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Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

15 Apr

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

A Lensbaby lens is a dream come true for artistic, creative, and ground-breaking photographers. A company made famous by their innovative effect lenses and optics, Lensbaby has captivated the industry for nearly 14 years. This company’s newest pride and joy is the Lensbaby Burnside 35, an f/2.8 lens that is unlike any other in their arsenal.

Swirly Bokeh

The Burnside 35 features the iconic “swirly bokeh” that Lensbaby is famous for. This effect is seemingly influenced by the Petzval objective which causes a swirly bokeh and vignette, and it is created by pairing two doublet lenses with an aperture stop in between.

The first lens corrects spherical aberrations and the second lens corrects for astigmatism. However, the pairing creates the swirly distortion that we all love.

You can adjust the intensity of the swirly bokeh by changing the aperture: f/2.8 will be most intense, while something like an f/16 won’t have any swirl at all. The thing that I find most compelling about Lensbaby is the fact that all of the effects are in-camera/in-lens, hence saving you a lot of time on the editing front.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

Built-in vignetting

I was very intrigued to stumble upon this lens, as it has a feature I have never before seen in any other – a built-in vignette slider. Instead of needing to darken the edges of your photograph in post-processing, you can do an in-camera effect and save yourself the editing trouble.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

It’s a manual lens

That being said, much like other lenses in the Lensbaby collection, this one is fully manual. The aperture is adjusted by rotating the aperture cuff at the very back of the lens rather than in the camera as is common for other lenses. The vignette slider is located near the cuff on the opposite side of the lens.

When rotating either the vignette slider or the aperture ring, you can feel each stop as there feels to be a minor indent that pops into place – a welcome feeling when wanting to make quick adjustments without looking up from the lens.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

The focus is also manual, which may cause a bit of a learning curve for photographers that rely heavily on autofocus. However, I found that it was rather easy to see when the focus was captured or not and I was able to become proficient in a matter of a half hour.

Keeping the fully manual aspect of the lens in mind, this may not be the right piece of equipment for fast-paced action shooting. That being said, the artistic look of Lensbaby Burnside 35 can even make out of focus images look intentionally fuzzy (although any stylistic choice should look intentional, not as a mistake).

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

Build

The lens’s build feels incredibly sturdy (it’s made of metal) and it is visually striking. Though I’d consider the lens fairly light in comparison to other 35mm lenses, it is still a significant weight that adds to the impression of a very sturdy build.

The lens does not come with a case, and I’d highly recommend one. Despite a sturdy build, a good bump could crack something, and that’s not a risk worth taking.

The metal front lens cap is easy to slide on and off but holds very tight when it’s on; exactly how you’d want it to be. The rear mounting cap is equivalent to all the ones I’ve seen from other lenses. The box comes with a user guide with tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your lens, a welcome addition to any lens purchase.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

The vignette slider in action

The vignette slider makes a significant, visual difference in the image. It’s great to be able to see right-off-the-bat how the image will look at the various vignette stops. As well, from a purely aesthetic perspective, it can be rather fun to watch the vignette open and close on the glass itself – it’s a bit like a reptilian creature blinking.

Do keep in mind that the frame will darken significantly when the vignette slider is set at its most closed point. As such, I actually found myself using the vignette slider almost like a neutral density filter to bring out the colors of a very bright sky.

The versatility of this lens is also notable enough to bring up. You are certainly not obligated to photograph at a low aperture number and a shallow depth of field, when bumping the aperture up to f/16, architectural photographs are exceptional at the 35mm focal length. Add the vignette slider and you have a dramatic image worthy of any gallery.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

The vignette slider at the dark end of the scale.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

The vignette slider at the light end of the scale.

Overall

This 35mm lens is nice and wide and can focus up to 6 inches away from the glass itself, excellent for macro photography. There isn’t much distortion on the subject that is in focus in the center, which is much appreciated.

Compatible with both full-frame cameras and crop sensors, I tested the Burnside 35 on my Canon 5D Mark IV (full-frame) and Canon 7D Mark II (crop sensor) to see how well it performed. I was brilliantly satisfied with its abilities for both, though it was clear to see that the full-frame yielded even more fantastic results than the crop sensor.

