Lensbaby 2.0 shots - DPChallenge Forums

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

01/31/2006 07:52:52 PM · #1

Take a look, it's a fun lens and I think using it all day was ok.
I think it's more than just a novelty lens.
//yido.smugmug.com/gallery/1169884

kirbic

Canon EOS R5

01/31/2006 08:35:05 PM · #2

Cool stuff Tom! Looks like a fun little lens.

Katmystiry

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

01/31/2006 08:45:18 PM · #3

Hmmm I bought one over the summer and have hardly played with it. Great shots. I guess I'd better dust that lens off and take some pics with it!

digitalknight

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

01/31/2006 08:46:02 PM · #4

how are the optics? I don't expect this to stand up to a $1500 lens, but is the quality there to a) sell to a client b) print in a full page ad c) take to poster size prints?

I keep going to the site thinking I'm going to get one, and I just can't seem to pull the trigger, everything looks too "out" optically to take this seriously.

Thoughts?

Love the shots you posted, the lady on the bench in front of the building would just be a snapshot, but is so cool with the lensbaby - the fountain was really cool too.

Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD

01/31/2006 08:55:05 PM · #5

Wow, thanks for the comments.
Yes, it's a fun little lens. I thought I'd get sick of the soft image after a few, but not really.

Doug, according to Popular Photography's June 2005 Review of the lens, many pros were interested in the lens as well at a convention. As for the optics, it's a 50mm and the 2.0 version is coated. You still get some CA and if you shoot facing the sun, the contrast is poor. All these can be corrected in RAW, I used RawShooter Premium and a vibrance feature to make the colors come out more. I haven't printed any prints, but I've read of others making 8x12 prints and pros including a shot or two for weddings and stock photos. I think if you use a small aperature , like f8, to make the "sweet spot" bigger then it might do well for prints, as long as you keep it to about 8x12. If you want, I can sent you a max. sized JPEG version to you and you can print it out and see what you think. Lot of the softness/sharpness depends on how you focus the thing though. It takes some time to lean how to focus the thing b/c you move the lens barrel to focus and the thing move in all 3 dimensions. If you tilt it a bit to one side, then it does alter the focal distance, so you have to learn to compensate for that as well.

Message edited by author 2006-01-31 20:58:26.

MadMan2k

Sony Alpha a6400

01/31/2006 09:01:43 PM · #6

Cool shots. Can you change where the effect is in the frame or is it just fixed?

01/31/2006 09:08:10 PM · #7

Originally posted by MadMan2k:

Cool shots. Can you change where the effect is in the frame or is it just fixed?

Yes you can change it.
If you leave the barrel/lens alone, it focuses at about 12 inches away from you. The center will be clear (sweet spot) while the corners will be soft. If you compress the barrel, since it's bellow like and compressible, the focal lenght increases till it hits infinity at full compression. If you want to move the "sweet spot" to the right, the you move the barrel in that direction. The barrel is flexible so you can move in all directions. It takes a bit of practice to move the bellow like that to focus, move the sweet spot around, and use the shutter button.

There are aperature rings that you put in front of the lens element and as you increase the aperature, they say the DOF increases as well as the "sweet spot." With no ring it's a f2.0, and they provide a f2.8, f4, f5.6, and a f8.0 rings. I used the f5.6 for all the shots after finding the f4's DOF too shallow and hence more difficult to get things in focus. Next time, I think I'll try f8 and see.

It's a 50mm, I think b/c it's optically simpler to make, but they sell a n adapter made by Tokina that decreases the focal length by .45 factor, so it goes from 50mm to about 22.5mm. On a 1.6 crop it's a 80mm lens, which makes it tough for landscapes. With the $80 adapter, it would be a 36mm. They also have a close up lens adapter for macro as well.

Message edited by author 2006-01-31 21:13:03.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

02/01/2006 12:07:35 PM · #8

some thought the label/watermark was too obvious, so I've corrected them to be less noticable.

Chiqui

Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

02/01/2006 12:28:25 PM · #9

Cool shots. I have this lens too and it's pretty sweet. I've never tried it for portraits but I can't wait to do it. For those of you wondering about the optics, etc, there is an action out there that mimics the effect of a Lensbaby so you can take pictures with your regular camera and then photoshop the effect.

June

Manic

DJI Mini 3 Pro

Kamlan 28mm F1.4 MF for APS-C

02/01/2006 12:35:10 PM · #10

Coupla lensbaby2 shots from the Amsterdam GTG (yes, Chiqui's lens, not mine!):

Great fun lens :o)

Gordon

RIM BlackBerry Curve

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM

02/01/2006 12:35:19 PM · #11

Originally posted by Chiqui:

Photoshopping it in is kinda contrary to the whole idea of it being quite organic in use and often random/ surprising for the results. Also the act of composing/ looking through the lens and playing with the bellows is a big part of exploring what's possible - again not something you'll do in photoshop.

Most of the actions I've seen just mimic the blur, they don't get much of the distortion or general character of the lens into the result.

From experience, I wouldn't enter shots in to a challenge though lots of 'this seems blurry/ out of focus' ;)