Customer Reviews

Lensbaby 3G Nikon F Mount SLR Camera Lens (LB3GN)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a review of the 3g lensbaby that has all of the info in I wish I had before I bought mine. If I had this info I would still have bought mine, but I might have waited a little.

First, a little about what I take pictures of. If all you care about is the lens itself, skip this paragraph. I shoot anything and everything. I have a studio and I hire models for some jobs, I also do weddings, seniors, sports, concerts, landscapes, and some menu/catalog advertisements as well. Thus, I have a large range of interest, and lots of lenses and equipment for various genres.

I bought this lens figuring it would be more of a novelty toy than a daily user kind of lens, and it has been just that. I recommend going into things with that in mind for your budgeting the cost. I have seen many images by other photographers that were obviously done by a lensbaby and I felt that the effect wasn't always good or it was overdone. However, I've seen other images I liked and learned later a lensbaby was used. This truly artistic use was what made me finally get one - I wanted to push myself to use it so it wasn't so obvious but have the effect be worth it.

Before I bought one I read that this was an f/2.8 lens with some weird magnetic aperture ring changer. In my mind I thought you slipped the rings in behind the lens like a traditional lens ( light -> lens -> aperture -> film ) but now that I have one I can tell you that the aperture rings actually go in from the outside and live in front of the lens elements. Not a biggie, but something you should know. Although you can change things with the supplied magnet, I haven't done a lot of it as I find it to be a little awkward and I like the small "sweet spot" that you get with shooting more open.

Also, once I got the lens I found out that f/2.8 is the largest aperture ring. You can use the lens itself, without a ring, and get f/2.0. In theory that is. You have to account for bellows factor and other things that a regular 35mm user may not be used to. So, if you're using a light meter you may have to go a half or a third of a stop slower on the shutter to get a proper exposure over what your meter thinks based on the f-stop you think you're shooting at.

Also, being f/2.0 makes this lens one of the fastest I have, and I already loved the nice blur I get from my Nikon 50mm f/1.8. So, I look at the lensbaby much like I look at that Nikon lens, only the lensbaby lets me bend the blur, at the cost of AF and metering.

Next, I want to talk about lens operation. Like you I saw all of the pictures with the three pins sticking out and at first it scared me as I recently had three pins inserted in my wrist. I didn't know how these lens pins really worked and that lack of knowledge led me to not get a lens for longer period of time. I wish there was a little demo video somewhere since seeing it in action makes all the difference. So, let me tell you how the thing works even if I don't have a video.

The lens has two modes: locked and unlocked. In unlocked the thing bends and flexes easily to your pushing and pulling. You don't notice the pins at all as you freely move the bellows. You can bellow it straight out and in (telescoping), left / right, up / down, as well as combination of in/up and out/left, all to your heart's content. I recommend that when doing this you should put the outer manual focus ring in the middle of its travel. Once you get your "sweet spot" lined up in the general direction (for example let's say "left and out") you push a single button located on the topside, in the area of your shutter release button on your camera body. Press that button and immediately the lens locks in. It comes with a nice feeling of a sturdy spring snap locking it all together.
To unlock the lens there are two little knob-like things on the opposite side of the lens body that you pinch together. This serves to open the grip on the three pins and cocks the spring; ready to snap when you hit the button described above.

Personally, I recommend setting the sweet spot only slightly off from center. The further you bend it, the more it blurs things on the other side, and this blur can be distracting depending on the background. Following the rule of thirds you wouldn't want to be 50% between center and the edge anyway for your shot composition.

Now that you have locked things in (or locked, unlocked, moved, locked again) you can use the outer focus ring, similar to those on lenses you already know and love, and dial in the exact focus in your "sweet spot." Above I recommended leaving it in the middle position so that now you have the full range front and back to play with.

Changing the focus (sometimes I have to move the camera relative to the subject) can move the sweet spot around slightly. No worries, the three pins are actually tapped (they have screw flanges running their entire length) and if you turn them (they have handy little black plastic knob things on each end) you can slowly and slightly adjust the lens bellows angle, dialing in your sweet spot again.

(Warning: math speak in this paragraph) In my mind I picture it like two planes in space. The one plane is the film (or digital sensor) in your camera. The other plane is what is in focus. For a normal lens this plane runs parallel to your film and you move it in and out with the focus and lens zoom. Anything that touches this plane is rendered in focus on the parallel plane of your film. With a lensbaby you still have the film plane, but as you bend the bellows you move the focus plane around with it so it no longer runs parallel to the film. The film can still only render things in focus that lie on a focus plane parallel with it, so the "sweet spot" is the intersection of a plane running parallel to the film and the adjusted bellows plane.

I have not used any other lensbaby products before I bought one. I understand that the earlier versions, which lack the locking pins, just spring all around and you have to hand hold the lens position. That would drive me insane so I am glad I spent the extra money for the 3g model over a cheaper used 2g or earlier model.

Even so, I still consider this more of a toy that I doubt will see much use in for-pay or day-to-day photo work, but I will continue to try to use it in ways that aren't obviously done with a lensbaby, and I promise to not over use it, as fun as it may be at times.

