Comments on: Tears of a new born http://blog.melchersystem.com/2006/12/22/tears-of-a-new-born/ Another Photo Industry blog Fri, 18 May 2012 22:31:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: lgrant98001 http://blog.melchersystem.com/2006/12/22/tears-of-a-new-born/#comment-102 lgrant98001 Sat, 14 Apr 2007 16:36:53 +0000 http://blog.melchersystem.com/2006/12/22/tears-of-a-new-born/#comment-102 I must be out of touch, because I just discovered Lensbabies yesterday. They are incredibly annoying. (It brings to mind what my dad always used to say about the fuzz boxes used in music in the '60's and '70's: "An engineer works his whole life to make an amplifier with perfect response, and some fool with a diode screws it all up") At least this lemming-like following of trends is nothing new. In addition to the star filters, let us not forget when all the wedding photographers were putting electrical-tape crosses on their lenses, so the out-of-focus candle lights would look like crosses. I'm also a little wary of products that are supposed to help you get "back to basics" but then cost a fair piece of change, like the Lensbabies, or the pinhole lens adapters. Paying a bunch extra so it can look like you have a cheap lens just seems wrong. I also think about one of the photography magazines that every year gathers a bunch of pro photographers together to take pictures with point-and-shoot or even disposable cameras. While the absolute technical quality (resolution, that sort of thing) isn't as high as their normal work, they take excellent pictures, because it isn't really about the camera. It's sort of like if you think about a painter. There are a bunch of different brushes a painter can use, and he can get different effects with the different brushes, but in a pinch, he wouldn't really need them. The Lensbaby is like giving the painter a rubber stamp. Be well... Lynn Grant I must be out of touch, because I just discovered Lensbabies yesterday. They are incredibly annoying. (It brings to mind what my dad always used to say about the fuzz boxes used in music in the ’60’s and ’70’s: “An engineer works his whole life to make an amplifier with perfect response, and some fool with a diode screws it all up”)

At least this lemming-like following of trends is nothing new. In addition to the star filters, let us not forget when all the wedding photographers were putting electrical-tape crosses on their lenses, so the out-of-focus candle lights would look like crosses.

I’m also a little wary of products that are supposed to help you get “back to basics” but then cost a fair piece of change, like the Lensbabies, or the pinhole lens adapters. Paying a bunch extra so it can look like you have a cheap lens just seems wrong.

I also think about one of the photography magazines that every year gathers a bunch of pro photographers together to take pictures with point-and-shoot or even disposable cameras. While the absolute technical quality (resolution, that sort of thing) isn’t as high as their normal work, they take excellent pictures, because it isn’t really about the camera.

It’s sort of like if you think about a painter. There are a bunch of different brushes a painter can use, and he can get different effects with the different brushes, but in a pinch, he wouldn’t really need them. The Lensbaby is like giving the painter a rubber stamp.

Be well…

Lynn Grant

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