About Photodo

About photodo.com
photodo is a site all about lenses and lens technology. We have reviews, news, specifications and articles to help you choose and use lenses on your SLR or medium-format camera.

photodo was created in 1997. If you've visited photodo before, you know it has faced several changes since it was introduced, but became quite static in 2000, with no updates since. That was until June 2006, when it was relaunched under new ownership and has a completely new interface that's much faster and much more accessible. All data from the old site has been moved across and can be accessed in a more efficient way through our lens search facility.

The site now has a larger news section, detailed reviews, new guides section plus a forum. Now not only can you look up all that MTF data that Lars created using Hasselblad's optical bench in Sweden, but also add your own user reviews and ratings of lenses, suggest changes to specs and inform us of news. We've turned, what was an informative, but static site, into a whole new community experience. photodo is a place to learn, share and enjoy. If you're interested in lenses, it's the place to be.

The old photodo site has been moved here if you would still like to view it.

The people behind photodo
Lars Kjellberg was founder of photodo and responsible for the site until 2005. Lars has a long history within the area of photography. Find out more about Lars further below.

Lars worked with Erik Sjostedt and his son Martin Kjellberg to create the useful lens resource that was linked to from many other photography sites.

Photodo was taken over by Magezine Publishing (the people behind the successful online photography magazine ePHOTOzine) in Oct 2005 and since that day the new owners, have been upgrading the site, adding news lenses and adding new articles. The new look photodo went live in July 2006.

photodo - about the name
The name photodo (way of photo) is inspired by Chinese philosophy.
Everybody knows what photo is, but do needs some explanation, even if it defies verbal definition. Do (Dao or Tao) is, in Chinese philosophy, a fundamental concept signifying the correct way, or Heaven's way. It is the source of all things, the power that created the Universe. It is, simply, a way of life. To comprehend do you must use your heart and soul. Do follows nature. To live in accordance with do is to live a simple life and follow Nature. Do is simplicity, and its usefulness is without limits.

When photography is practiced to its perfection, a state is achieved in which the rationalizing and calculating functions of the mind are suspended so that the mind and body can react immediately as a unit. The everyday experience of the dualism of subject and object vanishes.

The first of the two Chinese characters in our logo is sha (photo), and the second is do (way or road).
Related words are Budo (martial way), Kendo"(way of fencing) and Kyundo (way of archery).

Lars Kjellberg - a biography

1950 Born in Lund, Sweden
1968 Seriously started to take photographs
1969 Built his first darkroom
1974-79 Travelled with a camera to about 50 countries, including India, China, Papua New Guinea, New Zeeland and Haiti
1978 Taught photography for the first time
1979 Started to write about photography
1981-84 Wrote articles for the magazine Foto
1982-84 Worked as a professional photographer
1983 Wrote and published Materiallära för fotografer
1984-88 Taught photography at University of Göteborg, Sweden
1985-89 Wrote articles for the magazine Aktuell Fotografi
1988 Wrote and published Advanced B & W Technique 1
1989 Produced a video about the Zone System
1989 Wrote the manual about the Zone System for Hasselblad 205 TCC
1990 Produced a video about the Hasselblad 205TCC and the Zone System
1990-97 Wrote photo-technical articles for the Swedish National Encyclopedia
1990-92 Became technical editor of magazine Aktuell Fotografi
1992-97 Founded and worked as chief editor of Fotografi magazine
2000-present Co-founder and part owner of QPcard