Photographing the craziest beards and moustaches in the country at the 5th NYC Beard & Moustache Competition was the perfect opportunity to test the Lomo LC-A Minitar-1 Art lens.

Once in a while the Gotham City Beards Club organizes a national Beard and Moustache Competition. With different categories like Best Full Beard Natural Over 8″, best Cropped Beard/Starter Beard, or best Natural Moustache, among others, the competition invites participants to show off their facial hair. The proceeds go to benefit local NYC charity groups.

The fifth competition was held on Saturday, May 16, at the Lower East side of New York City. To document the event and take portraits of participants I mounted the new Lomo LC-A Minitar-1 Art lens on a Sony A7 digital camera with a M mount adapter. The results are superb; the lens not only gave the images the high contrast and saturation of the LC-A 35 mm camera, but also added a strong vignette and background bokeh that is similar to what the Petzval Lens can produce. The focus system was easy to use on live mode, as well as the aperture control. What I like the most is the pancake design which makes it easy to carry around, and the vibrant colors. The lens cap attaching system ensures that the cap stays on it all the time so it doesn’t get lost, and its wide angle (32mm) is perfect for a full frame portrait.

Here is a collection of photos of the best beards and mustaches of New York City. Enjoy!