Regarding ‘looseness’ feel - it’s the same on Sony E-Mount (Full Format) A7r II. This lens requires a lot of ‘testing and use’ on various types of flowers - however, the macro rendering is ‘pin sharp’. Softness with ‘Glow’ at f2 and f4 is really creative look but as you go to f5.6 to f11/16 the lens turns into ‘standard macro-close focus’ look. So, for the ‘Golden Glow’ look stay around f2.8 - f4! All in all …. requires a little getting use to, but an excellent ‘creative’ flower photography lens! Apologies …. not tried out the Velvet 85 on other subjects, viz, landscapes, portraits, etc.! I would highly recommend the Velvet 85! PS If you want a closer focus - I would recommend the purchase of NiSi ‘Close Up Lens Kit (77mm)’. Tad expensive, but the lens is high-quality glass - beautiful high quality close-up macro images, in particular flowers!
This was one of the videos that convinced me to buy this lens about 11 months ago. Since then, I have completely fallen in love with Lensbaby products. I have this, the Burnside 35, as well as the Composer Pro II with multiple front optics. As a portrait photographer, they have taken my work to a whole new level. I can get artistic shots for those clients that want them that I could never have gotten in or out of camera. Too bad UA-cam doesn't let you post images to comments or I'd share a recent one with you.
That's great to hear! Yeah, their products are quirky, but do a lot for creativity. Do you have an Instagram or something? Love to see what you're capturing.
@@AndrewGoodCamera I found Instagram to be annoying at best with its 10MB limit, but my ViewBug account has my favorite shots on it. Quite a few are from my LB products. www.viewbug.com/member/Seraphim The image I referred to earlier is in my header slide show. It's the girl with the leaf.
Wow pictures and commentary provided are very clear. I am not good in english but just wat to say a big thanks for your documents. I learn a lot and the video is so cool and fun.
Photos from this lens certainly seem to have a dreamy, beautiful, ethereal feel to them and I'd love to see the results on a misty, foggy morning. I'm sure that soft glow would add an extra dimension. Great review and images once again, and the vintage shot at the end really showed off the lens potential for offering clients that classic "hollywood" look.
How does this lens compare to just using a diffusion filter. That's what the images remind me of. Would you recommend this lens over just buying like a glimmerglass 3?
I love the look of this lens, but u have one question, how heavily did you edit the photo's before putting them into the video, or are these photo's straight out of the camera?
Greetings from India ! Need your help .. can u please advice the difference between velvet lens & soft focus Lens. Which one should I buy ? I mainly want to use it for portraits and closeups macro shots.
That lens is so freaking cool! I love the interesting, glowing look you got with it opened up. I wish they had it for Panasonic/micro 4 thirds. I might need to see if an adapter would work. And, great job on the video. It was perfect! It had good music, shots indoors, shots outside, interesting pictures, and the family was included. 👍 My kids and I are also building our Lego Millennium Falcon this week. ☺ (Sorry for the long post.)
Wow....... first of you are blessed to live and work in Utah. The landscape is soooooo awesome there. Thank You for doing this review. This isn’t the first video I’ve looked at for this lens. I am currently getting a upscale Nikon as I have progressed out of the Bridge world. I was wondering if you have thought about slapping a 8 or 10 Stop ND on there and tried some longer exposure with it ...???? Thanks again and happy clicking
I own the Nikon 85mm 1.8 and it is an amazing piece of glass, the 1.4 is even better, if you own one of those 2 you're good, I still do want to buy or rent one of these. I still have the first Lensbaby 1.0 that I bought in the early 2000s. I can't believe how far they've come as a brand.
They do give some neat effects; have you ever tried a vintage helios 44-2? They give a unique swirly bokeh effect. I've always enjoyed watching your reviews and showdowns, some vintage lens with a m42 mount would be sweet.
I do have a helios 44-2. But it doesn't work so well on aps-c though since it crops out much of the swirl area. Once we have a full frame pass through again at some point it might be something we take a look at.
