widest aperture being f/2.2.  I used the f/2.8 stop for all of the still life photos.