It does what it promises, but I find for the money if you don't have a nice fast prime lens already then the lensbaby should probably be a later investment for you since you'll get more from a fast prime lens (I mentioned the Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras earlier) than you would from a lensbaby.
The lens is like some exotic filter or plug-in for Photoshop: it does what it says, is often over used or not used when it was really necessary, something nice to have if it is needed, but not necessarily for everyone. Having it will not make you Sally Mann, but it is definitely a fine artistic tool that can be incorporated into your personal style of photography.

I recommend this for those who can picture in their mind what they would use it for, already own some fast lenses in or around this focal length, and who will also promise to not over use it.

The Lensbaby is a few ounces of pure fun, that will COMPLETELY take you back to those days when you were a photographer walking around LOOKING for things to shoot!

The Lensbaby will allow you to go back to the time when you considered framing, planes of focus, composition and converging lines, depth of field, shutter speed and f-stop, and MANUAL focus, all before you pressed the shutter.

You remember all of these terms, but with today's modern cameras how many of you have actually had to think about these terms? The Lensbaby takes you back to photography's roots, to a time when shooting was as much for FUN as it was to create images of beauty.

Get the Lensbaby, and start carrying your camera just for fun again!

The other review goes into a lot of technical detail. I just wanted to add that the Lensbaby is FUN! It adds a new dimension to my photography, is enough of a challenge to make the results rewarding and is definitely a way to mix it up when you want to. I love my 18-200 Nikon VR lens but this is a great complement. I don't use the locking feature very often so you could probably get the 1st or 2nd gen versions and have just as much fun. But the 3G does look very cool. My Nikon D80 doesn't talk to the Lensbaby at all which is fine. I set it to fully manual and just use the histogram to make sure my exposure is ok. I enjoy the challenge but again it's not difficult to shoot since digital gives instant results/ satisfaction.
Stop debating and get yourself a Lensbaby. You'll really enjoy it.

I bought the Lensbaby 3G from Amazon a month or so ago. Since I've received it, I can't say I could be more pleased.
This thing is awesome! It's so easy to use (in spite of what you may think from looking at it), and I can focus it on just about anything almost instantly. It's so easy to focus that I can grab shots just as easily as if I'd had an autofocus lens on my camera. Stuck with a boring background, and need to make a creative portrait? Just slap the f/2.8 ring on it, or remove the ring for f/2.0 and shoot away! The only piece of advice I might offer is this: For most people, the Lensbaby 2G will be fine, and it's much cheaper. The primary reason to get the 3G is if you plan on doing tripod based photography with it, in which case you'll need repeatable results. In most cases, you're just flinging the Lensbaby around in your hands and grabbing cool shots, which does not require the locking mechanism of the 3G. All in all, I recommend any of the Lensbaby lenses to anyone who likes to have fun, and make some cool artistic photographs. You won't be disappointed.

The review above by C. Zimmerman covers most of what you need to know about the mechanics of this lens. Note that I am reviewing this particular lens, but the new version is called the "Control Freak", and has removable center optics. This version has a fixed lens element in the center of the bellows.

In contrast to Zimmerman's comments that this is a novelty toy, I believe the 3G can be used quite well by professionals, so long as they understand the limits and capabilities of this lens. The optics are not high quality, nor are they meant to be; it is definitely an artist's tool, not meant for technical or archival shooting.

My lens has some spherical defects which only show up when shooting repeating patterns, like grass or rain, with a decent amount of 'bend' in the bellows. What you'll see is some odd distortion that looks like the image was seen through a very bad magnifying glass... which, is kind of true. To avoid this, either use a smaller aperture ring, or don't bend the lens quite so much. But this can be a benefit, as you'd have a very difficult time reproducing this in post production.

Another challenge is setting up your diopter adjustment properly - the way you correct the viewfinder so it accurately reflects how the lens focuses. If you ignore this, you may find that you aren't able to see the correct focus when setting up your shot. The directions for doing this can be found on the lensbaby site, and again, this is not a show-stopper.

Ok - two apparent negatives right off the bat, and I still gave it 5 stars. Why? Because the 3G gives me an awful lot of direct control over how I record what I see in front of me. Even taking pictures that are not obviously 'bent', I am forced to be completely involved in the lens' behaviour, and it slows me down (in a good way) when shooting. I take more care in getting the shot properly in the camera, and have been using the 3G long enough to know when to use it, and when not.

In 2008, I used the 3G to shoot a concert, which was quite a challenge. Since everything happens so quickly, and in almost unpredictable lighting conditions, this was no place for a novelty toy. I knew the look I wanted, and the lensbaby 3G provided it. I was seeing the subject in novel ways, to be sure, and everything worked very well.

So, far from being a toy and inappropriate for professional use, I would recommend lensbabies to anyone who wants to keep an edge on their photography. Just get out and use it until you are comfortable with what it can and can't do. It is 100% as advertised, and an amazing tool in the right hands. If you do get one, be sure to get the additional lens kits. While this is more costly, you are adding significant capability, especially with macros.

Having said this, I don't really recommend this lens for absolute beginners. While it may be very inviting, it may end up being more frustrating or dismissed as useless. However, if you are familiar with full manual operation of your DSLR, and understand the basics of lens operation, there should be no reason to hesitate adding this to your arsenal.

This is more fun than technically useful. The fine tuning takes a lot of work to arrive at a commercially usable product. I had fun taking flower closeups and baby face closeups. It is an expensive toy, in my opinion.

Altough you can get the same effect with PS, this lens is a good choice to have a lot of fun!