First Impressions of the Daguerreotype Achromat 2.9/64 Art Lens: Masataka Odaka

Trust someone privy to the sounds of the world to have an appreciation for the tiny details of every day. Sound designer Masataka Odaka tries Lomography’s new lens to practice his other love, light-chasing photography.

Hello Masataka. Could you introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Masataka Odaka. I am a storyteller and artist. Though I am a composer, musician, sound designer and producer by trade, photography is an essential part of my life. It is important because photography is a tool that helps me explore the world in new ways. Sometimes the visual explorations I do by way of photography end up greatly influencing my output in music and sounds.

This lens has a fascinating history, so let’s play the association game. What came to mind when you first saw the Daguerreotype Art Lens? What is special about its build?

I did not know of the Daguerreotype, so it was a great learning experience for me to find out and do some research about the first commercially successful photographic process. I love that Lomography is respecting and paying homage to history but also updating the old to make it work with modern technology and in turn educating a new generation of artists.

What did you take pictures of? What camera did you use?

I took pictures of flowers against the sunset and sunrise, text on glass against a background, nighttime lights, etc. Animals and people were harder to do because they always moved. I used a Canon 40D.

Did the Daguerreotype Art Lens impart a special look to your photos? Tell us about your first photo session.

It took a while for me to get used to understanding how focus worked on the lens. The first photo session was by the river at night. I experimented with taking shots using different star-shaped filters of the nearby train station and its lights.

The lens is a continuation of Lomography’s experimental tradition. What special effects have you done using the lens?

I’ve used the filters to give special shapes to the light sources in a shot. For example, a cat sitting in grass, with the background grass reflecting star-shaped reflections. The filter is an added touch of storytelling—visualization of good vibes emanating from the cat’s relaxed demeanor.

Also, if I was shooting more, I’d be curious about using the lens to shoot more shots of text on glass with some sort of background. With the use of the filters, perhaps there could be some interesting effects to be gained by such juxtaposition? One thought I had was: print some text on a projector transparency sheet, then go up high in a tall building and shoot the transparency against a window (with text in focus) and in view of the city lights below, using one of the star-shaped filters.

In terms of your own photography needs, what is the best feature of the Daguerreotype Art Lens?

It made me slow down and spend more time in setting up the shot.

How does Daguerreotype Art Lens differ from other Lomography Art Lenses?

I’ve used the Petzval. The Achromat is much softer in focus.

Why use a special lens at all?

Of course, one is to challenge your outward looking eye. To see things anew. But there is also an introspective element, for the use of unfamiliar tools is an opportunity to explore one’s own processes. Bad habits sometimes are masked underneath familiarity, and what you knew to be “the right way” may upon closer inspection, reveal much room for improvement. For example, completely relying on auto-focus all day everyday.

Let’s get technical. What tip would you give to a first-time user?

Use a tripod and have a stationary subject; play with the focus and spend time to get a feel for how the focusing works. Make very small adjustments in focus and/or distance from subject. Exercise patience.

Tell us about your next plan.

I am going to continue shooting time lapses of the sunrise and sunset, cut them down to 15 seconds, compose original music to it and upload them to Instagram. I live in Tokyo. It’s a big city and there are so many places to shoot. It’s springtime and the sunrise is getting earlier so I should get to bed soon. Thanks again to Kieko and Lomography for letting me shoot with the Achromat!


To know more about Masataka Odaka, visit his website and follow him on Instagram.

2016-04-20 #gear #ข่าวสาร #daguerreotype #achromat #artlens #lomographyartlenses #daguerreotype-achromat-art-lens #masataka-odaka

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