Posts tagged lenses

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 , ,

How to clean your lenses

Jul18
2009 Leave a Comment Written by KerryG

In the forums Benjamin Trevor asked for an article on how to properly clean your lens so thanks for the suggestion and here we go. First off, the best thing to do is keep your lenses clean in the first place, always keep your front and rear caps on when not in use. Secondly, you should have UV filters on all your lenses, this will help protect your lenses from damage as well as keeping any cleaning limited to the filter instead of actually touching the lens glass itself. But, if you have to clean, lets look at some ways how.

Goodbye Dust Bunnies

There are three things that I keep handy in order to keep my lenses clean. A good microfiber cloth, a Giottos Rocket Blower, and a LensPen. I do not use any cleaning process that uses chemicals since even the best will leave some residue. Preferably I don’t want to touch the glass at all so the first step is going to be to use the Rocket Blower to get as much off the glass as possible. If something isn’t coming off easily I turn to the brush side of the Lenspen. If the issue is something different like fingerprints (my personal biggest issue) then the best way to clean that is with the felt tip of the Lenspen. The carbon dust will clean and polish the lens to perfection.

The following video will walk through my cleaning process that I go through before any shoot.

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Posted in For Photographers - Tagged ,

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