Please notice the links to our topics over to the right. You can click on one of them to quickly jump to that section of our FAQ.

If you have a question that you would like see answered on our FAQ page please email it to shawn[at]lensbabies.com and if we use it we will send you a small prize!

Here is a link to the Lensbaby User Guide Page: User Guide

To see examples taken by all of our Lensbabies and our accessories click on the “galleries” link on the top right of this page. To see a more technical comparison between f-stops and accessories visit our Comparison Page

A. Yes and no. The Lensbaby 3G has a locking mechanism that allows the user to lock the Lensbaby in place and then fine tune the focus by rotating the center barrel foucsing knob. The tilt can also be changed by rotating the knobs on the end of the focusing poles. The Original Lensbaby and the Lensbaby 2.0 do not stay in place by itself. Your fingers hold them in place. The fun and challenge of using the Lensbaby is focusing with the flexible tubing. If you remove your fingers from the Lensbaby, it pops back into its original shape.

A. No. The mount and focusing collar of the older Lensbabies and the Lensbaby 3G is very different making it impossible to upgrade the Lensbaby 2.0 or the Original Lensbaby.

A. No, the Lensbaby is an actual SLR lens. You take your current lens off your camera and put the Lensbaby on.

A. Lensbabies are available and work on almost all versions of Single Lens Reflex cameras which have interchangable lenses. Our webstore has most, if not all, of the makes and models with which the Lensbaby will work. The Canon Lensbaby will fit on most Canon DSLR and SLR bodies, the Nikon Lensbaby on most Nikon SLR and DSLR bodies, etc. If your camera is a point and shoot, unfortunately the Lensbaby won’t work.

A. The focal length is approximately 50 mm for all the current Lensbabies.

A. No, we currently do not make one for medium format cameras.

A. The Lenses are similar in that they both have a sweet spot of focus, have removable apertures and are fun to use. The optics in the 2 lenses are different: the Original Lensbaby is a single uncoated lens and the Lensbaby 2.0 is a coated doublet lens. The Original has more diffusion in the highlights when used at wider apertures where the LB 2.0 has a very sharp sweet spot even when used wide open. The Original has a retaining ring which holds the apertures in place and the LB 2.0 has a levitating aperture system that uses magnets. Most people who like dreamy, holga/pinhole affects really like the Original LB. Those who must have some part of their image tact sharp when shooting wide open like the LB 2.0. Note, the Original LB is very sharp when using the smaller apertures. Many photographers have both Lensbabies so they have a choice while shooting.

Visit our Comparison Page to see examples of each f-stop on each lens. You can also do a search on our Lensbabies Friends Forum page. Click on the link above and do a search with the word “compare”. Threads from the forum will be listed that have comparison shots. Most of the photographs in our Galleries are Original Lensbaby shots.

A. The Lensbaby 3G has the same coated doublet as the Lenbaby 2.0. It also had 3 additional f-stops, f/11, f/16 and f/22.

A. See our Retailer List

A. Absolutely.

A. You can send us a cashier’s check or money order as payment and we will ship your Lensbaby when it clears. Or, you can order by sending a Paypal payment to Kirsten -at- Lensbabies.com

A. We ship to anywhere in the US for $4.05 for USPS Priority Mail. USPS Global Priority starts at $8.50 to Canada. We also ship via UPS. You can calculate the shipping door to door by clicking on “Buy Me” and typing in your address without actually having to purchase. While the USPS is an economical way to ship, they do not allow for package tracking.

A. Overseas customers may indeed have to pay import duties and other taxes such as VAT. Lensbabies does not have a list of all the taxes collected by various countries.

A. Sure, if you have any problems, just send us an e-mail or give us a call and we will do our best to answer your questions. Or peruse the questions below under Technical Questions.

A. All our Lensbabies come with a 30 day money back guarantee if it is in new condition. The customer covers the shipping charges.

A. Yes, as long as they have a 37mm thread. We sell accessories in our webstore.

A. The Wide Angle/Macro kit is a .6x Wide Angle converter that also has a rear glass element that can be removed and used alone to do very close up macro work. The Wide Angle converter int he Wide Angle/Telephoto kit does not have the macro option.

