Welcome to AdoramaTV
My name is Marcin Lewandowski and I'm a professional photographer.
Today, I'll tell you a little bit about the new offering from Lensbaby
Velvet 56. As some of you might know Lensbaby
is a lens manufacturer specializing in a quite creative approach to photography.
The company was started in 2004 by
Oregon-based photographer Craig Strong with the lens that is currently known
as a single glass optic. I personally
started my affair with their optics in the year 2008.
When they released the composer, fast forward to April 2015
and Lensbaby have raised the bar of creative and joyus photography once again
by the release of glass which they call the most versatile portrait lens
ever made...The Velvet 56. There isn't too much technical jargon attached to this
lens
and specs are basic but quite impressive at the same time.
It's a 56mm f/1.6 with Macro capabilities
and closest focusing
distance of just 5 inches.
This enables 1:2 magnification. It's design is based on the 20th century portrait
lenses.
But Lensbaby injected with new glass technology resulting in a very sharp outcome.
Just by scrutinizing the box you know that Lensbaby wants you to feel special.
After opening the magnetic clasp we find a little
sticker and finally me under a layer of foam the Velvet 56 itself.
it's a very solid looking piece of equipment made of aluminium alloy
and it feels that way as well.
It has a perfect weight, something to be expected from a professional
all metal barrel. The front is guarded by a metal
pressure fit lens cap, and once taken off we see the front glass
element sitting quite deep inside the lens barrel creating a hood around it.
Velvet 56 is a fully manual lens and once popped on the camera we instantly
notice the dampened focus ring that is incredibly nice to work with
and allows for very precise adjustments. I can imagine that videographers who
will enjoy it lot for focus pulling.
The secondary ring on the lens is for manual aperture adjustment
and you can feel and hear it's very reassuring soft click
at each stop. Velvet 56 derives its name from giving photographs a quite
incredible
velvety look and a very pleasing bokeh.
Especially when the aperture is wide open. This beautiful affect gives photographs an
organic feeling
and once you get the hang of it you use it to your own advantage
and create something that cannot be easily reproduced by any
other lenses nor in any editing software.
This unique and quite dreamy appearance starts to slowly disappear as you close down the
aperture and at
around f8 becomes almost unnoticable
rendering the lens perfect for a more conventional look. This is where this
lens becomes
almost a standard lens but still leaves a touch of softness
in all the corners. When you couple these effects with either portraiture,
landscape
macro nature photography you will suddenly discovered the world in a
completely new way.
This lens lens is by no means a toy
but at the same time it invites you to play around
break out of the ordinary, and try something different. Velvet 56 is one of
those lenses that
inject instant joy into photography and whether you
are an amateur or pro you will find that this lens is quite an extraordinary
performer.
I love using Velvet and I welcome the infant feeling of joy
each time I mount it on my camera. This lens needs a bit of out of the box
thinking but
rewards you two fold for it. Life is short
and Velvet will give you a few more moments of pleasure when you
photograph with it.
You can rely on it every time you use it.
Thank you for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this video.
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That's all from me and I hope to see you again soon.
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