In many ways, the three Velvet Lensbaby optics are the most conventional kit the company sells. They look like old-fashioned lenses, with a focus ring (and distance scales) and an aperture ring. Manual focus, of course, but also all-metal.
The first lens in the series was the Velvet 56: 56mm focal length and f/1.6 maximum aperture. A year or two later, the 85mm f/1.8 followed, and the company has recently released a 28mm f/2.5. I own both of the longer lenses: the wideangle is, perhaps, of less use to me for portraits and nudes than the longer pair. Mind you, I’d love to try it out, and I may well be tempted when I come face-to-face with one, post-lockdown.
If you used a Velvet at medium to small apertures, and on a normal, average sort of a subject, you might never know the difference from a host of older lenses. They perform very decently, in every way.
But as you open up the aperture, they gradually change character. If you look at the Ephotozine review of the Velvet 56 from five years ago, you may wonder if you want anything to do with one of these: the sharpness graph starts incredibly low, though from f/5.6 the results are decent. The summary of pros and cons reflects a conventional view that lenses should be sharp and free from flare, distortion and other aberrations.
That’s not the point of these lenses. For real addicts, using them wide open is the challenge: picking up on yesterday’s blog, maximum aperture, with maximum difficulty of focussing and the highest levels of flare and veiling, is precisely where we want to be, because the results, in the right lighting conditions, are ethereal, other-worldly, stunning.
Stop down by one or two stops, and there’s still as strong glow to the highlights, but there’s less need for extreme accuracy of focus, and all the effects are toned down a bit. If full aperture is a Subaru WRX STi, f/4 is a Golf GTi…
So do you want one? Might you even need one? If you aspire to maximum sharpness, all the time, and at any price, no. If you enjoy quirky character, love to express yourself with selective use of sharpness, and find that a bit of imperfection gives character, try one out. WEX Photo Video stock them, and the Lensbaby/WEX stand is always busy at the NEC show, currently scheduled for September. The man behind the company, Craig Strong, is often to be found there – so say hello, and thank you, if you find positives in these out-of-the-rut optics.
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