Site Supporter Registered: May, 2007 Posts: 2,279 1 user found this helpful | Review Date: February 14, 2021 | Recommended | Price: $530.00
| Rating: 8 |
Pros: | Solid metal body & mount, sharpness and size of sweet spot, bokeh,bokeh,bokeh | Cons: | No linkage to body, effect slightly diminished on APS-C bodies | Sharpness: 10
Aberrations: 10
Bokeh: 10
Handling: 7
Value: 8
Camera Used: Penmtax KP
| | I wasn't expecting too much of this lens (LBA got the better of me) and I had experience with a Helios 44 (as well as other Lensbaby products) before which were not hopeful but this lens surpassed my expectations. This is not your typical plasticky Lensbaby 'toy" with a gadgety feel and photographic result you can only hope to use once in every 10000 shots. I could very well see me take this lens out for street- or nature-shooting and leave it on the body the whole day.
The center of the image has a very large sweet spot of very good sharpness which increases as you stop down. At the wide end, if the gods are in a good mood, the lovely swirly bokeh jumps out at you. Getting the swirl to show up is a bit of hit and miss (and I suppose a bit longer experience with the lens) but when it does, it's unmistakable and lovely.
Overall, the lens renders an almost 3D-like image (as long as you're good with having edges and corners contribute to that feel by being soft) where the central subject really stands out. Can't say much about colour rendering as I shoot raw generally and manipulate it to my own liking anyway. The lens is decently resistant to flare, possibly because of the second aperture iris up front. As one can close the secondary iris and create some intentional vignetting, I found it very nice to avoid clouds totally going to white on landscape pictures.
[EDIT]Two added examples after some careful thinking. The first seems to be the optimum result to be had with this lens on APS-C, the second is a bit dizzying to my taste. | |