Daguerreotype Achromat, photo session in the pictorialism style

What a unique kind of lens. This Daguerreotype Achromat is really something different from all the other lenses I have ever used before.

I want to point out that this is not going to be a review of the Daguerreotype Achromat from Lomography, but rather my consideration of using this lens in a special portrait session.

Daguerreotype Achromat photos: where does this lens come from?

Let’s start by saying something about this lens: the Daguerreotype Achromat is a reproduction of the original lens made by Charles Chevalier at the beginning of the 19th century, to be used on the first camera obscura that was using Daguerre’s photographic process. So the name of this lens comes from this story.

Lomography, some years ago, had the idea to start a Kickstarter campaign, and it was very successful, so they were able to bring back this unique lens. The lens is built on the same optical scheme as the original Chevalier lens: the design, of course, had to be updated for the smaller 35mm camera, but we have the same idea and components. For me, one of the key aspects of this lens is the external disc apertures. With those, you can get very different effects out of this lens.

Daguerreotype Achromat, photo session in the pictorialism style

This article only shows some of the first photos I did with the Daguerreotype Achromat by Lomography. For the first photo session, I decided to use the full aperture.

My idea and inspiration were the pictorialism photos of the period at the beginning of the 20th century. The pictures of Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz were on my mind when preparing for this shooting. I wanted to get that kind of soft focus effect and result.

To go in the same direction, I used my Fujifilm X-T2 with the lens attached to an adapter: the Daguerreotype Achromat I got from Lomography was, in fact, a Nikon mount. The most difficult part when shooting with this lens is the focusing: everything looks very soft in the viewfinder, so it is difficult to focus even on a mirrorless camera with the help of focus peaking or with enlargement of the focus point.

To get the same effect as in the pictorialism era, I used something that is usually not the way of shooting: I raised the ISO value to simulate the same undefined and grainy look that the pictorialist photographers were achieving with the gum bichromate printing technique.

In my situation, I used ISO 12,800. The Fuji X-Trans sensors are well known to give a nice and almost analog grain, and I have to say that for this picture the results are what I was expecting.

Other photos with the Daguerreotype Achromat

Stay tuned for the next photo sessions with the Daguerreotype Achromat lens. In the next one, I am going to use a fixed aperture disc, so you will see some totally different images.