It’s worth mentioning that I was exceptionally pleased with how fluid the manual focus was as well as the vignette slider, both moved with ease and can be adjusted with just one or two fingers! This lens is exceptionally sharp when the focus is right, making sure that whatever you want to be the subject is very clear.

The equipment is small and easy to carry, another welcome sight in lenses.

Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens

At a retail price of $ 499.99 (available now), the Lensbaby Burnside 35 is worth every penny if I do say so myself. The Burnside 35 is available in the following mounts: Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, Sony Alpha A, Fuji X, Micro 4/3, Pentax K, and Samsung NX.

The post Review of the Lensbaby Burnside 35 Special Effects Lens appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Lensbaby Burnside 35: sample gallery and impressions

01 Mar

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Lensbaby’s newest offering, the Burnside 35, is a 35mm Petzval-inspired lens that features the swirly bokeh of the company’s Twist 60 in a wider angle 35mm lens plus additional creative control through a vignetting slider. As with the Twist 60, the amount of swirl is controlled by the aperture: maximum swirl at F2.8, with each subsequent stop down removing swirl and increasing the central area of sharp focus.

The additional “effect slider” on the barrel of the lens gives you another way to control swirl and bokeh – although the effect of the slider on those elements seems to be somewhat minimal compared to using the aperture – and adds up to four levels of vignetting to your images. Per Lensbaby’s description of the Burnside 35, it’s meant to be a versatile creative lens for street photography, landscapes, and environmental portraits.

I should give a quick disclosure here: I have been known to say that I don’t like shooting at 35mm. As a photographer who focuses on lifestyle, events and portraiture, I prefer wider (24mm to 28mm) for contextual scenes and longer (135mm and up) for portraits. 35mm always feels a little too ‘in between’ and the framing is never quite right for me. I can normally accommodate this preference of mine by cropping in post, but cropping images taken with a creative lens removes some of the intended effects. Using a new creative lens always requires a bit of a learning curve, and this one also required that I revisit shooting with a 35mm eye. I had varying levels of success with each of those challenges.

What I liked:

  • The bokeh, especially shooting open at F2.8 or F4. As long as I didn’t choose a background that was too busy, the swirly bokeh was pleasingly subtle and smooth. It gave the effect of a bit more subject isolation than I typically get when shooting a portrait at 35mm, which helped me overcome my wish for a longer lens.
  • The colors, straight out of camera. This is something that I like about most Lensbaby lenses and optics. There is a depth and contrast in the colors that means I have to do very little post-processing of the Raw images (although I did find the blues and greens to be a touch more saturated than I’d choose myself).
  • The vignetting effect. I don’t normally use a lot of vignetting in my editing so I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it here. And admittedly, this is what most of us questioned (or chuckled about) – is it just a built-in Instagram filter? It turns out that no, it’s not just an Instagram filter. Like most effects that Lensbaby offers, the vignetting in the Burnside 35 is a bit more clever than a simple vignette. Increasing the vignette darkens the edges, but it also deepens and amplifies the swirl in the bokeh. This means that you can use a smaller aperture to get more of your subject in focus and then dial up the swirl with the vignette, provided you don’t need the edges of your frame to be bright.

What I struggled with:

  • Centering my composition. The Burnside 35 is built for a bright central area of sharp focus, with the swirl and vignetting effects happening around the edges. This is similar to the Twist 60, but with the 60mm focal length of the Twist, I shoot more classic portraits and don’t mind centering my subject as much. When shooting wider, I tend to compose my shots with my subjects off-center, which was my instinct with the Burnside 35. But then I was not able to get my subject into focus and I was forced to reframe.
  • Balancing the swirl and vignette. I think this will come with practice, but in the time that I’ve been shooting with the Burnside 35 I have not found my sweet spot of swirl vs vignette. I had to do a lot of chimping to get the shot I wanted, which meant that I missed many of the street and documentary shots I was after. Normally this doesn’t bother me because I know there’s a learning curve for any creative lens, but since the 35mm focal length lends itself to more street and documentary style shooting, it was harder for me to set myself up for the success I could get with a more controlled environment.
  • Focus. This is actually an extension of my previous point. My hit rate for focus was remarkably low with the Burnside 35, and it was due mostly to user error. However, as someone who is quite comfortable with manual focus, I know that my errors were helped along by the same things I mentioned above: the wider angle lending itself to a certain way of shooting plus the focus area requiring more precision in the center of the frame. These are both errors I could have reduced by making better choices, so I’ll chalk most of this up to me.

