*UPDATE* Since this post has been growing in popularity recently I thought I’d update it to link to a couple things:
- Luke Roberts explains freelensing in more detail.
- Photojojo adds some advice for people that want to try it.
I’m loving this technique that Luke Roberts is exploring that he calls Freelensing. In his words, it is:
“Photos taken with the lens detached from the camera but held in place and moved around to focus. This also lets extra light in sometimes causing light leaks and giving a vintage look and feel.”
Also:
* Gives extra bokeh by shrinking the area in focus (apeture is 0)
* Allows for super macro shots
* Delicious light leaks
* Tilt-shift effects
Above is a high definition video of him moving the lens around and focusing on things, and it kind of shows the exciting organic and hard to control effect it produces. There’s also a small Freelensing pool were a few other people are experimenting with this.
5 Comments
If your camera is on and you’re doing this, would the electric charge going through the sensor not attract dust particles to the sensor?
Yes, dust on the sensor is a risk when doing this. Don’t do it if that worries you.
One could easily build a DIY tilt lens with a front and back cap and a black ballon – and some glue. That reducves the dust problem. Or, with dust but also with infinity: One could use a Canon FD lens /28/2.8 is tested) and remove the bajonett. Works great on EOS 350D:
http://4photos.de/camera-diy/tilt_and_shift.html
BTW: The aperture is still the same as before, only with lenses with f-stop 1.0 it is 1.0. It cold be, that teh camera writes some nonses into the EXIFs, but the diameter of the lens entrance pupil didn´t increase when the lens is unmounted :-)
Very cool technique! Thanks for the video.