Review: The Lensbaby lens
A good while ago (see this post), I discovered the phenomenon of the lensbaby lens. Basically, it’s a bendable lens that you can use for creative effect. It means that you get what essentially is a tilt/shift lens which allows you to work with creative selective focus, extreme macro photography, and lots of creative freedom.
I recently got my grubby paws on a Lensbaby, and ever since, I’ve been a complete convert. I recently spent 4 days exploring Madrid, and despite of having a lot of expensive glass, I ended up only using the Lensbaby lens throughout the whole trip.
Using the Lensbaby 3G
The lens I have is the Lensbaby 3G, which is the newest and funkiest Lensbaby created to date. It’s a funky-looking little lens which has a vast range of versitility. You can use it like the original lensbaby, by just squeezing it (to focus) and bending it (for selective focus) by hand, or you can lock it off. When you lock the collar, the little sticks that stick out through the lens come to their own: They’re actually threaded, so you can twist them to fine-adjust the focus and selective focus of the lens. In addition, there’s a focussing ring you can use to get focus right, rather then compressing or stretching the whole bellow.
For something that basically started out as a toy, the Lensbaby is growing into its own shoes as a pretty damn important and impressive player in the photography scene.
For Aperture, the Lensbaby has a really clever solution, too: instead of a shutter-based aperture, the lens uses small black circular bits that are held in place in front of the lens element by magnets! It sounds completely ridiculous, but it works surprisingly well.
Getting used to the Lensbaby takes a long time, perhaps because it initially seems so damn counter-intuitive. Focussing, selective focus, and tilt/shift theory is pretty confusing stuff. But then the same happens to you as what happened to me: Suddenly, it just clicks, and the whole thing becomes a three-dimentional photography experience. You have the shutter speed, ISO, the disc-based aperture control, and the bendy-lens goodness.
How to get the best results
Especially when the lens is new to you, it’s incredibly tempting to over-do the effect. ‘look what my lens can do’ is cool for a while, but it’s kind of like the kid who discovered the cloud filter in Photoshop, and now can’t stop using it for everything (I was that kid once. Shut up.). When using the Lensbaby, it’s definitely a case of less is more, and it’s a lesson that is hard to learn.
When I was first shooting with the Lens Baby, I went to the New Forest, and ended up with this photo:
Needless to say, it’s an excellent example of seriously overdoing the effect. Since, I’d love to think I’ve started to get the hang of it a little bit better.
What surprises me, is how versatile this seemingly simple lens can be. I’ve successfully used in portraiture, for example, a genre where I wouldn’t have thought that the Lensbaby would be able to excel. This particular photo also shows the absolutely exquisite bokeh the lens is able to produce:
Other experiments I tried include architectural photography:
Street photography:
Obscure abstract photography:
Product photography:
Hell, with the vast amount of creative vibe I got off the lens, I even had a shot at food photography (although, generally, that’s best left to the lovely folks over at Still Life With…), although I’d be the first person to admit that I probably over-did the effect a little bit on this photograph…
As a general tip: When you are photographing with a Lensbaby lens, make sure you put your camera into manual mode, and control everything yourself. Also, make sure you use Raw file format. Exposure can be really tricky, and you can tease some amazing colours out of Lensbaby photos, and the extra flexibility offered by the Raw file format really helps in that department.
Verdict
“So, all of this is good and well.”, I hear you say. “You’ve had the lens for a week or so, and you’ve taken some shit hot photos”, you continue. “But is it really worth it? After all, the 3G version costs a whopping $270.00, the version 2 costs $150.00, and even the original lensbaby is not exactly the cheapest gadget you can buy at $96.00!”
Well, you are right, for what it is, it is slightly on the pricey side. On the other hand, I was surprised about one particular aspect of the Lensbaby: In its simplicity, it’s actually an extremely powerful lens, which not only offers a level of artistic and photographic freedom which I haven’t experienced before or since, but it also offers a deeper level of insight into the deepest roots of photography. By instinctively starting to grasp how you can bend a lens one way for one effect, and another for another effect, you develop as a photographer: One step closer to complete photography zen, where you become one with the camera.
If the ‘photography zen’ wishy-washy stuff doesn’t do it for you, then be persuaded by the photos above. Or the photos taken with lensbabies on Flickr. Or by the excitement of using a lens that is unique, exciting, and creative in a fantastic way. Or the fact that nobody has ever asked me about any photography equipment I carried around, but despite me not speaking much Spanish, half a dozen people struck up conversations with me in Madrid because of the funny-looking lens I was using.
Is it a brilliant lens? Definitely. Is it worth the money? Well, it depends on how much money you have to spend, and how you want to develop as a photographer. If you don’t have any prime lenses, I’d say buy a 50/1.8 first. Once you’ve got one of those, build yourself a macro lens. Then, take a damn good look at the Lensbabies. I, for one, know I’ll never want to be without one of these things in my photo bag. It really is that good.
