Review of Lensbaby 58mm F/35 Circular Fisheye Lens for Sony E

Lensbaby continues to develop new and varied transmission focus lenses. Its latest, the Burnside 35 ($499.95), features the old-school throwback build we saw in the soft focus Velvet serial, with an anodized aluminum barrel and smooth manual focus adjustment. The 35mm f/two.8 prime number is available for a number of systems, and is compatible with total-frame sensors, on which it in enjoys a modest wide-angle field of view. It's also the widest Petzval optical design we've seen to appointment, capturing wide shots with swirled background blur. If you honey the Petzval look information technology's worth a wait, merely don't forget well-nigh the more affordable Lensbaby Twist 60, which accentuates the swirl due to its longer focal length and costs quite a flake less.

Editors' Notation: This review has been updated to reverberate changes in photographic camera systems for which this lens is sold. It was originally published on February 15, 2018.

Pattern

The Burnside measures nigh two.6 by two.six inches (HD), weighs 13.2 ounces, and supports 62mm forepart filters. It'southward finished in blackness, with an all-metal build and a knurled manual focus ring. The barrel does telescope slightly when focusing shut, but doesn't feel wobbly at all.

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The 35mm f/2.eight optics cover sensor sizes up to full-frame. Lensbaby sells the Burnside for Catechism EF and Nikon F SLRs, likewise as for Fujifilm Ten, Micro Four Thirds, and Sony E mirrorless cameras. It had previously offered hte lens in other mounts, just those accept been discontinued. You may still stumble on Pentax K, Samsung NX, or Sony A versions at retail.

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There are dual apertures built into the lens, which is not something y'all see on a lot of optics. The standard six-bract discontinuity is controlled via a ring at the base of the lens and tin be set from f/2.viii through f/16 in full-stop increments. It's a standard flat pattern.

It'due south joined by a second viii-blade discontinuity, located right behind the front chemical element. The aperture is curved and has four steps of adjustment (including the wide open position). Controlled past the gilded event slider on the side of the butt, the aperture is really curved. Narrowing it changes the quality of the background blur, giving highlights a more defined look and adding a vignette to images. You lot can come across its effects, forth with that of the master aperture, in the video below.

The manual focus band turns smoothly, with some resistance for precise adjustment. The focus throw is long, requiring a 180-degree plough to move from the minimum 6-inch focus altitude to infinity. The Burnside isn't a macro lens past any means, but you tin can get up close and personal with subjects.

The Petzval Await

Nosotros've seen a number of lenses billed as Petzval over the past few years. Lomography started the trend with one of its early Kickstarter efforts, the New Petzval. It's a throwback design, with roots in the early on days of photography, characterized by a abrupt center and somewhat trippy, swirled background blur.

The original Petzval lenses were designed for big format cameras, but mod takes are near commonly used on 35mm total-frame and APS-C digital sensors. Lomo'due south beginning New Petzval is an 80mm design, but we've besides seen the 58mm New Petzval 58 from Lomo and the 60mm Twist 60 from Lensbaby itself.

The longer focal lengths show a much more than defined swirl than what nosotros see from the Burnside 35. While it'south there if yous look for it—and seems more pronounced as the effect slider is closed downwards—information technology's not overwhelming in the same way as the Twist 60 ($279.95 at Amazon) and Lomography Petzval ($279.95 at Amazon) lenses.

I actually enjoyed using the Burnside for portraiture when paired with the full-frame Nikon D850. The moderate wide bending view takes in a good amount of the environs around your bailiwick, giving a sense of space, and shooting at f/ii.8 delivers a pleasing corporeality of background mistiness.

For landscape subjects, shooting at f/2.8 with the effect slider dialed in as far as it will go—adding a strong vignette to subjects—creates a unique look. The key surface area of the frame shows practiced detail, but gives mode to darkened, blurred edges.

Conclusions

The wide-bending Burnside 35 is another solidly built, art-focused lens from Lensbaby. Information technology's built to the aforementioned standard as speciality lenses like the soft focus macro Velvet 85, but delivers a distinctly different look. If you've been thinking well-nigh adding a Petzval to your kit, but prefer a wide-angle field of view it'southward worth checking out. We give slight preference to the Twist threescore, however, for its more pronounced swirl upshot and lower cost, but it doesn't offering the creative control that you get from the Burnside and its effect slider.

Lensbaby Burnside 35

Cons

The Lesser Line

The Lensbaby Burnside 35 combines Petzval optics with a wide-angle field of view and adjustable consequence slider, capturing images you won't get with some other lens.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/lensbaby-burnside-35