Overall, I think the Burnside 35 is a versatile lens for a street or environment portrait photographer looking to expand their creative options. Yes, many of the effects can be approximated with software or by applying this material or that to a filter screwed onto a 35mm prime. But to me, the value of a creative lens is to enable, coax, and sometimes force myself to see and shoot familiar subjects differently, and to do it with consistent, repeatable results. Only then does it move from being a fun toy to becoming a part of my creative toolkit, and I can see the Burnside 35 fitting into my workflow quite nicely. Once I get a bit more proficient with the focus, of course.

Check out our Lensbaby Burnside 35
real-world sample gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lensbaby introduces Burnside 35 with variable vignetting

15 Feb

Lensbaby has announced the Burnside 35, which it calls an adaptation of the Petzval lens design with the added benefit of an effect slider to adjust the strength of vignetting and bokeh. The gold-anodized slider is located on the side of the lens barrel and operates a second iris, adding more or less vignette effect and adjusting the appearance of bokeh.

The manual focus lens is designed for full-frame and crop-sensor cameras and will be offered in Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A, Pentax K, Micro Four Thirds, Sony E, Fujifilm X and Samsung NX mount. It’s on sale now for $ 500.

Lensbaby Delivers a Modern Take on Classic Lenses with the Burnside 35

Portland, OR (February 15, 2018) – Lensbaby—makers of award-winning creative effects lenses, optics and accessories—announces the launch of an entirely new kind of creative effects lens, the Burnside 35.

The first ever wide angle adaptation of the Petzval lens design, this 35mm f/2.8 lens creates images with a large, bright central area of sharp focus and striking color rendition surrounded by variable, swirling bokeh and vignette. It also features an effect slider that operates as a second internal iris that changes the shape and amount of swirl in the bokeh; all while adding or removing vignette and center brightness.

Burnside’s 35mm focal length lets you capture a scene at a normal-wide perspective with a dimensionality that makes your subject jump off the page. This lens opens up a new world of creative possibilities for those shooting street photography, landscapes, environmental portraits and more.

“The Burnside 35 is one of the most versatile Lensbabies we’ve made,” said Lensbaby Chief Creative Officer and Co-Founder Craig Strong. “It gives you the ability to have a strong or subtle creative effect in a single lens, a lens you might just keep on your camera all day long.”

Adding to the Burnside 35’s versatility is the radical, new effect slider that can be used to add center brightness, in-camera vignette and adjust bokeh detail. You can toggle the gold-anodized effect slider on the barrel of the lens to create variable balance and harmony between center brightness, bokeh and vignette. The effect slider features a four-stop range of vignette and bokeh enhancement so you can dial in the exact look that appeals to you.

Burnside 35 joins Lensbaby’s lens lineup as an all-metal, non-tilting lens similar to their bestselling Velvet series. Made specifically for full frame and crop sensor cameras, this lens is compatible with Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony A, Pentax K, Micro 4/3, Sony E, Fuji X and Samsung NX.

Burnside 35 Product Specs:

  • Focal Length: 35mm
  • Aperture Range: f/2.8-16
  • 6 blade internal aperture
  • 8 blade secondary internal aperture for the effect slider
  • Minimum Focus Distance: 6 inches
  • Maximum Focus Distance: Infinity
  • 62mm filter threads
  • Focus type: Manual
  • Size/ Weight: 13.2 oz (374.21g)
  • 6 multi-coated glass elements, in 4 groups

The Burnside 35 is now available for purchase on lensbaby.com and select Lensbaby-authorized retailers for $ 499.95.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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