Techieness

I must apologize for the nearly-week-long absence. I had a post all ready to go on Wednesday but just as I was putting up the final touches, it was time to leave for Groningen. Just last week Karel had decided to visit his sister and a few friends who live up in that direction, and so for most of Wednesday and all of Thursday we were inundated with one very cute baby, lots of good food, and promises for pizza (Karel had promised Mini-Bekker a homemade pizza several years ago, and true to his form, MB has not forgotten). It was a good trip, but then again I suspect I would say that about any trip where I get to hold a 6-day-old baby.


I finally had an excuse to try out my Lensbaby this weekend, as of course any new baby warrants a ton of pictures. My brother bought it for me for Christmas, and my initial test with it was quite rushed, as I had neither the time nor the inclination to experiment much when it arrived (some time after Christmas, when I was in the middle of a major Angst moment). I actually used my macro to shoot the baby--why fix what ain't broke, stick with what you know, and all them clichés--but I was able to put the Lensbaby through its paces later that day and figure out exactly what it could and couldn't do.

I take a not-insubstantial amount of pride in knowing what all of the buttons on my camera do but it was still a lot of fun to actually make those adjustments, as for the most part the D90 is smarter than I am when it comes to shooting awesome. However, with a Lensbaby, because you're on full-manual, it becomes a matter of trial and error as you point, adjust, click, look, and adjust any one of the gazillion settings available to turn your picture into something not-eyeball-gouging-ugly.


My conclusion about the Lensbaby is that it's a fun piece of kit to have, but probably not something that I'd use on a regular basis. My 50 mm macro can get those awesome narrow-range-of-focus pics with much less trouble, but it doesn't do that awesome blur. But then again, I don't necessarily want a lot of blur. Furthermore, because it's not an actual lens, you need to adjust your focal length by actually moving the camera. It is unquestionably a ton of fun to play with, though, and you do make awesome pictures.