A. Yes, you can find it on the User Guide Page.

A. The Original Lensbaby comes installed with an f/4 ring and a rubber washer. Then you should have 3 aperture rings under the kodak film cap of the removal tool. The same is true for the Lensbaby 2.0.

A. The focal length is approximately 50 mm on all the current Lensbaby Lenses. Our Lensbaby Wide Angle Telephoto Accessory Lenses screw onto the front of the Lensbaby and changes your focal length to either 30mm or 80mm respectively. webstore

A. When fully extended, the minimum focus is about 12 inches and maximum focus is to infinity and beyond. You can actually focus on subjects as close as 7 inches away by pushing on the focusing collar rather than by pulling in on it. Macro Kit allows the users to get from 2” - 13” away.

A. Yes, as long as they have a 37mm thread. We sell a range of accessories in our webstore, including a Macro Kit and some Wide Angle and Telephoto adapters.

A. The Lensbaby .6x wide angle/macro conversion lens has two elements. If you unscrew the front element and leave the rear element attached to the Lensbaby, you are in macro mode. With the Macro lens attached, you can focus as close as 2 inch away.

A. The Tokina .45x wide angle/macro conversion lens has two elements. If you unscrew the front element and leave the rear element attached to the Lensbaby, you are in macro mode. With the Macro lens attached, you can focus as close as 1 inch away.

A. First determine the Flash synch shutter speed for your camera, this is usally between 1/60 1/500 of a second. Set your camera at this shutter speed or SLOWER, ie 1/60, 1/30). For cameras that have the option put your camera on Manual or Aperture Priority mode.

Digital cameras users can take a test shot and look at the histogram for correct exposure. * If the image is over exposed use a smaller aperture (smaller hole) or decrease your flash power by 1 stop. Continue to decrease aperture size or flash power as needed. You may have to experiment to find the right balance between flash power and aperture size to get the correct exposure with the amount of blure you want. * if the image is under exposed (not likely) use a larger aperture.

For film cameras combined with an exeternal Flash Unit do one of the following: * Use a flash light meter to measure the amount of flash being emitted from the Electronic Flash Unit and set your aperture according to the readings (make sure you calculate for the correct film speed!). * Calculate the distance from subject to camera and set the Flash according to the chart on your Flash unit. The users manual of the Flash Unit will also give you more information.

Some cameras have built in flashes that can meter TTL (through the lens) and adjust your flash for correct exposure.

Please go to our Electronic Flash page for more information.

A. Yes. One side effect of using a teleconverter that goes between the body and the lens is that you will be eliminating a good portion of the Lensbaby blur around the edges whereas a screw-in conversion lens will give you a longer focal length but still have a small sweet-spot.

A. Nikon mount Lensbabies' caps turn in the opposite direction of most other manufacturer lenses (remove the cap by turning clockwise).

A. This is most likely from one of the first Nikon mount Lensbabies that engaged the camera's AIS sensing pin when turned past the body's lens locking pin. You can disengage your Lensbaby from your camera by inserting a small flat-head jeweler's screwdriver into the slot in the Lensbaby mount and using the screwdriver to push the AIS sensing pin fully into the camera's mounting plate while, at the same time, turning your Lensbaby to get it off the camera. None of this will hurt your Lensbaby or your camera body. This could also be a combination of a worn locking pin mechanism that does not retract all the way into your camera's mount and one of the first Nikon Lensbaby mounts, which has an edge to the slot that the pin locks into that is too square. Note: Once you have removed your stuck Lensbaby from your camera please send it in for an upgraded mount that will not interfere with the AIS sensing pin on a few Nikon film cameras that have this pin and that will disengage even if your lens locking pin is worn and does not fully retract into the camera's lens mount.

A. Older and more expensive current Nikon cameras have a mechanical link between the aperture mechanism on lenses with an aperture ring. Nikon stopped putting this mechanical interface on the lower priced camera bodies. In order to make a mount that physically accepts all F-mount lenses but avoids messing up an active meter that has no way of knowing what aperture the lens is going to be at the moment of exposure, Nikon disabled the meter altogether on these lower priced models (this a relative criteria since we are talking about $2000 D100 cameras and $400 N80 cameras).

