• Members 114 posts
    May 19, 2023, 8:22 p.m.

    This seems like as good a place as any to share some freelensing photos! A few years back I was experimenting with this technique using some Canon FD mount lenses held in front of a mirrorless camera (GH3 in this case) to play with the focus plane and deliberate light leaks. It definitely took some practice to get focus where I wanted it and strike a balance on how big of an impact the light leaks have on the final result. Now that I have cameras with focus peaking, I think I'll try this out again. If memory serves, the lens was a Canon FD 35mm f/2 shot at f/2.

    Freelens.jpg

    Freelens.jpg

    JPG, 192.8 KB, uploaded by Athena on May 19, 2023.

  • Members 208 posts
    May 19, 2023, 8:41 p.m.

    That's a interesting point, I only used freelensing in the earlier days of my adapting, when I wan'ted to play with tilt/shift. However I used a rubber gaiter to prevent light leaks, so perhaps it wasn't true freelensing. Focus definitely involved a lot of guess work & peaking should simplify matters.

    Here's one of my efforts (trying to keep the ground in focus)
    live.staticflickr.com/5123/5235408057_f737c502b9_b.jpgfreelensing portrait by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

  • Members 114 posts
    May 19, 2023, 9:08 p.m.

    I'm not a purist, I'd definitely consider this freelensing 😁 I wound up cupping my hand around the gap to minimize light leaks but there's definitely some haze from the effect.

    Looks like a good job getting the focus where you want it! And yeah, I got started with it a bit as a budget-friendly way to get tilt/shift effects.