LENSBABY: recent link in dpreview news letter - WHY

Anybody care to enuciate the value of this $150 attachment? Looks like
it gives what a vignette+gaussian blur layer does in photoshop. The
selective sharpness is 101 too; or say Andromedas "VariFocus Mask'.

I like the name "lensbaby". That's pretty cool. What am i missing
here?

convivially
Ken

Ken Ellis wrote:
Anybody care to enuciate the value of this $150 attachment? Looks like
it gives what a vignette+gaussian blur layer does in photoshop. The
selective sharpness is 101 too; or say Andromedas "VariFocus Mask'.

I like the name "lensbaby". That's pretty cool. What am i missing
here?

It's not an attachment, it's a lens. And no, it is not possible to
dupicate the effect of moving the plane of focus in photoshop.

Andrew.

wrote:

Ken Ellis wrote:
Anybody care to enuciate the value of this $150 attachment? Looks like
it gives what a vignette+gaussian blur layer does in photoshop. The
selective sharpness is 101 too; or say Andromedas "VariFocus Mask'.

I like the name "lensbaby". That's pretty cool. What am i missing here?

It's not an attachment, it's a lens. And no, it is not possible to
dupicate the effect of moving the plane of focus in photoshop.

Lensbaby: So you don't have to bid on a Holga on ebay.

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:09:41 -0000, lid
wrote:

It's not an attachment, it's a lens. And no, it is not possible to
dupicate the effect of moving the plane of focus in photoshop.

Andrew.

It is quite simple to duplicate the effect of moving the plane of
focus using the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop CS.

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:07:54 -0400, McLeod
wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:09:41 -0000, lid
wrote:

It's not an attachment, it's a lens. And no, it is not possible to
dupicate the effect of moving the plane of focus in photoshop.

Andrew.

It is quite simple to duplicate the effect of moving the plane of
focus using the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop CS.

Thanks for pointing out that it is a lens - not an attachment..missed
that on my perusal. Andrews comment made me go back an re-investigate.
Originally checked dpreview.
went to: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_lensbaby.php
this time.

However..looking at the photo examples...all are very simply
acomplished in photo shop using a simple layer masque and or
gradients or selection vignette..etc.

What made me go back an reinspect a review was the comment
of "moving the plane of focus". Functionally this doesn't do that.
A "view cam" would be an example of a tiltable-movable focus
plate; would snap this up in a second if it did something like that.
The Lensbaby web site says "moves within a frame of focus".
A bit different.

I am not aware of a way to truly shift the frame of focus, in this
sense, with a regular dig cam. Would be a remarkable feature and
involve tilting the sensor. I can sorta do that using composits in
photoshop, but i don't have an algorithm/applet to blend the layer'd
shots and it's a manual process(works good to increase the dof for
macros btw). At best it appears lensbaby, when bent, moves the
spot of focus across the focal plane- it focus a "slice", if you will.

Again..if i'm missing something, i welcome the dialoge. Andrew rightly
corrected the "attachment" thing.

I guess another question would be; and mindful of "optics" purists is
- what is the quality of lens i am sacrificing to use this puppy..to
get this effect; particularly considering post-process abilities.

rgds and respect
Ken

Ken Ellis wrote:
On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:07:54 -0400, McLeod
wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 10:09:41 -0000, lid
wrote:

It's not an attachment, it's a lens. And no, it is not possible to
dupicate the effect of moving the plane of focus in photoshop.

It is quite simple to duplicate the effect of moving the plane of
focus using the Lens Blur filter in Photoshop CS.

No it isn't, for the very good reason that tilting the plane of focus
doesn't just blur things -- it makes other things sharper.

Thanks for pointing out that it is a lens - not an attachment..missed
that on my perusal. Andrews comment made me go back an re-investigate.
Originally checked dpreview.
went to: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews_lensbaby.php
this time.

However..looking at the photo examples...all are very simply
acomplished in photo shop using a simple layer masque and or
gradients or selection vignette..etc.

What made me go back an reinspect a review was the comment of
"moving the plane of focus". Functionally this doesn't do that.

Sure it does. The lens is on a flexible mount, so you can tilt and
shift.

Andrew.

wrote:

Ken Ellis wrote:
[..]
However..looking at the photo examples...all are very simply acomplished
in photo shop using a simple layer masque and or gradients or selection
vignette..etc.

What made me go back an reinspect a review was the comment of "moving
the plane of focus". Functionally this doesn't do that.

Sure it does. The lens is on a flexible mount, so you can tilt and
shift.

You're both right: It does change the plane of focus, but I can't
imagine using it as a tilt or shift lens to any good effect.

McLeod wrote:
On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 16:47:44 -0000, lid
wrote:

No it isn't, for the very good reason that tilting the plane of focus
doesn't just blur things -- it makes other things sharper.

But it doesn't make things sharper than an already sharp image, so if
you start with a sharp image it's quite simple.

I doubt that it's so very easy to replicate the effects of tilt &
shaft and various interesting lens aberrations with Photoshop. But In
the hands of a skilled operator, it might be possible, I guess.

Andrew.