Lomography has launched its Kickstarter for the Atoll Ultra-Wide 17mm f / 2.8 Art Lens for Nikon Z, Canon RF, Sony E and Leica M-mount. The fully manual lens makes lofty promises for the asking price of $ 550.
The Lomography Atoll Ultra-Wide 2.8 / 17 Art lens (its official name) is a compact prime lens optimized for photo and video with a helicoid focus mechanism, a dampened aperture adjustment ring and a short focus throw. It also comes with an included hot shoe mounted optical viewfinder.
The lens is made of 13 “multicoated” elements arranged in 10 groups with an 8-blade aperture ranging from f / 2.8 to f / 22.
Lomography sets its ultra-wide lens to suit a number of tasks from scenery and action to street and travel photography. The company claims it is both great for close-up shots and ideal for nearly distortion-free wide, wide photos.
The lens has a wide 103-degree field of view with “minimal distortion” and what the company calls “vibrant colors and strong contrast.” Those colors are created by an improved rectilinear optics that Lomography says is used to deliver “dazzling colors and stunning saturation, even in low light.”
It has a short focus distance of 0.1 meters (~ 3.9 inches) on Canon RF, Nikon Z and Sony E with a slightly longer distance of 0.25 meters (~ 9.8 inches) with M-mount cameras. Speaking of M-mount, it is paired for both digital and analog rangefinders. If nothing else, the number of lens mounting options the lens offers to potential buyers is impressive.
To ensure this great invention can be used with as many camera setups as possible, Lomography has cleverly designed it to work with Canon RF, Nikon Z and Sony E cameras when the close-up lens base is attached and M mount analog and digital cameras if not. Voila! Now you can display iconic Lomography aesthetics across an impressive field of view using digital and analog cameras with just one compact prime lens.
Below are several sample images provided by Lomography to demonstrate the capabilities of the lens:
Lomography is offering the lens for $ 150 off the final retail price “for the first 24 hours” of the Kickstarter. At the time of release, the lens was therefore offered for $ 400 in all four lens mounts. The final retail price, which is also the supposed Kickstarter price after day one, is $ 550. Lomography says it plans to release in August. 2021 orders to ship the lens.
As always, remember that Kickstarter is not a pre-order platform and while Lomography has successfully completed twelve previous crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, you should be careful.