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
Manual Exposure Guide
| Sunny | Cloudy | Indoors | |
| ISO | 200 | 400 | 1600 |
| Shutter Speed | 1/500 | 1/250 | 1/60 |
