LensBaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
See my Sony wish list.
The about $200 LensBaby Sol 45mm f/3.5 offers an unusual twist (literally!) on lenses: it has minimal optical correction along with any-way tilt and two bokeh blades.
- Sony E-Mount Lens (and other cameras)
- Metal Body with Tilt from 0-8.5°
- Fixed f/3.5 Aperture
- Manual Focus
- Minimum Focus Distance: 14"
- Filter Diameter: 46mm
- 2-Blade, Adjustable Diaphragm
Create unique-looking photos with the selective-focus SOL 45mm f/3.5 Lens from Lensbaby for Sony E-mount cameras. With 8.5° of tilt, this lens lets you easily isolate a subject within the frame and surround it in blur and smooth bokeh. The lens also features a center-locking feature that will lock the lens into place for dead-center focus. Furthering its creative potential are two adjustable bokeh blades that can add slight lines or textures to bokeh. This manual-focus lens also has an all-metal construction and accepts 46mm filters.
I shot the LensBaby Sol 45mm f/3.5 up in the mountains recently. It takes some getting used to for focusing—fairly challenging, particularly with tilt in play.
Don’t look for high sharpness with the LensBaby Sol, even if you do nail the focus—its goal is the overall bokeh effect and total visual effects that minimal lens correction together with arbitrary tilt can offer.
I would liken the LensBaby Sol 45mm f/3.5 in a way to a fisheye lens: both are great tools, but with limited usage and risk of a similar look each time, because both impose their own unusual rendering on the image so strongly that it becomes understood at a glance. It is both a strength and a limiting factor. Neither good nor bad, it’s a tool and if the tool fits, it’s great to have around.
Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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Sony A7R III + Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5
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