Lensbaby Lenses

Lensbaby is a fully manual, creative lens system that I enjoy using from time to time. They are a little bit different to your usual lenses, or at least the Lensbaby system that has interchangeable optics that fit into the lens body. The first time I used them, I got a little confused. The apertures are small discs that you drop into the front of the optics, they stay in place by magnets, there is a special tool to help you remove the aperture afterwards. I have attached some photos below that I have taken with various Lensbaby optics. I have also included the Lensbaby website, should you want to learn more, Lensbaby has a section on their site called Lensbaby University so that you can learn how to use all their products. One of the things I like about Lensbaby is that it is a cheap and easy option for people who want to play with the tilt-shift effect. I shall write more posts about Lensbaby in the future.

This is how you use a Lensbaby lens:

Attach the lens.
Install the aperture.
Put the camera in manual mode.
F00 is ok, as the aperture is already set in the lens.
Set ISO according to how much light you have, low ISO best for bright light, high ISO is best for low light.
Use the cameras light meter to help you choose a shutter speed.
Take a test shot.
Preview image and check histogram.
If using a histogram try to get the peak near the centre of the graph.
If the image is too dark you need to either slow down your shutter speed or increase your iso.
If the image is too bright you need to speed up your shutter speed or decrease your iso.
Use the manual exposure guide below for assistance