Lens Babies

[herron]

If you haven't seen them yet, you should check them out! My son just put me on to these...I have not used them (yet) with any of my 35mm SLRs -- or even completely finished reading about them -- but they look like something you could have some fun with...along the same lines of the Holga, Diana, etc....just with a twist! (pun intended) ;D

lensbabies.com/pages/about.php

[David Silver]

Ron,

Don't need it...my eyes are so bad I already see the world that way!

Dave

[PeterW]

Ron,

Just caught up with your Lensbabies posting - can't think how I missed it!

I had a look at their website and their picture gallery. The pictures reminded me of the time ... gosh, I MUST be getting old!! Maybe the reviewers were a lot younger than me ... when there was a short-lived fad for arty effects by smearing Vaseline on parts of a plain glass filter and screwing that on the front of the lens. Another passing fad was to stretch two thicknesses of silk stocking (be nylon now, I suppose) over the front of a lens to get dreamy soft-focus portraits - helped poor complexions, too .

Other 'modern' arty portrait people used half an old Rapid Rectlinear lens, never intended as a convertible lens, opened up way beyond its original f/8 to get a similar effect but with sharp definition in the centre for the eyes if they couldn't find a Petzval lens. Plus ca change ... Didn't go for those ideas all that much then, but a jar of Vaseline and a plain filter glass or a pair of silk stockings or an old RR lens cost a lot less than 150 bucks .

Come back Yousuf Karsh with your uncompromising, harsh but brilliant portraits ... all is forgiven!

Peter

[herron]

Back in the late 60s, before I headed off to college, I was an apprentice photographer at a local portrait studio. Got to attend more than my share of weddings...and actually got to shoot a shot or two, once the "check sheet" of the pictures the bride and groom actually wanted was completed (until then, I was refilling film backs and holding a slave flash)!

I remember doing "unconventional" things, like blocking the lower half of the lens while I shot a large, circular stained glass...and then blocking the top half to double-expose for the bride and groom in the church. Or burning a hole in a cigarette package cellophane (I kicked the habit decades ago), and shooting through that clear, crumpled sheet to get a center that was sharp, and edges that were -- decidely different.

Never used Vaseline (and never seemed to have a pair of silk stockings with me)...and never got to keep any of the shots I took...although several of them were sold to happy couples!

I'm still thinking about getting one (a Lensbaby)...but that $150 could sure go a long way toward something really useful...like several Holgas! ;D LOL

And Yousuf Karsh employed too much negative retouching to suit me...but I still enjoyed his portraits.