Lens Baby...the verdict?

slackercruster · Jul 25, 2012

KmH · Jul 25, 2012

Inexpensive novelty lens with limited uses.

For most Lens Baby owners the the limited arena of it's usefulness is quickly explored and the lens baby gets sold or starts gathering dust from non-use..

orb9220 · Jul 25, 2012

+1 to what KmH says and see this all the time also with expensive fish eye's like the nikon 10.5 and a few months down the road when the coolness factor evaporates then they ended up in a bag,box,drawer or being sold to upgrade to the next coolness item.

Overread · Jul 25, 2012

+1 again - The lensbaby is very much like a fisheye lens. It's something that appeals to many as a novelty, but which the vast majority of people will quickly grow bored of and will thus leave behind more and more often or save it only for very limited/special shots. That is not to say that it is bad, just that its not the kind of item that the typical photographer will use all the time nor something that is a "must have" in every camera bag.

I would also further say that its an item that, like the fisheye, many people don't "learn" how to use. They get it and they snap away, but often won't learn to work with the lenses strengths to best compose and shoot with the lenses effect in mind. As such this can also make them feel less than impressive to users and thus quickens the time before it is abandoned.

You can see a similar thing in other niche lenses like the Canon MPE65mm macro or tilt shift lenses - those who learn to use them well often increase their use of the niche item more and more; whilst those who fail to learn to use them will quickly dismiss them (though I would argue that these lenses tend to more attract an air more conductive to learning to use them, whilst more "creative" lenses like the lensbaby tend to attract less of an air toward really learning to work with the lens).

KmH · Jul 25, 2012

Overread makes a good point about people not learning how to use specialty lenses like fish-eyes and inexpensive, plastic T/S lenses.

cgipson1 · Jul 25, 2012

+1 to what was said above... X100!

Derrel · Jul 25, 2012

Which Lensbaby is this post about? There are multiple models of Lensbaby, spanning around a decade of production. The newer models with multi-element, glass lenses are moderately sharp lenses, especially on crop-body d-slrs. THere was the OPRIGINAL Lensbaby, with a single-element lens. Then a later model, called 2.0, which had a multi-element lens and which was MUCH sharper and better-corrected, but still allowed hand tilting. Then there was a third model, the one with the three metal rails to position the lens for repeatable tilts for use in repeated shots, multi-exposures, HDR shots, or for repeatable effects, OR for use with video cameras or, later, d-slr video. Then there was a fourth model. Then a fifth model I believe, with accessory telephoto or wide-angle lens modules.

I own multiple Lensbaby models. When one buys them, buy them in Nikon mount; there is ZERO lens diaphragm automation with them, and none have CPU chips, so, you might as well buy them in F-mount, so that they can also be used on Canon EF cameras. I like the very first, original Lensbaby, and I often use it with a Nikon 1.4x tele-converter, and occasionally a 2x tele-converter. The Lensbaby is for the person who wants to shoot "effects" pictures, and has the artistic integrity and the courage of their own convictions to actually make a permanent commitment to an image in-camera, and not try and later come up with something decent by pushing the pixels around 5 or 10 times in hopes of making an image. So...that eliminates a LOT of people, most of whom are afraid to actually "commit" to any image in-camera, and always rely on Photoshop and the crutch of let's try and try and try until we get something decent...

But see, the real issue is this: The various Lensbaby lenses are specialty lenses that do not sell in high volumes, and are entirely different from the vast,vast majority of other lens types, so therefore, they are utter crap. Right? Ask anybody who doesn't like the Lensbaby models, and they will tell you that that is right.