TravelMuse: Photography : Tags : lensbabies

There are a lot of fun ways to add a new twist to your photographs, but few are as fun as the Lensbaby. The Lensbaby is a simple lens for digital or film SLRs that allows you to achieve special effects that no standard lens can offer. It consists of a single element connected to a flexible tube that allows you to change the angle of the element with the touch of a finger. This means that you can change and manipulate how much of your photo will be in focus, and the rest of the frame will be out of focus in an interesting way. It produces images that are similar to the plastic Holga cameras of the film world.

The company Lensbabies offers a few models of the popular product:

• The Original Lensbaby has a distinct look that includes “glowing highlights, subtle prismatic color shifts and the trademark Lensbaby graduated blur,” according to the Lensbabies Web site. It has a variable aperture which can be changed with the replacement of easily accessible disks within the lens. It is ideal for portraits and artistic photography. It retails for $96.

• The Lensbaby 2.0 features an improved variable aperture, with aperture disks that are held in place with magnets instead of a rubber gasket. This model is advertised as being able to produce sharper and brighter images, due to the addition of a coated lens doublet (essentially two lenses attached together) instead of the single lens element of the Original Lensbaby. It retails for $150.

• The Lensbaby 3G is the newest offering, and has several features that set it apart. The most distinct feature is the ability to lock the lens in place, with the bellows at any position, for repeatability and long exposures. A focusing ring has also been added, allowing fine focus adjustments. This model also offers a wider range of aperture settings, from f/2 to f/22, and a sharper lens than the other models. It retails for $270.