Testing My New Lensbaby
November 13, 2015I’ve love the dimension, depth and unexpected surprises that cheap film cameras like the Holga or Lomo bring to photography. I’ve shot some work recently with both of these cameras, but unfortunately, the quirky nature of their focus and image quality is too unpredictable for client work. I really need the control and flexibility that digital provides.
Recently, I’ve flipped the process and started looking at ways to bring some of the unexpected delight of analog into my digital work. There are a lot of presets and “filters” out there that will give a Holga or Lomo look with the push of a button, but I’m not interested in relying on these things. I want to do it in the camera.
The Lensbaby series of lenses piqued my interest as a possible way to do this, but at first glance I got the impression that they were cheap novelty lenses that produced subpar images. Then a few months ago, I fell onto Jake Hicks’ work and noticed the wonderful images he captures with their lenses. B&H was running a sale a couple of weeks ago so I took the plunge and bought the Composer Pro and Edge 80 combo.
Below are a few shots from a test I set up with Allison and Casey. There’s definitely a steep learning curve with this lens – it is not easy to use – but after some playing around I got the hang of it and ended up fairly happy with the initial results. Looking forward to shooting more with it soon.