Lensbaby twist review - Workshops photography by Willie Kers - the Netherlands

donderdag 16 juni 2016

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers
Recently I'm the proud owner of the new Lensbaby Twist. I'm photographing with the lensbabies ever since they were invented and I must say that I am really in love with these small analog lenses. From all of the optics of Lensbaby, the Edge 80 is by far my favorite. I really love the tilt-shift effect of it and it captures an amazing flare! As a portrait photographer, this is one is always in my bag! At least, until now!
I still love the Edge 80 but it has moved to my second favorite Lensbaby since the Twist arrived! Oh my gosh.. What a lens!  The look, the feel, the images it creates, the amazing sun flare and definitely the wonderful swirl! From the first moment that I attached the lens to my camera, I was in love! And it hasn't left my camera since!

This is not an in depth review, just my experience out in the field of this gorgeous little lens. 

The Twist reminds me of the analog Petzval lens I have. It has the same swirly bokeh. Only the Twist is way easier to create and to use. The Petzval is still amazing but it has aperture blades instead of an aperture ring like the one on the Twist. The aperture ring makes on the Twist makes it easier and faster to shoot. The Petzval is twice the size of the Twist and really heavy and bulky and the Twist is small en light. 
The next thing I noticed when shooting with the Twist is that the colors and contrast are amazing! And it's tack sharp! In my opinion the Twist is the sharpest Lensbaby ever. And than the swirl! Oh my... That yummy swirl! Under the right conditions and on a Full Frame camera, you get a swirly bokeh like you've never seen before! Although it's a manual focus lens, it's really easy to focus, unlike the Petzval. 
Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers
















The Twist is well build and looks really pretty! If you are shooting with a mirrorless camera, you won't get the best out of the swirly bokeh because of it's crop factor. But there are several adapters that can fix this "problem". Since I'm a Canon shooter, I had to find an adapter that converts my Canon lens to be used on my Fuji Xpro-2. And I found it in the Zhongyi Lens Turbo II. With my Canon Lensbaby Twist attached to the Lens Turbo, the Twist works like a Full Frame lens on my Xpro-2. And that is really great so now I can even bring a smaller bag with me on my daily field trips. 

The Lensbaby Twist is a 60mm lens and you can set the aperture from F/2.5 - F/22. If you want to see or read more about this amazing lens, please visit Lensbaby to get some tips & tricks and to watch the beautiful image gallery of my talented friends around the globe. 

Here are a few of my examples that I've captured with the new love of my life: the Lensbaby Twist! 



Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers

Lensbaby Twist image by Dutch Photographer Willie Kers









2 opmerkingen

  1. Thank you so much for sharing this! Would a cheaper m42 adapter achieve the same results on my Fuji XE1? I would really love to make the Lensbaby Twist work on that camera.

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    Reacties
    1. Your welcome :) The Fujifilm is a crop camera and to get the best results out of the Twist it's better to use it on a full frame camera. Because that is what the Twist is made for. That way the swirley bokeh is more visible. The Lens turbo lets your twist behave like a Full Frame. A normal (cheaper) adapter just converts it from a Canon or Nikon to Fuji. It still behaves as a crop. So you can use a normal adapter but the effects of the Twist won't be as good as with the Lensturbo. Hope this answers your question :)

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