Posts tagged Lensbaby

Lensbaby Edge 80 Mini-Review

Mar19
2012 1 Comment Written by KerryG

I am a huge fan of the Lensbaby lenses and I have owned every model since the original version. Each iteration gets better and easier to use and delivers better quality images. When Lensbaby introduced the Optic Swap system, enabling different effects with the same platform, this was a serious game changer. In fact, in order to really see how far I could push the entire Lensbaby system, I shot an entire wedding with the Lensbaby system.

I really believe that the Sweet 35 and Edge 80 have taken the Lensbaby products from being a niche lens into being a professional quality tool.

The latest additions to the Lensbaby family include the Composer Pro, which is an improved version of the Composer offering better movement and locking control. The Sweet 35, which is the first Lensbaby optic with an adjustable aperture and 35mm focal length. The Edge 80 is an 80mm lens with adjustable aperture and built-in extension tube for closeup work.

While I will be doing a complete review of the new products very soon, I wanted to do a quick test and see how well these new optics stake up. Since I had a model at a camera show with me yesterday, I decided to bust out the Edge 80 and see how it would perform. The first thing you should know is that these are manual focus lenses, and this can certainly present a problem when using the small viewfinder and a large aperture. The image below was done at f/5.6 using the Edge 80. The camera settings were ISO 200 and 1/100th Shutter speed.

To really do this image justice, I have cropped into the left eye to show the level of detail. Keep in mind that this was taken at 1/100th and was shot handheld. and not on a tripod.

For being a handheld shot, on manual focus, using the viewfinder, I would say that is some really sharp detail there. To say that my first impressions are good would be quite an understatement. I really believe that the Sweet 35 and Edge 80 have taken the Lensbaby products from being a niche lens into being a professional quality tool. Stay tuned for a more complete review coming soon.

Posted in Blog, News - Tagged , ,

Lensbaby Wedding Project

May25
2010 25 Comments Written by KerryG

I love the Lensbaby lenses and will pull out the Lensbaby Composer at every wedding to snag a couple of dreamy portraits and will often use it for a few special pics of the rings and details. For a long time now I have wanted to shoot an entire wedding with one as a pet project. What would possess me to use a selective focus (and manual focus) lens to shoot an entire wedding? First off, its a challenge. As photographers we generally do not push ourselves with our personal projects as much as we should. Many have taken up trying to use their cell phone camera but its still all automatic, although you can still work on composition and lighting. Using a Lensbaby on the other hand is all manual. Since the Lensbaby lenses have a small “sweet spot” of sharp focus and the rest has a unique type of blurring to it, focusing is a real challenge. Try holding a camera, adjusting a focus manually, while holding a flash off to the side with one hand and you can imagine how awkward it can be at times.

In talking to a friend of mine, Chris Diset, who also shoots weddings in southern California, we got to talking about our pet projects and when I told him I wanted to shoot an entire wedding with a Lensbaby, he immediately invited me to do it at the next wedding he was shooting.  This is why its great to make friends with other photographers, I would never have tried this for a client that was paying me to get the best images as I knew going into this project that my “keeper ratio” was going to be far below average. In the end, a little over 800 images were taken. The camera was a Canon EOS 50D with a Lensbaby Composer. Most images were taken with the dual glass optic, many of those with the super wide angle attachment, and a handful were taken with the FishEye optic.

Without further ado, I present an Entire Wedding Shot with a Lensbaby.

Posted in Featured, Weddings / Engagements - Tagged ,

Archives