Videography with the Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens by Daniel John Peters

Freelance director, cinematographer, musician and man of many talents Daniel John Peters has written, directed and shot his own feature film, worked with Coca Cola, BOSE, Jimmy Choo and has been interviewed by CVP magazine, where he discussed the behind-the-scenes process of making and shooting films. Recently he has been using the Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens and Petzval 55 f/1.7 MKII Art Lens to shoot some personal videos and talked to us about videography with these unique bokeh control art lenses.

Hi Daniel, welcome to Lomography Magazine. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I come from a music background. Came up with our music video concepts and slowly started shooting music videos for brands, soon jumping into fashion and food, working for clients like Jimmy Choo and Byron Hamburgers, Robbie Williams etc. My love is story telling, whether it be in music form and film. I wrote, shot, and directed five short films from which two of them won a few awards at festivals. I made my feature film Save Jane which is out now on Amazon Prime. I also wrote it, shot it, directed, did sound score and 90% of the sound myself. Self funded and shot for £7K in 7 days.

What made you want to use the Petzval 58 for shooting videos?

I instantly fell in love with the look and feel. It reminds me of anamorphic but in a different way. I love the flares and organic feel the lenses have.

Tell us a bit about these videos you are sharing with us and how the Petzval lenses fitted into your ideas?

I love testing lenses. So the video is out walking my dogs, just seeing how it reacts to the environment. As you can see it’s beautiful. Nothing to do with me filming, the lens is doing all the work.

How did you find the results of the Petzval lenses?

I love the Petzval EF 58mm but it's tricky to pull the focus, wish it had some teeth so I can pull the focus with motors. The Petzval 55 RF version is great too but I prefer the versatility to the EF mount, which also looks nicer to me.

What's coming up for you next in 2024?

At the moment I’ve been writing a lot of series and films. Hoping to get picked up by networks as I’ve run out of money to make my own films now.

To see more of Daniel's videos visit his website.

2024-08-08 #gear #videos #film #bokeh #uk #petzval #videpgraphy #save-jane #amazon-prime