Review on 📷 Canon EF Camera Lensbaby Velvet 56-inch LB-V56BC Lens by Steven Guevara

Still playing but correcting misinformation. I just received this lens yesterday and haven't had a chance to practice it fully yet, but wanted to clear up some misinformation from other reviews I've seen here and elsewhere. First a quick bit about my background. 30 years as a professional photographer with film and digital cameras of all sizes. Now to the lens. People who are used to using manual lenses will have no problems. It's just like any other manual lens we've ever used in terms of handling. If you're used to autofocus and lenses that talk to your body, you need to learn. Here's a clarification - I've heard (from some people with more experience) that the only place you can use to focus is in the center and that you have to capture it first if you want your subject to focus is off-center Center the image and then crop it. It's *almost* true, but not quite. As with any other lens, you can focus anywhere in the viewfinder. However, if you pre-focus on the center and then move your subject off-center before releasing the shutter, your subject will be out of focus. This is where it gets a bit tricky - although you can focus anywhere, the lens halo increases as you move away from the center. For example, if your focus is in the upper right third of the frame, it will still have more halos than the middle point. The subject is sharp but with a halo, while the center is blurry with less halo. So it boils down to this: you can do it, but you don't want to. It won't look right. I've attached two pictures (quick test shots - don't judge too harshly) to show what I mean. The difference is small but noticeable to me. Otherwise, the lens does exactly what everyone is talking about. Whether it's worth it depends on what else you have in your bag. I've found it can't do much that my 85mm 1.2L or 24-70mm 2.8L can't. It's smaller so that's a plus, but it feels a little over the top so I'm not sure I'll keep it to myself. If I didn't already have them I would be thrilled, especially for the price. Update January 24, 2016 - I've had more time to play around and decided that this lens isn't over the top compared to the other two. It fills its own niche and does so with a lot less weight and cost. The image quality is superb, straight from the camera. Remember these are just dirty test shots, take a look at the purple candle and crystal lotus paperweight. I'm definitely sticking to this one.