Lens Babies: Giving Photoshop a Break
Category: Photography...
Posted Tuesday, April 04, 2006 at 09:31 PM [GMT-6]

Lensbabies are described as "selective focus SLR lenses." They consist of an optical glass element mounted on a flexible rubber bellows that permits you to skew the orientation and focus "sweet spot" of the lens, yielding some rather unusual photographic effects. A wide range of apertures (f2.0 - f8.0) can be effected via interchangeable, magnetically-attached aperture disks. Models are available for all major brands of SLR cameras, and the cost is either $96 for the original version or $150 for 2.0 (the price difference is due primarily to the use of a better quality of optical glass and the way the aperture disks are mounted).

I haven't seen any Lensbaby effects that couldn't be reasonably replicated with a tedious series of feathered selections, motion and gaussian blurs, and perhaps an object skew and/or distort command in Photoshop...but "tedious" is the operative term. If the "selective focus" or controlled blur look is what you're aiming for, Lensbabies appears to be the best way to let the hardware do the work for you. And the gadget appears to be fun to play with. The biggest question is how they came up with the strange name.

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Comments

Very interesting indeed. I wonder if the effects are fully seen thru the viewfinder?

Can I borrow yours when you get it?

Posted by: Wallace-Midland, Texas at April 4, 2006 10:30 PM

I wonder if the effects are fully seen thru the viewfinder?

Isn't that pretty much the whole reason for having an SLR...what you see is what you get?

Otherwise, how could you exercise any real control over the effects?

Posted by: Eric at April 5, 2006 08:12 AM

Some lens/filter effects are not so apparent when looking thru the viewfinder as they are in the finished product. Think polarizing filters for instance.

Posted by: Wallace-Midland Texas at April 5, 2006 10:41 AM

That's true, although polarizing filters provide a much more subtle effect...you generally don't want it to be obvious that your photo was taken with a filter. But the filters I've used that distort the image (think gels, starburst, etc.) give you pretty obvious clues about what the final image will look like.

But, this is all speculation...I've never looked through one of these lenses.

Posted by: Eric at April 5, 2006 10:57 AM
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