Freelensing vs Lensbaby?

7 years 7 months ago #496696 by KenMan
The process of holding a lens in front of your camera while not attached apparently is called 'freelensing'.  Now isn't this the same effect you would get with a Lensbaby?  

I'm not excited about testing this out, however just curious.  


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7 years 7 months ago #496701 by effron

Why so serious?
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7 years 7 months ago #496739 by Steve Zahra
So why would you do that and expose your cameras sensor to all that dust?  


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7 years 7 months ago #496754 by Ian Stone
I'll pass on both.  Tried Lensbaby back in the day and it was fun for about a month.  But ended up not touching the lens again.  And Freelensing?  Not a chance.  


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7 years 7 months ago #496773 by Screamin Scott
No to both.... Fads are all they are...

Scott Ditzel Photography

www.flickr.com/photos/screaminscott/

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7 years 7 months ago #496808 by Kenta
I had a Lensbaby, it was fun for a few weeks.  I let a friend borrow it, seeing this thread reminds me that she never gave it back!


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7 years 7 months ago #496840 by albinpix
In theory, freelensing is supposed to produce the same effect that a lensbaby would. The advantage to freelensing is that it's less money – you don't have to invest in any new glass. The risk you take is any potential dust or contaminants to your sensor. I've never tried either technique, though. Not really my style.


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7 years 7 months ago #496858 by icepics
I don't think the effects are quite the same but similar. I have a couple of Lensbabies, an Original and a 2.0. Those are different than the ones made now and focus manually, and it depends on how much you angle it what effect you get. To me the examples in the article look more like a narrow field of depth with a large area that's out of focus. It's hard to describe but the Lensbaby seems to have more of a distortion to the out of focus part of the image. It's a matter of figuring out how it can work in an interesting way.

To me they're specialty lenses which I don't use a lot, but bought them used so didn't exactly spend a fortune either. I find it fun to experiment with them, it's like having tiny bellows on front of the camera.

I don't think I'd do freelensing with my digital camera; I've never tried it with any film cameras.

Sharon
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7 years 7 months ago #496869 by Peter Nunez
That's a good way to keep a close relationship with Nikon support!  :rofl:


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7 years 7 months ago #496887 by KENT MELTON
:agree:   have you seen where they toss the camera and lens in the air?  ha ha ha

Seriously who things of these things?   


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7 years 7 months ago #497270 by tobythephotoguy
I'm nowhere near brave enough to try this. Just thinking about potential damage makes me shudder.


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7 years 7 months ago #497311 by Joves

Screamin Scott wrote: No to both.... Fads are all they are...

:agree:
Yep that is all they were much like selective coloring, tilting, and over processed HDR. Oh! Wait! People still do that unfortunately. They are just fads that keep on giving like some incurable disease.
The only lens I have that would be considered a fad lens would be the fisheye. But then there never has been a long lasting fad with them.


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7 years 6 months ago #497895 by Neillien
Right, the idea behind it is that it's inexpensive alternative to a Lensbaby. Kind of seems like an unnecessary risk, but a neat effect.


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7 years 6 months ago #498643 by Monster
Freelensing is a good way to damage your cameras sensor.  Why bother for something that is so novelty?  


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