Since I own both a crop sensor (Nikon d7000) and a full frame (Nikon d750) camera, per request of a fellow Lensbaby lens user I took some comparison photos. She wanted to decide if she should get the Twist or the Burnside lens for her camera. I didn’t do post-processing on the images to show how the lenses capture the subject naturally.
1. In the first comparison I photographed the subject from the closest distance possible, which was about 19 inches.
Full Frame at F2.5
Crop Sensor at 2.5
Our family took a short trip to Texas; we visited Austin and San Antonio. I’ve already posted about the best part of San Antonio in my Lensbaby Circle post, but I didn’t have time to show images from Austin. So here we go.
We started out the trip at my husband’s most favorite place in Austin, at Franklin BBQ. This is a very unique diner, where they serve one of the country’s best BBQ. The caveat? You need to wait in line for 3-4 hours to get in the restaurant. The line is a social gathering, with many people visiting from different cities, states or even other countries.
Welcome to my July 1st Lensbaby Blog Circle post, in which I’d like to invite you to take a short walk with me in San Antonio, Texas. My family was taking a five-day vacation in Austin and San Antonio, and I grabbed my Lensbaby Twist 60 to capture some great moments while walking on the famous San Antonio River Walk (Paseo del Rio), which is the largest urban ecosystem in the United States. The whole walk is 15 miles long, but we mainly just visited the downtown area. You can walk by the river, enjoy a lunch or dinner in one of the many restaurants, visit small gift shops, or take a guided tour on an electric barge. We walked around the downtown area twice; once in late afternoon then after sunset. The vibe was different, but we noticed that even at night the area is very family friendly.
I really enjoyed capturing the colorful barges, and I even took pictures of people, which is very unusual for me. We saw pretty flowers, some wildlife, and at night we walked up to San Fernando Cathedral where we watched a laser light show projected to the cathedral’s wall for a few minutes. Without further ado, enjoy a brief tour of the San Antonio River Walk.
In the past few weeks I haven’t used my Lensbaby lenses as much, because I attended nature programs in groups, where an automatic lens was more useful. If I wanted to take pictures while hiking, I had to do it fast and not hold up the group.
Last week I spent a brief time at a pretty place in San Clemente, California. Casa Romantica is a beautiful venue for weddings and parties, and it is open to the public when no events are going on.
I walked around the garden three times, using a different lens each time while approaching the same subjects. I used the Sol 45, the Twist 60 and the Velvet 56. After comparing the images I chose the ones to post that I liked the most. One subject worked very well with all three lenses, I’ll save that for last. A few subjects didn’t work for me at all. So here are the winners:
The only image of the view from the gardens I liked was taken with the Twist 60. It was a dark, overcast day, but this is the lens I would use again for this view on a sunny day.
A couple of months ago I signed up for a 6 hour long truck tour in the mountains right behind us. It’s an area that is not open to the public, but the Irvine Ranch Conservancy organizes programs there that you can attend. I was very excited about this truck tour, but unfortunately it had to be cancelled due to rainy weather. Luckily, I was able to sign up for a different day for a 4-hour long tour on June 8th.
The group met Donna, our driver, and the other 4 volunteers at the Augustine Staging area, where we started our trip on this truck:
