Miniature robots shot by the LensBaby. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Wired.com

Want to surprise yourself? Try putting a crappy, plastic lens onto your high-end digital camera.

We call these artistically ironic adapters “toy lenses,” and the hard-to-control analog results are often quite startling and serendipitous. By contrast, grunge-ifying your photos with software (think Instagram) is both repeatable and predictable.

The latest toy lens comes from Japanese company SLR Magic. Here’s what it does, plus a look at a few other purposely junky lenses.

This lens even looks like a toy, and comes with a bagful of brightly-colored plastic rings that can be slid onto the barrel for extra grip. Its specs are a lot more interesting, though: 26mm ƒ1.4. The lens fits only Micro Four Thirds bodies, so that gives it a 52mm (35mm equivalent) focal length.

Unlike many “toy” lenses, the elements are multi-coated glass, and the results show it. You certainly get some odd color-shifts, and the image quality falls off fast towards the edges, but the lens can bite some sharp detail from the center of the frame.

Here’s a slideshow from the SLR Magic group on Flickr.

The hitch? The lens costs ¥9,800, or around $120, plus shipping from Japan. Fear not, though. This lens appears to be little more than a rebranded c-mount (CCTV-camera) lens with some fancy-colored plastic rings and a new lens-mount added. Made by Feihua (also branded Fujian), these lenses can be picked up from Ebay, complete with a Micro Four Thirds adapter, for around $40, or even cheaper if you already have an adapter.

Pages:12345 View All