The photo of me manhandling the Lensbaby lens in the beginning of this article was taken by Anna Badley. Used without permission, so I expect her to sue me later this week ;-)
My day job, if it can be called that, is being a writer. I've got one book out there so far and it's awesome, so go ahead and buy a copy! It's available from 
In front of you, five hyperactive men with guitars, drums, and microphones. Behind you, five thousand fans. In your hands, a camera... You're going to need more than just a little bit of good luck to pull this one off. That's where this book comes in.
Take a Canon EOS 450D. Attach a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens. Hit the streets of London. See what happens.
Insights, suggestions and comments
Great pictures, Haje. I’ve liked the idea of the lensbabies since I first heard of them, but haven’t seen very good examples before now. The crispness, contrast, and saturation in yours are much stronger than I’ve seen in most other LB work. Of course, (your) good images are more than the sum of their parts…
Your pictures remind me of my travels to Europe a few years ago (Madrid included) and brought back many great memories. Thanks!
If you’re interested, Lensbabies just introduced patterned aperture discs – dpreview link here: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0702/07021201lensbabykit.asp
I’ve been playing with pinhole photography (with my D70s) a bit lately, and while the results are fun and a little unpredictable, they’re a little too much for me. Your shots with the LB are the kind I wish I could get.
Thanks for the motivation and the inspiration.
Matt
here a big gallery of very good images…just using google: http://lensbabies.com/phorum/list.php?1
Hey Haje,
Do you find that it takes longer to adjust all your settings using the Lensbaby vs. manual settings adjustments with a normal lens?
That’s probably my biggest worry, since I do a lot of candid and street shots. Quite often, I find myself shooting in aperture priority because there’s a ‘too slow, it’s gone’ feel to street photography in the city.
But why shoot a picture that you can very easily do the same thing with in PS, AND still have a perfectly good “normal” shot to use as well.
Kind of like shooting with one of those special effects built into so many cameras, you’re trapped with that effect, for no particular reason.
And $270.00…….ouch…….for a gimmick lense.
Makes no sense.
KGB – I suppose it’s for people who like making their pictures in their cameras rather than dicking around in Photoshop. ‘Tis exxy though, that I can definitely agree with.
I would have thought best use of this gadget would be a near to far plane of focus along a subject. The Vespa photo would have been ideal, but even this is quite blury at the close & far ends of the scooter compared to the middle. I would have thought the exact same picture, but with the entire scooter in focus would have been a good application of the abilities of this lens.
Ren Says:
February 25th, 2007 at 10:33
“dicking around in Photoshop”
hmm, disappointing.
Hmm…really interesting, but my vote is also for using PS or another type solution. That way you can experiment with different effects on one photo without ruining the original.
I love the way people say just use photoshop….what if you dont work in digtal and still use film and a real darkroom, and actually like to see your images printed.
yay! great article! the lensbaby is so fab! i got it for christmas and thought it would be a fun novelty lens, but it’s hardly come off my camera since! i, too, was surprised by its versatality. i had seen loads of flower photos on flickr, but didn’t expect it to be so great for portraits or landscapes or night photography! it’s been really instructive for me as well, as it forces me to work entirely in manual settings and really learn how my camera deals with exposure. and it is definitely not the same as just applying blur in post-processing – it’s all about experimentation and unpedictability as you shoot. you never know what you’re going to end up with, and some of the colours, saturation and bokeh have been particularly – pleasantly – surprising
i thought also that photoshop would be the better choice for transforming some pics into tilt-shift “mutants” :) and i did it often, But.. 2 days ago e go for my birthday a lensbaby and have beem taking shots and it’s amazing how often you get surprised with some weird-crazy-not-thought-image that just “happened” while you were having fun with it. i have now some crazy shots that would never imagined to make in ps, and for that reason it’s so worth it!! :D
I wanted to share a short video I made for the NikonFestival. I made it almost entirely with the D90. I used a lensbaby composer in one of the sequences. I talk about the lenses used on the link.
http://www.nikonfestival.com/blog/2009/12/15/my-dreams-my-day-lucidly-told-through-the-photographic-eye-and-a-nikon-d90/
You have some of the few likable examples of the lensbaby I’ve seen to date actually. To me it always seems like the effect was severly over done and people loved it, honestly when it’s over done (like everyone seems to do) it makes me sick to my stomach from looking at it, like I really want to vomit from the blur-zoom-smear mess most their photographs turn in to.
Honestly, I always thought it was a waste, but I guess it was because I wasn’t seeing good shots.
Now I may go buy one.
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