A. Nikon has disabled TTL flash metering when the D70(s)/D50 camera does not sense an autofocus lens mounted. In order to use the built-in pop-up flash on these cameras:

1. go into your custom settings (CSM) menu on the D70 and set your pop-up flash to manual rather than TTL (if this is not apparent then your custom menu may need to be changed from simple to detailed in the set up menu).

2. start by setting your flash power to 1/2 with a shutter speed/ISO combination that gives you an ambient exposre that is 1 to 1 1/2 stops too dark so your background does not go totally black. Test the ambient (non-flash) exposure by shooting a few test shots with the flash off. Play with the power of the pop-up flash from full power down to 1/16 to get proper exposure on your main subject(s).

Hotshoe mounted Nikon Speedlight flashes must be set to either manual or auto exposure modes. TTL modes on your Nikon Speedlight flash will not work with a Lensbaby on the D70(s) or D50 camera bodies.

A. Most Nikon camera bodies allow metering with your Lensbaby, unfortunately the most common current Nikon bodies do not allow metering. See lists below.

A. D200, D2x, D2h(s), D1x, D1, F100, N90(s), N70, 8008(s), FA, N2000, N2002, F5, F4, F3, FE(2), FM(2), F2, N6006, N8008

A. Fuji S1, S2, S3, Kodak 14n, DCS Pro/N, Nikon D50, D70(s), D100, N80, N6x series, N5x series, N4004, N5005

A. All canon bodies will work in Aperture Priority Mode. The camera will meter the light coming through the lens and will set the shutter speed accordingly.

A. The Safety Release Lock needs to be disabled. Move the Right Arrow to the <sLock> icon. While looking at the LCD panel, press the <FUNC.> button. Tyrn the dial and place the setting on “0”.

A. Most likely your custom settings need to be changed. Please go to our Minolta Maxxum Page, find your camera model and follow the instructions for using non-AF lenses on a Minolta camera body.

A. Yes, set you camera to manual or aperture priority to use the Lensbaby with Minolta manual cameras.

A. The S3 exposure, when using your Lensbaby, is most easily controlled with your shutter speed and ISO adjustments. Exposure can also be adjusted by swapping out apertures on your Lensbaby. The aperture will not show up on the LCD and you cannot change the aperture using the normal method of turning the aperture dial on your S3.

A. Yes. Despite conflicting information from the Pentax website, any K mount lens will work with a Pentax *ist Camera. This means that a Lensbaby will work fine too. Note that a Lensbaby lens does not communicate with your camera electronically. Therefore you need to make some setting changes to your camera for it to work properly.

1. In the “Custom Setting” Menu of the camera, set the “Using aperture ring” setting to “2” (Permitted) - This will allow pictures to be taken even when a lens has no “A” setting on the aperture ring (or in the case of a Lensbaby, no aperture ring at all!).
2. Use the Av or M settings on the camera to make your exposure. When using the Av (Aperture Priority) setting, you might have to adjust your exposure with the +/-Av button and adjustment wheel to an EV of 2.0 as otherwise images will tend to be underexposed.
3. Experiment with your camera's ISO settings and shutter speeds to get the best results. Also try different aperture discs in your Lensbaby.

A. You can try, but the results probably won't be what you want! The output of the flash does not seem to be adjustable with the Lensbaby mounted which means that the flash always fires at full output. You can set the shutter speed only at 180 or slower, so even with a Lensbaby aperture of f8.0 the images will tend to be overexposed even if it is very dark.

A. Your photographs must be in jpeg format to display correctly on the forum. To begin, either reply to an existing post or start a “new topic”. Title your topic and click on the “Attach a File” button to navigate to your computer's hard drive where your photo lives. Write a comment about your photograph in the white box below the photo section and then click on the “Post Message” button. You should the see your photo listed in your new topic thread.

