A Day Trip With the Lensbaby Velvet 28
Lensbaby Velvet 28 Review
In the following blog post I want to discuss how the newest Lensbaby lens, the Velvet 28, performs in the streets. Back in March, only a few days before the pandemic started and people in California were asked to stay at home, I spend a last day photographing people on the streets of Venice Beach. Lensbaby published the Velvet 28 a while ago, in the time before face masks. Nevertheless, I want to share and discuss some of the pictures that were so fun for me to take.
General information:
This lens was designed with travel-, landscape-, architecture- and urban photography in mind. It’s 28 mm focal length makes it perfect for all of these scenarios because you get a lot in the frame. Like all of Lensbaby lenses, the Velvet 28 is a manual lens, so there’s no connectivity with your camera’s built-in focus system. Instead, you need to manually focus by adjusting the focus on the lens itself.
All lenses of the Velvet series are known for their beautiful bokeh and glow when you shoot with the lens wide open. This lens opens all the way to f 2.5 and creates a spectacular velvety glow. Narrowing the aperture to f 4 or smaller reduces the glowy effect. I mostly used it on the smaller aperture settings, because I wanted to see what this lens can do when you use it for street style photography. As you can see in the following example pictures from that day, the glow is barely visible, yet it adds some interesting effects. I personally really liked how easy it was to focus even the most fast-moving subjects and the rich, vivid colors.
The Experience:
Once I had attached the new lens to my Canon Mark IV I could not stop shooting with it. It was so interesting to see how the effect went from strong to subtle depending on the aperture. I quickly found out that I like it best when the effect does not overpower my pictures and settled for shooting most of the following pictures at f/4. What really surprised me though was how intuitive the use of the focus ring is. To shoot with a manual lens normally slows the entire process down, but with the Velvet it was easy to create sharp pictures. I’m sure that the street photography community will love this lens. The almost film like look with a dreamy atmosphere is really beautiful. The lens is lightweight and easy to carry. I really enjoyed using it!
Pictures with lots of motion create an interesting mix of focus and glow. Shot at f/8
Here you can see how the dog is in focus, but the people around him melt into a glowy background. f/2.8
I had to be quick in focusing these photos, but the manual focus kept up with me. I love how the important areas are in focus.
Rich and vivid colors
Sharp and lots of details at f/8
This is an example of how the first picture (f/8) shows no glow and a lot of details, while the picture on the right was shot at f/2.8 and the flowers in the foreground melt into a pink glow.
Technical aspects:
The Velvet 28 is made from metal and feels solid in your hand. The aperture and focus rings move smoothly and are easy to use.
Features:
28mm
f/2.5 aperture
Velvet effect
1:2 macro capability
Conclusion:
If you buy the Velvet 28, don’t expect sharp and precise pictures. However, this lens is perfect for a more artsy and magical kind of photography. Lensbaby lenses are designed to create dreamy, bokeh rich and unique photos. If you want to see painter-like softness and convey feelings in your work, this is the lens for you.
While I liked the artsy feel of this lens and had fun trying it out, it didn’t make it on my personal list of favorites. This might be due to the fact that I prefer longer focal lengths and typically like my pictures dreamy yet with an area of complete sharpness. Maybe I have yet to discover a purpose for the glowy effect. Nevertheless, Lensbaby did an amazing job with this lens and I will continue to challenge myself with it. That’s why I decided to start a Lensbaby September photography challenge! I’ll keep you posted in one of my next blog posts how it went and if this lens becomes one of my favorites.
No matter if you’ve had this lens for a while or you just bought it, I’d like to invite you to participate in my Lensbaby challenge for the month of September. I will shoot for the next 30 days exclusively with my Velvet 28. Pick a lens or put your collection to work and join me! I will share my work on Instagram under the hashtag #lensbabyseptemberchallenge
Last but not least I’d like to invite you to read Michele Quattrin posts about a petite client session. She’s a Photographer in Minneapolis and her work keeps inspiring me. So please, grab a cup of coffee and make the round through our blog circle. Enjoy!