Well, I'm probably being too pedantic. And I posted about this before,
so I'll probably shut up after this.
I've just perused some Lensbaby galleries again, and it seem clear that,
aside from the focus/swing/tilt/whatever mechanism, the actual lens is
closer in design/performance to a soft focus lens like the SIMA than to
conventional lenses. That is, it is designed to have considerable
abberations and curvature of field, as opposed to conventional
photographic lenses, which are designed for some version of flattish
field, minimized abberations and reasonably sharp focus center to edge.
Of the links posted, all but one use camera or enlarger lenses. I
believe that, as a matter of descriptive accuracy, they should not be
called lensbaby type lenses, as the photographic results will be
different. What they really are is cheap, infinitely flexible
focus/swing/tilt/?? lens assemblies. If held square to the film plane
and focused on a subject, they will not give the strong, progressive OOF
look of a soft focus lens.
The one other project, the plungercam, says "All the "real" lenses were
too good; I ended up playing with a Rodenstock 3x loupe." This is more
related in concept to a Lensbaby than the others, and the results look
more lensbaby like, at least to me, as well.
I have no problem if you want to make a freeform shift/tilt lens, sounds
like fun. But if so, you shouldn't properly call it a lensbaby project.
On the other hand, if you are actually looking for Lensbaby like
results, you may want to reconsider what kind of lens you want to use.
Even the old, uncoated lenses from folding cameras are likely too good
for the purpose.
BTW, if you or anyone is planning to use such a thing on a DSLR with
smaller than FF sensor, a shorter fl lens may work better for you. The
80ish mm lenses will be quite tele-ish.
A. Pedantic Moose
james olson wrote:
>Thank you for the responses regarding my lensbaby project. I've narrowed
>down what I need for the lensbaby project, so if any of you have the
>following in junk condition, I'm currently looking for:
>
>1) An old medium format folding camera, preferably with a 75 - 80mm lens.
>2) Any junk medium format (80mm) or so lens
>3) Rear lens mounting ring off any junk Olympus OM series lens
>4) Bellows off any medium format folding camera.
>5) A cheap, cheap 75mm - 80mm enlarging lens.
>
>The cheaper the better, and the older the better.
>
>>From what I've learned, to get a lensbaby to work, you need to have a lens
>that is designed for the next larger format, and 80mm medium format seems to
>be what people have had good luck with on the internet. For anyone
>interested, here's a few links I have found:
>
>
>http://www.dennisonbertram.com/hackmaster/2005/02/tilt-shift-pc-lens.htm
>
>http://www.mkaz.com/photo/tools/lens_bellows.html
>
>http://www.orbit1.com/dailyphotos.aspx?photoid=785
>
>http://www.marktucker.com/plungercam/
>
>http://verba.chromogenic.net/archives/2004/11/orbit_lens_1.html
>
>Thanks, James.
>
>
>
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