Many fans of vintage gear also have a particular fascination for unique and unusual lenses. A lot of these are also now rare collectible items. If that sounds like you, you’ll definitely have to keep an eye out for the finds of Paris-based photographer and filmmaker Mathieu Stern, who has become a connoisseur of “weird” and wonderful vintage lenses. His latest is the Pentax Fish-eye-Takumar 17mm f/4, which he also dubbed as the “Van Gogh” lens.

In the quick video above, Stern breaks down some of the most interesting details about the Fish-eye-Takumar 17mm f/4. It was the world’s best fisheye lens at the time it was introduced in 1967 for the Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR camera.

He also talked about what makes this lens wonderfully weird: Built-in filters and an unusual adapter for fitting extra gelatin filters behind the lens. He described how the effects that it made, had him call it the Van Gogh lens, and shared some sample photos he took with a Sony a7 III with the help of an M42 adapter.

Do you also have a rare “weird” vintage lens in your collection? Do tell us about it in the comments below!