Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: Henrik Paul on September 12, 2007, 06:47:25 pm
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I had a hard time choosing between The Coffee Corner and here, so hopefully nobody takes offense.
I just finished my review of Lensbaby 3G. Here's a small excerpt:
The paradoxical fact about the Lensbaby is that it produces so bad an image (according to traditional lens measurements) that the results are fascinating. The lens is, as Lensbabies (the company who makes them) calls, a "selective focus lens". [..]
[..] The lens actually redefines the term "manual lens". You have absolutely no electricity going through the machine. The contact the lens makes with your camera is minimal, just enough to make the camera realize that it indeed has a lens attached. It has no circuits, no wires, no nothing. Focusing is as manual as you could ever imagine. Forget about focusing rings, you pull and push, twist and turn the lens assembly itself with your own fingers. Want to change aperture? Just replace the aperture. Yes. You read it right: the Lensbaby has physical aperture discs that you swap to change aperture sizes.
It can be read in the whole with some example imaginery here: http://henrik.paul.fi/articles.php?a=16 (http://henrik.paul.fi/articles.php?a=16)
As always, comments, ideas and general discussion are much appreciated.
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I hope they come out with a Zoom range. I find that the 50mm is rather restrictive.
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It has lots of...dimensionality...
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Nice review. I've seen these online before, but have always been underwhelmed. That bridge shot is almost making me change my mind. But the big question is: isn't it possible to do all of what Lensbaby does in post? I guess that's not the point, but at least in post you are in total control.
Oh, and pricing information and a clickable link to Lensbaby website is good reviewing protocol. Would've saved me all of 2 seconds googling
Oh2, I have another question: is the lens sealed? I'm asking this because 30D doesn't have sensor cleaning and it'd be a total PITA if there's any holes in the assembly allowing air to circulate freely.
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It has lots of...dimensionality...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139190\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
But only in the MF version, especially in jpegs for the web.
Right, Jonathan?
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Two comments on the lensbaby 3g ...
1. 50mm sucks on a crop.
2. Fiddling with that thing sucks on a crop.
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I had a hard time choosing between The Coffee Corner and here, so hopefully nobody takes offense.
I just finished my review of Lensbaby 3G. Here's a small excerpt:
It can be read in the whole with some example imaginery here: http://henrik.paul.fi/articles.php?a=16 (http://henrik.paul.fi/articles.php?a=16)
As always, comments, ideas and general discussion are much appreciated.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a] (http://index.php?act=findpost&pid=139001\")
Thanks Henrik. A very well balanced review. I agree with all the points in your article. I just spent 6 days in the Yukon shooting exclusively with the LB 3G and a Canon 5D (I needed some care free, left brained photo fun). I had a blast. A few things that I didn't see in your review include:
1) The new locking mechanism allows one to use the LB on a tripod to produce HDR images and long exposures.
2) I find the front of the lens a bit "busy", with knobs and buttons and springs and usually had a hard time finding the fine focus knobs (I might just need more practice).
3) I did find it somewhat difficult to get the sweet spot and focusing dead-on thru the 5D's viewfinder. I did get better the more I practiced however.
4) An upside to the blurred LB style is that one can use high ISOs and not be too much concerned about the effects of noise and subsequent noise reduction (if any). The images even look "better" with some texture from noise.
5) Like your Nikon, I found the 5D's meter easily fooled by the LB (the same applies to my 24 TS-E lens too - no surprise there) so I tried to determine my exposure prior to selectively focusing (and then I would bracket exposures +1, -1)
6) I was surprised at the image quality of the sweet spot - not bad at all.
7) The most maddening design flaw with the LB is something you've already pointed out - the unmarked aperture disks. That's a very silly oversight on an otherwise ingeniously designed lens.
I've temporarily parked 11 Yukon (and 1 Juneau, Alaska) LB 3G photos photo here:
[a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmmphotography/sets/72157601907572901]http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmmphotograph...157601907572901[/url]
CHeers!
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Nice review. I've seen these online before, but have always been underwhelmed. That bridge shot is almost making me change my mind. But the big question is: isn't it possible to do all of what Lensbaby does in post? I guess that's not the point, but at least in post you are in total control.
