Photo Update - Lensbaby 1 takes on a foggy stroll in SF & a sushi dinner

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Paul Furman - 08 Apr 2007 21:29 GMT

Some new photos using another new lens, sort of a toy tilt shift thing
that looks like a spring/plunger called 'lensbabies': It never really
looks very sharp anywhere but you get more control over the plane of focus

Four shots on a stroll on Irving street in the Sunset district:
http://tinyurl.com/2z9js8
<http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=California/Bay-Area/San-Francisco/neigh
borhoods/2007-04-07-irving-sunset>

Six shots of a tofu appetizer & sushi dinner in commemoration of our
kitty Rough Dude (Doo-Dah) http://tinyurl.com/gp74f who just died of a
heart attack this week at age 10 (young):
http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=Misc/misc-photos/2007-04-07-sushi
<http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=Misc/misc-photos/2007-04-07-sushi>

One illustration of how the lens is operated by squeezing the plunger to
focus and tilt:
http://tinyurl.com/2vludj

Best regards,

Signature

Paul Furman
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com
Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
(415) 722-6037

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Rita Ä Berkowitz - 08 Apr 2007 21:49 GMT

> Some new photos using another new lens, sort of a toy tilt shift thing
> that looks like a spring/plunger called 'lensbabies': It never really
> looks very sharp anywhere but you get more control over the plane of
> focus

I really never like the results from the Lensbaby. The results are
borderline atrocious to outright trash. It's a good $15 novelty lens, but
if you paid more than that I feel for ya.

Rita

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Skip - 09 Apr 2007 00:01 GMT

>> Some new photos using another new lens, sort of a toy tilt shift thing
>> that looks like a spring/plunger called 'lensbabies': It never really
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> borderline atrocious to outright trash. It's a good $15 novelty lens, but
> if you paid more than that I feel for ya.

Yeah, my wife and I played with one borrowed from a friend, for a couple of
days. She had an art project that it sounded like the lens would be
appropriate for. Neither one of us particularly cared for the results,
sharp focus on any point is virtually impossible to achieve, once what
resembles focus is achieved, it is difficult to maintain that focus, and the
OOF areas aren't all that great either. We returned it to our friend, with
our thanks, but we probably won't be buying one. $150-$250 for a toy
(depending on the model) seemed a little excessive.

Signature

Skip Middleton
www.shadowcatcherimagery.com
www.pbase.com/skipm

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Paul Furman - 09 Apr 2007 01:57 GMT

> $150-$250 for a toy
> (depending on the model) seemed a little excessive.

I paid $50. It works as an experimental bellows for other lenses too.

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Paul Furman - 09 Apr 2007 01:36 GMT

>> Some new photos using another new lens, sort of a toy tilt shift thing
>> that looks like a spring/plunger called 'lensbabies': It never really
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> I really never like the results from the Lensbaby. The results are
> borderline atrocious to outright trash.

That was actually their goal :-) I agree it's overpriced & would be
nicer with a decent piece of glass in it.

> It's a good $15 novelty lens,
> but if you paid more than that I feel for ya.

I paid half the new price for the simplest model. I wouldn't have bought
one new. The main problem is the lens itself is crap but the lens pops
right out, a single piece of glass the size of a penny and it's possible
to hold nice lenses on there for macro bellows work. Too bad it's so far
away so infinity comes very close. I just tried with a 50/1.2, 28/2 &
105/2.8 but I couldn't get anything useable out of the 20/2.8:
<http://www.edgehill.net/1/?SC=go.php&DIR=Misc/photography/cameras/2007-04-07-len
sbaby/bellows>

It'll be a piece of cake to cut of a lens back-cap & use that as a
light-tight mount. It's not really practical though, without controlled
support I had to shoot at ISO 1600. Newer models have a series of screws
or pins around all sides for dialing the position without the shakiness
of pressing hard with your fingers. I don't think that would support a
heavy macro lens though so I'd have to rig up some sort of arm or arms
to secure the lens off the tripod head or legs. And if you are stopping
down, it's wide to see what you're doing then stop down for the shoot.
Only practical with a tripod setup.

One thing that works well is full frame lenses on crop frame DSLRs leave
plenty of room for tilting & shifting into a larger image circle. I just
with it was close to infinity focus.

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