The love of Victorian photography is, in part, a love of the character and rendering of classic lenses. We have a variety of vintage (antique) lenses that we use. This set of portraits was taken with our Voigtlander Nokton 40mm lens. The Nokton is an interesting lens in that it is manufactured right now but uses the vintage formula and glass. It is fully manual aperture and focus and mounts directly on our Canon R5 modern mirrorless camera. Wisconsin model KD Jae came to our Menasha studio for a set of Tintype portraits. Between tintypes we also had some fun…

Along with Victorian Photography, we also love film and vintage lenses. By "Vintage" we mean lenses built 50 or more years ago. We use modern digital cameras with adapters to mount the old lenses. One of our favorite vintage lenses is the Helios 44. The optical design and glass used in the Helios gives amazing character and beautiful rendering in a portrait. Madeline posed for tintype portraits in an 1860's warehouse (images coming soon) but we also had some time for Helios 44 portraits. The portrait above is a classic Helios rendering. The window lights glow in the background and…

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon creating test tintypes with artists of Cloud Nine Fire Show After the light faded we switched to digital photos and had some fun! Tia (also know as TLKonfire) posed for some amazing captures with two of my vintage lenses. The picture above was taken with my SMC Takumar 135mm f/2.5 lens. The Takumar is around 60 years old and still takes wonderful portraits. Next is another Takumar portrait taken stopped at f/3.5 to highlight Tia's beautiful eyes and her body art. The colors and contrast are why I love vintage lenses. We next switched…