If you can splurge on a metabones speedbooster you get the full frame FOV and all that swirl back, and you gain an extra stop of light gathering! I got one used for Canon FD because FD is the shortest flange length 35mm lens mount (that I'm aware of), which has allowed me to adapt my Nikon Ai-S glass as well as M42 and Olympus OM-D (and Canon FD of course, which I didn't own until I got the adapter, but I have had great results from the 135mm f/2.5 lens on my X-T2 with the speed booster). It's a slippery slope though once you start getting into the scounging-ebay-for-los-gems to adapt game-be forwarned that you might soon find yourself lusting for increasingly pricier "cheap" vintage glass (for me it's the old Zeiss stuff, but I've resisted so far mainly due to how great native Fuji glass is). There are a lot of cool lenses to be had in the $50-150 range.
Regarding loose mounting I think it is really a Fuji problem because I actually have a Fuji native primes that behave in the same loose manner at Fuji camera bodies.
You're thinking F-stop, not aperture. An aperture is an opening between the aperture blades (variable in size - large or small) measured in mm diameter (focal length / F-stop). e.g. 85mm/1.8 = large 47.2mm aperture; 85/11 = small 7.3mm aperture
Cheers guys, I'll give this one a miss. In a future where I have enough funds, I'd like to upgrade my Nikon D3300 and then I might think about getting an 85mm for whatever I replace it with (probably either a D500 or D800E)
The glow reminds me of the same effect you get from the 35mm 1.4. can usually only see this on up close shots using the 35. Never seen it on a landscape shot before. This was a great vid man.
The velvet line is actually the only lensbaby that I have not liked due to its lack of sharpness, albeit it being on purpose. The composer pro line with the 85 Edge or Sweet are my go-to.
Interesting lens, and the images of Danae are very nice. Now go get your self some old lenses. I'd like to see you review some vintage glass. I believe your reviews are some of the best.
Great review guys... I don't think I'll be leaving my 56 f/1.2 behind anytime soon. A lot of the effects/looks the Lensbaby brings can be achieved in post. The portraits in Zion were quite telling...
That was really interesting. I've always been curious about Lensbaby because some of their offerings *seem* gimmicky but others clearly fill serious niches.
So Andrew I shoot a FF Sony and looked at the 50 and the 90, focal length wise I own an 85 zeiss and did not own anything in the 50mm range so I got the 50 to have use for double duty. It has a limiter switch and with that on the autofocus is not half bad, kinda of a middle road approach lol
Hi Andrew, it'd be fun to play with but I wouldn't see my buying one, once the novelty had worn off I'm not quite sure what I'd use it for. That portrait of Denae was great, she looked lovely, definitely the best shot bunch.
Honestly, this is not "piece of gear" but really "peice of BS". Construction build quality is awful in 2021. Customer "care" service is like a joke. Highly do not recommend to anyone... I have many lenses, from different brands, cheap and expensive, but this is the worst buld quality I had even seen. And customer "care" service is the worst I experienced as well. Will never buy again.
Great review! You actually showed practical examples of the lens in action. Much appreciated.
Regarding ‘looseness’ feel - it’s the same on Sony E-Mount (Full Format) A7r II.
This lens requires a lot of ‘testing and use’ on various types of flowers - however, the macro rendering is ‘pin sharp’. Softness with ‘Glow’ at f2 and f4 is really creative look but as you go to f5.6 to f11/16 the lens turns into ‘standard macro-close focus’ look. So, for the ‘Golden Glow’ look stay around f2.8 - f4!
All in all …. requires a little getting use to, but an excellent ‘creative’ flower photography lens!
Apologies …. not tried out the Velvet 85 on other subjects, viz, landscapes, portraits, etc.!
I would highly recommend the Velvet 85!
PS If you want a closer focus - I would recommend the purchase of NiSi ‘Close Up Lens Kit (77mm)’. Tad expensive, but the lens is high-quality glass - beautiful high quality close-up macro images, in particular flowers!
This was one of the videos that convinced me to buy this lens about 11 months ago. Since then, I have completely fallen in love with Lensbaby products. I have this, the Burnside 35, as well as the Composer Pro II with multiple front optics. As a portrait photographer, they have taken my work to a whole new level. I can get artistic shots for those clients that want them that I could never have gotten in or out of camera. Too bad UA-cam doesn't let you post images to comments or I'd share a recent one with you.
