LensBaby for Video!
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008An excerpt from our 2nd article in Studio Photography Magazine:
For those not too familiar, the Lensbaby produces an uncommon image. Creating distorted periphery, spherical blurs are at the hands of the artist- spontaneous and disorienting. And this is just one frame. Multiply that by 24 frames a second. A medium close-up can become a nauseating 1st person view. Although the lens can create hazy tunnel-like perspectives, my tests prove that it can also be one of the most adaptable lenses in the cinematographer’s toolbox.
In essence, the lens is a 3G with added support for film. It can also be connected quite easily to a video setup by using one of many 35mm lens-to-video adapters available. This means that it can generate wistful b-roll for a million dollar film or equally serve as the only lens on an HD indie short. In my tests I used the lens as the latter. The 3GPL was locked onto a Letus35 Extreme ($1,200), which reflected my experiments into a Panasonic HVX-200. With most lens-to-video adapters, the framed subject is monitored upside-down. I couldn’t imagine trying to focus a lensbaby while monitoring an inverted image. Nausea would ensue. Luckily, this isn’t the case with the Letus35.