Oh, and pricing information and a clickable link to Lensbaby website is good reviewing protocol. Would've saved me all of 2 seconds googling
Oh2, I have another question: is the lens sealed? I'm asking this because 30D doesn't have sensor cleaning and it'd be a total PITA if there's any holes in the assembly allowing air to circulate freely.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139214\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
You can get pretty close in post but the LB not only blurs the edges of the frame but distorts shapes and can cause interesting effects from point light sources. I think it'd be pretty tough to really nail the LB effect in post (not that it couldn't be done).
As for holes - none that I've noticed (I've even had it out in some pretty good rain with no ill effects on the lens or my 5D - in fact, since the front element is recessed pretty far into the housing, it's well protected from light rain.
CHeers!
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Thanks for the review.
I have used on and off a LB2 on my D2x and have found it to be a great creative tool.
Besides, I have been planning for a few weeks to order a 3G 645 for my Mamiya ZD, but just haven't found the time yet. I would expect the DR of the ZD combined with the noise at ISO 400 to be a great combo with the LB.
Cheers,
Bernard
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Two comments on the lensbaby 3g ...
1. 50mm sucks on a crop.
2. Fiddling with that thing sucks on a crop.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139273\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Could you elaborate on that suckitude? Do you mean that there's less blur, different blur or something else?
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akclimber, thanks for pics. I like them a lot. Makes me want to rush out and buy one!
mike
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Well, I'm sorry, but I just don't "get it". I pay megabucks for good optics and excellnet resolution then choose a gadget that makes my pictures look like they're taken through a dirty-edged filter. We used to do that with vaseline or an old nylon with a hole in.
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But only in the MF version, especially in jpegs for the web.
I was wondering if anyone was going to pick up on where I was going with that...
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I am curious, is the Scheimpflug effect possible with this lens or is the focussing too coarse to really notice?
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Well, I'm sorry, but I just don't "get it". I pay megabucks for good optics and excellnet resolution then choose a gadget that makes my pictures look like they're taken through a dirty-edged filter. We used to do that with vaseline or an old nylon with a hole in.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139345\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Well I certainly didn't buy a 5D just to use it exclusively with a Lensbaby I shoot everything from landscapes to critters (the SE Alaska kind - whales, bears and eagles) to architecture to still life to the occasional portrait. I use evertything ranging from a 500 f/4 to a Sigma 12-24 to a Canon 24 TS-E, with a bunch of lenses in between. The Lensbaby is just a fun creative tool - a less messy version of the vaseline coated lenses you've used
Cheers!
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I am curious, is the Scheimpflug effect possible with this lens or is the focussing too coarse to really notice?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139368\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Admitedly, I haven't spent much time with the LB on a 'pod really putting it thru it's tilft-shift paces but in my mostly handheld experience, the LB version of tilt and shift, e.g. push, pull, twist, bend and lock is too coarse to really take advantage of Scheimpflug.
Cheers!
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Could you elaborate on that suckitude? Do you mean that there's less blur, different blur or something else?
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139331\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
You're going to get less blur with a crop due to dof issues. However, the suckitude I'm referring to is trying to focus and align that damned thing while looking through the dim and tiny viewfinder of a (canon) crop camera. I find I do much better when I treat it like an original lens baby and just squeeze it down to what I want and then try to fire the shutter with my teeth. (Good way to choke to death on your shutter release remote, btw.)
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I've temporarily parked 11 Yukon (and 1 Juneau, Alaska) LB 3G photos photo here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmmphotograph...157601907572901 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmmphotography/sets/72157601907572901)
CHeers!
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139278\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
akclimber,
I was paging through your shots, thinking "that's nice...that's nice...that's nice," then I came across #7512, the red leaves (http://tinyurl.com/yu4fpj), and -- wow!
I think Lensbaby shots work best with a very strong or prominent foreground element, letting the edge effects of the lens define the transition to the background. That's why I generally think of the LB as a portrait lens, not a landscape lens, but this shot is a great example. Nice.