That's great to hear! Yeah, their products are quirky, but do a lot for creativity. Do you have an Instagram or something? Love to see what you're capturing.
@@AndrewGoodCamera I found Instagram to be annoying at best with its 10MB limit, but my ViewBug account has my favorite shots on it. Quite a few are from my LB products. www.viewbug.com/member/Seraphim The image I referred to earlier is in my header slide show. It's the girl with the leaf.
Wow! I love the shimmery soft-focus both in the portraits and in the landscapes. Definitely on my bucket list.
Thanks for a video that gives so many examples of the lens actually being used. Great work!
I appreciate the video examples, especially. Awesome review!
Wow pictures and commentary provided are very clear. I am not good in english but just wat to say a big thanks for your documents. I learn a lot and the video is so cool and fun.
Photos from this lens certainly seem to have a dreamy, beautiful, ethereal feel to them and I'd love to see the results on a misty, foggy morning. I'm sure that soft glow would add an extra dimension. Great review and images once again, and the vintage shot at the end really showed off the lens potential for offering clients that classic "hollywood" look.
Thank you for the useful information.
Is it a good lens for "macro" food photography, especially with this glowing aesthetic?
I wouldn't use this for food
How does this lens compare to just using a diffusion filter. That's what the images remind me of. Would you recommend this lens over just buying like a glimmerglass 3?
Love the review! St George by any chance? My son lives there and it’s such a great place for pictures!
Excellent review. Exactly what I needed. Thank you so much! Keep up with the good work!!
I love the look of this lens, but u have one question, how heavily did you edit the photo's before putting them into the video, or are these photo's straight out of the camera?
I'm curious about that as well.
Greetings from India !
Need your help .. can u please advice the difference between velvet lens & soft focus Lens. Which one should I buy ? I mainly want to use it for portraits and closeups macro shots.
That landscape shot was gorgeous
nice presentation. just ordered one with z-mount for z6ii :-)
one more glowing review from you ; happy new year
omg the vintagey shots at the end are so cute!
That lens is so freaking cool! I love the interesting, glowing look you got with it opened up. I wish they had it for Panasonic/micro 4 thirds. I might need to see if an adapter would work.
And, great job on the video. It was perfect! It had good music, shots indoors, shots outside, interesting pictures, and the family was included. 👍
My kids and I are also building our Lego Millennium Falcon this week. ☺
(Sorry for the long post.)
Nice. That Millennium Falcon is pretty rad.
Hey Red Truck Travels - just letting you know that we DO make the Velvet 85 for Micro 4/3rds!
Lensbaby
Thanks! I'll have to rent one once I finish buying a couple more cheap vintage lenses. 👍
Wow....... first of you are blessed to live and work in Utah. The landscape is soooooo awesome there.
Thank You for doing this review. This isn’t the first video I’ve looked at for this lens.
I am currently getting a upscale Nikon as I have progressed out of the Bridge world.
I was wondering if you have thought about slapping a 8 or 10 Stop ND on there and tried some longer exposure with it ...????
Thanks again and happy clicking
Good work! So much hands on information I had to subscribe..
I own the Nikon 85mm 1.8 and it is an amazing piece of glass, the 1.4 is even better, if you own one of those 2 you're good, I still do want to buy or rent one of these. I still have the first Lensbaby 1.0 that I bought in the early 2000s. I can't believe how far they've come as a brand.
They do give some neat effects; have you ever tried a vintage helios 44-2? They give a unique swirly bokeh effect. I've always enjoyed watching your reviews and showdowns, some vintage lens with a m42 mount would be sweet.
I do have a helios 44-2. But it doesn't work so well on aps-c though since it crops out much of the swirl area. Once we have a full frame pass through again at some point it might be something we take a look at.
