What Is a Lensbaby?

It may seem odd at first, but there are some practical applications for lenses that don't come from Germany and aren't the sharpest ever made. There are those photographers who can pull image magic out of less costly lenses and the Lensbaby is for them. It won't replace the fine quality of a Carl Zeiss lens, but it's not meant to. It's meant to give you some creative options.

History

The earliest cameras had a bellows apparatus between the two lenses. On these cameras, the bellows, usually shifted along a rail, was used to focus the camera. As the technology advanced, bellows no longer were needed because the lens itself began to have movable elements inside the barrel. By turning the barrel, the photographer could focus from close in to infinity. Bellows came back, through, because even on modern 35mm-style cameras, they allow both extreme close focus for macro work and the ability to shift the plane of focus to either straighten apparent distortions or add them for effect. The Lensbaby uses limited bellows technology to create special effects.

How it Works

The Lensbaby is a one- or two-element lens with a flexible central area. It attaches to 35mm cameras---including the Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony Alpha/Minolta Maxxum, Pentax K/Samsung GX/Sigma SD and Olympus 4/3 series---just as a normal lens does and is about the same in focal length, that is 50mm. It is focused by pulling the lens toward the camera on the bellows.

Function

The Lensbaby works best at close range and creates a central "sweet spot" in relatively sharp focus with the periphery fading to softer focus. This is how it acts normally. It can be used, for example, to focus on a person in a garden. The person in the center would be in focus while the flowers surrounding would be in soft focus.

Effects

Additionally, the lens can be tilted left or right to give one side or the other sharp focus while leaving the opposite side in soft focus mode. Photographers frequently do this with traditional lenses by focusing on the one side of the view and leaving the aperture open, particularly on a telephoto lens, thus putting the other side and background out of focus.

Benefits

While the Lensbaby essentially is a novelty lens, creative photographers have found a variety of ways to put it to use. It can give a cleverly distorted view of reality, whether the subject is a person, a building or a flower. And, compared to high-end bellows lenses or other effects lenses, the Lensbaby is reasonably inexpensive.

Resources

• Lensbaby