The spring of Lensbaby | B&N Photography Blog

Eredeti: boyan, B&N Photography Blog

I think everyone was excited to see the winter go, and frankly we were itching to take the cameras out without having to dress like polar bears Also, since the lensbaby has been sitting idle in the bag for quite a while now, we figured we should dust it off and take it out for a spin.

Lensbaby is essentially a specialized lens used to blur out all but a small portion of the image (called the sweet spot) and thus create a “blur vignette” so to speak. It can be a really cool effect, as long as it’s not overdone. Aside from the first 2 images which were taken with Canon 50mm f/1.4, all the others are lensbaby babies

Lensbaby is a funny little thing, and even though the glass itself is not the greatest, the quality of the images still surprises us. At f/2.8 it becomes very usable, but you have to nail the sweet spot just right otherwise your subject will be too soft.

The challenge with the lensbaby lies mainly in focusing. It’s not just that it’s manual focus, but the fact that you’re often not 100% certain where the sweet spot is – especially if you move it away from center. It can become quite an exercise in patience, although live view with digital zoom does help tremendously.

I find that the technical difficulties with focus really force you to slow down, step back and think about what you’re doing before releasing the shutter. The slow process is a welcome change from event photography – it feels almost like taking a vacation

My only complaint is edge softness. If you move the sweet spot away from center and to the edge of the frame on a full frame camera (such as 5DMK2) the reduction in sharpness becomes unacceptable. However on a crop body, results are much better and the corner softness issue essentially goes away.

It is honestly difficult to think of a $350 lens that is as fun to use as the lensbaby. Any kind of specialty lens would cost at least twice as much, so I really think there’s plenty of value here. Needless to say, it will keep you occupied for quite a while.