If you can splurge on a metabones speedbooster you get the full frame FOV and all that swirl back, and you gain an extra stop of light gathering! I got one used for Canon FD because FD is the shortest flange length 35mm lens mount (that I'm aware of), which has allowed me to adapt my Nikon Ai-S glass as well as M42 and Olympus OM-D (and Canon FD of course, which I didn't own until I got the adapter, but I have had great results from the 135mm f/2.5 lens on my X-T2 with the speed booster). It's a slippery slope though once you start getting into the scounging-ebay-for-los-gems to adapt game-be forwarned that you might soon find yourself lusting for increasingly pricier "cheap" vintage glass (for me it's the old Zeiss stuff, but I've resisted so far mainly due to how great native Fuji glass is). There are a lot of cool lenses to be had in the $50-150 range.
anyone know if you can put macro extension on it?
Regarding loose mounting I think it is really a Fuji problem because I actually have a Fuji native primes that behave in the same loose manner at Fuji camera bodies.
13:12 Apertures are not 'low' or 'high'. Apertures can be large (e.g. f/1.8) or small (e.g. f/11). F-stop is the inverse of the aperture.
It's a number. Numbers can be low/high. I think I'll give myself a pass on this one. But I do appreciate the feedback
You're thinking F-stop, not aperture. An aperture is an opening between the aperture blades (variable in size - large or small) measured in mm diameter (focal length / F-stop). e.g. 85mm/1.8 = large 47.2mm aperture; 85/11 = small 7.3mm aperture
Wonderful review. Reminds me of the Canon 135mm Soft Focus Lens.
would this be a wise purchase for an XT20, given the weight?
Usually I don't care about the weight of a lens, visa vis the Fuji body. But in this case, yeah, there is a massive difference.
Cheers guys, I'll give this one a miss. In a future where I have enough funds, I'd like to upgrade my Nikon D3300 and then I might think about getting an 85mm for whatever I replace it with (probably either a D500 or D800E)
The glow reminds me of the same effect you get from the 35mm 1.4. can usually only see this on up close shots using the 35. Never seen it on a landscape shot before. This was a great vid man.
The velvet line is actually the only lensbaby that I have not liked due to its lack of sharpness, albeit it being on purpose. The composer pro line with the 85 Edge or Sweet are my go-to.
Similar effect achieved with silkier bokeh and at a much cheaper pricepoint: pentacon 1.8 50mm m42 lens from east germany
Great video.
I assume its called velvet because of the velvetty soft non center effect it has, its a bit angellic depending on the subject i really like it
Thanks for the review.
Interesting lens, and the images of Danae are very nice. Now go get your self some old lenses. I'd like to see you review some vintage glass. I believe your reviews are some of the best.
I usually shoot f4 for me that seems to be the sweet spot
Great review guys... I don't think I'll be leaving my 56 f/1.2 behind anytime soon. A lot of the effects/looks the Lensbaby brings can be achieved in post. The portraits in Zion were quite telling...
That was really interesting. I've always been curious about Lensbaby because some of their offerings *seem* gimmicky but others clearly fill serious niches.
I have the velvet 56 and between this and my macro I have the most fun!!
Which macro lens do you have?
So Andrew I shoot a FF Sony and looked at the 50 and the 90, focal length wise I own an 85 zeiss and did not own anything in the 50mm range so I got the 50 to have use for double duty. It has a limiter switch and with that on the autofocus is not half bad, kinda of a middle road approach lol
Orton effect, fixed, undo or weakening not possible, why should I buy this glass if I can do so much better and in a non-destructive way digitally?
Hi Andrew, it'd be fun to play with but I wouldn't see my buying one, once the novelty had worn off I'm not quite sure what I'd use it for. That portrait of Denae was great, she looked lovely, definitely the best shot bunch.
Honestly, this is not "piece of gear" but really "peice of BS". Construction build quality is awful in 2021. Customer "care" service is like a joke. Highly do not recommend to anyone... I have many lenses, from different brands, cheap and expensive, but this is the worst buld quality I had even seen. And customer "care" service is the worst I experienced as well. Will never buy again.
WOW!!!
Very cool.
Just gunna whip it out
lol @ photoshopper Dad!
Nice review. Thanks.
Wait, lensbaby makes real lenses?!
Music over is pure distraction and annoying. Younger ears don't notice but older ones do.
Not a bad video. But the music is as annoying as music can possibly be!