Got to play with Lensbaby 2.0, which I borrowed from the JHU Digital Media Center, a little. Its a freaky looking lens that takes some getting used to, but it is capable of producing some interesting photos. All I did in the image below was cropping and a bit of color correction, the rest comes from the lens itself:
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I suspect you could have achieved something similar with a local application of the gaussian blur filter in lightroom/photoshop to a raw image taken with your kit lens stepped down a couple of f-stops. (The comparison would be meaningful if you were carrying 2 Canon bodies with you, of course.) However, I am just speculating. The softness in the corners look like a deliberate motion blur (as opposed to a bokeh type of blur.)
Was it hard for you to use/get used to the lens because of the manual focus?
-K
By: Mykola Porosyuk on December 10, 2009
at 8:47 am
Actually, it was easier for me to use the Lensbaby, than the manual focus on my kit lens. Or its autofocus, for that matter – when I try to take pictures of this kind with the kit lens, it keeps focusing on the branches, or the background – anything but the actual subject. I think I might end up getting one of the newer Lensbabies eventually – for their price, they are pretty good
By: myumla on December 10, 2009
at 2:29 pm
Well, at least you have live view to make manual focus (MF) with either lens easier.
When working with Lensbaby, do you have to set the exposure manually or not? In other words, is the metering system working with this lens?
One advantage of Canon bodies is that you can mount virtually any MF lens – by Nikon, Pentax, etc – through an appropriate adapter. If you do not mind MF and possibly setting the exposure manually, you could get some good used glass really cheap on ebay. (Many of these lenses will be older than you are but still in good shape.)
By: Mykola Porosyuk on December 10, 2009
at 7:02 pm
With Lensbaby (at least 2.0, but I think its true for the rest of them), you have to set everything manually.
I feel somewhat uncomfortable about buying used lenses on ebay – who knows what their condition might be… :-/
By: myumla on December 10, 2009
at 10:15 pm