Lomography’s new Russar+ will view the world from a wider angle

The Lomographic Society has announced an exciting new lens: The Russar+ wide angle lens.

With its 20mm focal length and high-quality optics, this new art lens promises to produce sharp photos with warm, vibrant colors and vignettes—perfect for street photography, architectural shots, and landscapes, as well as personal portraits.

Its compact design, crafted with brass and chrome-plated, promises excellent distortion control and illumination.

Designed by Lomography and manufactured in Russia by Zenit, the Russar+ is an update of the famous 1958 Russar MR-2. That model was recognized as a groundbreaking super-wide-angle lens, named after Mikhail Mikhailovich Rusinov, once the chief optical engineer at Zenit, who devised its optical specs.

Patented in 1946, it allowed for brighter wide-angle photos by using aberrational vignetting in the corners for more illumination across the whole image.

With its current modified lens tube construction and multicoated finish, the Russar+ is compatible with all L39/M mount analog cameras, digital mirrorless cameras, and other cameras using adapter mounts.

Pre-orders for this new art lens are on a first come, first serve basis to be delivered in July. You can pre-order from the company’s site. The price is $649.

Too bad the lens won’t be available for this year’s Film Photography Day, coming up on April 12, and sponsored by Lomography. But its announcement is bound to get shooters fired up.

Film Photography Day events will take place all over the world, so check this schedule for details of what might be going on in your community.

Lomography embraces an experimental, interactive, vivid, and even blurred photographic output. With a constantly expanding selection of film cameras and accessories, lomography is a creative and often alternative approach to communicating with and capturing the world.

➤ Russr+