Lomography Daguerreotype Achromat 64mm F2.9 Art Review

Historical Context

Some historical context is useful to understand where the Lomography Daguerreotype Achromat comes from and what is special about it.

The Daguerreotype

Prior to the 1830's, artists used Camera Obscura (essentially a pinhole) to project images on a surface. The image was reversed and artists who wanted to reproduce scenes with fidelity had no other choice than to manually trace what they saw. Using an optical lens helped artists with the challenging aspects of perspective and parallax, and produced highly accurate representations.

Artists and scientists looked for a long time for a way to record the image on a permanent medium. It had been known for some time that powdered silver nitrate blackened over time when exposed to sunlight. Many trials were made to use this in a camera obscura or behind a lens.

In 1829, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre began collaborating with Nicéphore Niépce who had invented a processed called heliography. This process used a naturally occurring form of asphalt which hardened in proportion with the light intensity reaching it. This created a form of engraving but required very long exposure times.

First known recorded heliograph. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Daguerre designed a camera to take advantage of this process. He then endeavoured to improve the process, with great success. Using iodized silvered plates to record the image and mercury as a developer, he created the daguerreotype, a process sixty to eighty times faster.

Earliest dated daguerreotype, made by Daguerre in 1837. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

The daguerreotype was the first publicly available means to record an image in a process akin to what is nowadays called "photography".

The Chevalier Lens

Charles-Louis Chevalier was an optician and contemporary of Daguerre. He was known in particular for building and selling microscopes using achromatic objectives. The Chevalier family are also reportedly responsible for the first designs able to control spherical aberrations.

Chevalier knew Daguerre and Niépce and was interested in the daguerreotype novelty. Daguerre asked Chevalier to design a lens for the projected camera that he wanted to create (with Giroux, another inventor). Daguerre wished for a wide field of view and so chevalier used a known lens design made by Wollaston. Chevalier modified the design to include achromatic elements. The lens was finished in 1839 and the portable, folding camera that accompanied it was released in 1840. Chevalier is known to this day as an essential contributor to the daguerreotype.

The original Chevalier lens and the new Lomography Chevalier Achromat

Achromatic Lenses

An achromatic lens uses design elements to minimize chromatic aberrations (the displacement of the focal point depending on the color of the light) and to some extent spherical aberrations (when the focal point is not the same for rays passing near the center vs. near the border of the lens).

The Chevalier achromatic lens was known to create blurred, dreamy images with prominent spherical aberrations when compared with today's standards. It was without a doubt one of the best lenses available at the time of its inception, however.

Waterhouse Stop

The aperture system used in Lomography's Daguerreotype lens was not part of the original design. This system was invented by John Waterhouse of Halifax in 1858. At the time, it was revolutionary in its convenience.

With this system, a slot is included on the outside of the lens barrel. Plates with holes drilled in their center can be inserted in the slot. These holes, made with specific diameters, act as aperture stops and define the F-number. Nowadays the same goal is reached much more easily with irises.

You can see the slot on the new Lomography lens in the photo above.