--ken
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akclimber,
I was paging through your shots, thinking "that's nice...that's nice...that's nice," then I came across #7512, the red leaves (http://tinyurl.com/yu4fpj), and -- wow!
I think Lensbaby shots work best with a very strong or prominent foreground element, letting the edge effects of the lens define the transition to the background. That's why I generally think of the LB as a portrait lens, not a landscape lens, but this shot is a great example. Nice.
--ken
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=139549\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Hi Ken, Thanks!
I tend to agree with you - that the LB needs a strong subject element to really shine. That's one of the lessons I came away with from my 6 or so days of LB landscape experimentation. My (intentional) efforts at "forcing" an abstract view of a general scene were not as successful as I had hoped. I plan on trying it next on some "intimate" fishing gear/boat photos. We'll see. A fun toy none-the-less.
Cheers!
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I have two series of photographs taken with the original lensbaby:
1-Petroglyphs (http://beautiful-landscape.com/Lensbaby_petros.html)
2-Route 66 (http://beautiful-landscape.com/Route_66_portfolio.html)
One interesting aspect of the lensbaby is that since the photographs are naturally partially blurred, making huge enlargements doesn't give the impression of detail loss the way it does with a regular photograph. I just did a 90x90" enlargement of a lensbaby image (for a client and at his request) taken with the 1DsMk2 and it was "OK" meaning the lack of resolution wasn't overwhelmingly distracting. The image I enlarged in the abandoned cafe in the Route 66 collection.
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Oh, Nice.
First of all, thanks to all of you who have read my article and another thank you to those who have commented upon it. I think it's a new record for the number of luminouslandscapeians that have read an article I've written. Thank you.
Secondly, I apparently forgot to mention that I posted that article (and also the original post) the night before I went for a one-week through-and-though tourist vacation to Crete, so I have been unable to react to your comments. For that, I apologize.
So, I'll try to give some answers to some comments along this thread:
usathyan: Yeah, I actually wondered also whether they might come up with a ZoomBaby. The construction of one would be interesting at the least. As a side note, the focusing mechanism does actually vary the focal length a tad, but something in the order of +-5mm.
feppe: As akclimber already pointed out, the LensBaby is about more than just edge blur. Unfortunately my photos along the article poorly demonstrated it, but it would be very hard to get a 1:1 copy of the 'baby effect' done in PS. Speculars and bokéh in general, be it round or the custom aperture shapes (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07021201lensbabykit.asp) (like stars, hearts, etc).
I must have forgot to add a link to the Lensbabies website - not that it would be too hard to Google it anyhow But I'll put a link there, thanks for mentioning it. Links to pricings and such are a bit hard for me to do, as I write from Finland, where pricings are very different to, say, the US - I wouldn't know which pricelists to reference. That, and also that I'm currently independent of any sponsorships or other partnerships, so playing favors to some retailers might get some people questions about my objectivity.
The lens is not sealed, if you mean by rubber gaskets and the sorts you get from the high-end lenses from e.g. Nikkor or Canon. It's plastic all around (excepting the metal screwythingies). Not flimsy plastic, but plastic nevertheless. I haven't yet got any dust inside the mechanisms, but it wouldn't surprise me if some dust puppies might appear - the air has to be pushed to somewhere when contracted, and inhaled from somewhere when released.
akclimber: As for HDR and tripods, that's actually what I did for the first photo with the red house - it's a HDR (cunningly named "HDR attempt" . I'm no wizard with HDR, so it might not look like one. I still need much training in that area...
And yes, the placing of the sweet spot is very hard to get dead on even with some practice. I guess that comes with experience with the gadget.
RogerW: You make an important point - the photos that the Lensbabies produce are hardly everyone would want to have. Some like it, others don't - but that's how most things are anyhow.
DarkPenguin: The amount of blur is easily adjusted by using smaller or larger apertures - that's hardly a real issue. But the fact that it is hard to use with a small viewfinder holds true. The D200 has a relatively large viewfinder (for a crop body), and even I struggle to find the sweet spot at times.
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*phew* hopefully this gave some answers/insight to those who wanted them (and also to the rest of you).