A. We suggest sizing your images to between 600 and 800 pixels wide and letting the height fall where it may. The forum software automatically sizes uploaded images to a total of 480,000 pixels (your image has to be 2mb or smaller to begin with, however). 800 pixels is ideal but some screens are going to crop or resize such images.

A. When replying to or starting a new topic, underneath the text box are the words, “You may use BBCode in your posts.” Click on the BBCode link and an instruction window will come up to explains how to add url links and much more. A quick answer to your question is this: http://www.lensbabies.com/ Add the “tags” to the beginning and end of your link like we did to our Lensbaby link show here and it will show up as a clickable link.

A. OPTION 1: Create a “New Topic” post to the LB-forum and attach one of your great Lensbaby images to the post. Go to your profile page by clicking on your username in the post. A gallery of your images will load and under each image will be the option to “Make this my avatar”. Click on that selection for the photo you want to be your avatar. Verify that your signature image has appeared by visiting a post that you have made.

OPTION 2: Firstly make an image that is in the range of 150pixels width. If you have a webhost of your own “Upload” your image there [If you are using a free webhost, do confirm with your provider that image hot-linking is allowed]. “Copy” the URL link to your uploaded image. Go to “My Profile” and from there “Edit Profile”. “Paste” the URL link in the text box next to “Image URL” and “Save Changes”. Verify that your signature image has appeared by visiting a post that you have made.

A. Every Lensbabies Forum user has a personal gallery. Click on the profile name of a Lensbaby Friends user and you will be taken to their User Profile page. This page list the email, website and all the photos posted by that user. It's a wonderful way to see a person's work all at once!

Discuss Creative Uses with your Lensbaby, or images created with your baby!!

A. The Lensbaby does not by itself alter light or specialize in making IR shots. Look at http://lensbabies.com/phorum/read.php?1,7238,7238, to see how Craig modified his Nikon D70 to obtain colour IR shots. You will have to indulge in the same way on your camera!

A. We suggest sizing your images to between 600 and 800 pixels wide and letting the height fall where it may. The forum software automatically sizes uploaded images to a total of 480,000 pixels (your image has to be 2mb or smaller to begin with, however). 800 pixels is ideal but some screens are going to crop or resize such images.

A. First determine the Flash synch shutter speed for your camera, this is usally between 1/60 1/500 of a second. Set your camera at this shutter speed or SLOWER, ie 1/60, 1/30). For cameras that have the option put your camera on Manual or Aperture Priority mode.

Digital cameras users can take a test shot and look at the histogram for correct exposure. • If the image is over exposed use a smaller aperture (smaller hole) or decrease your flash power by 1 stop. Continue to decrease aperture size or flash power as needed. You may have to experiment to find the right balance between flash power and aperture size to get the correct exposure with the amount of blure you want. • if the image is under exposed (not likely) use a larger aperture.

For film cameras combined with an exeternal Flash Unit do one of the following: • Use a flash light meter to measure the amount of flash being emitted from the Electronic Flash Unit and set your aperture according to the readings (make sure you calculate for the correct film speed!). • Calculate the distance from subject to camera and set the Flash according to the chart on your Flash unit. The users manual of the Flash Unit will also give you more information.

Some cameras have built in flashes that can meter TTL (through the lens) and adjust your flash for correct exposure.

Please go to our Electronic Flash page for more information.

A. From Ranfoto of the Lensbaby Friends Forum:

“Also….the aperture for these berry shots was the top part of a salad dressing opening …..the part that stays on the top of the squeeze bottle, but pops out if one pries it out with a fork tong. The hole looks like an F-8 aperture but in reality everything is like wide open and diffused. It pops perfectly into the front of the Baby …no problem.”

“Bottle caps are just one idea to hold a modifier. At your local hardware supplier or kitchen store or wherever for that matter….there are o-rings, rubber washers, soft plastic items that are great to modify for trixs.

Cut your own optic modifiers out of milk bottles, clear plastic…that is not really clear at all, color gels, black panty hose..stretched, and don't worry if the opening(s) are not perfect or round. The Lensbaby is the right lens for this because it moves the optical light path to the sensor.”

Here is the link: http://lensbabies.com/phorum/read.php?1,8660