Having Fun with Mirrorless Cameras

I have to confess that I love to work with interesting and fun accessories that let me be more creative and see things in a different way. Once I discovered that Lensbaby, Holga and Diane lenses were being modified for mirrorless cameras I was in heaven.

I remember the first time that I read about the original Lensbaby lens about 10 years ago. I went to my local camera store and asked when they were going to get them for my Nikon digital SLR. The owner looked at me and said, “Mark, only you would buy a lens called a Lensbaby.” Luckily he was wrong and Lensbaby has gone on to make lenses for Nikon and Canon SLRs as well as mirrorless Cameras You can see images that I’ve taken with the Lensbaby and my Lumix G series cameras at my Flickr site.

The main thing I love about the Lensbaby Composer Pro for Micro Four Thirds is that it allows me to tilt and swivel the lens for even more interesting effects. My favorite Lensbaby lenses to use are the Sweet 35 and Optic 80. The Sweet 35 is great for portraits and the Optic 80 does a fantastic job creating a miniature affect. The Composer Pro is also available with a MFT mount.

Back in my film days I used to buy six $12.00 Holga camera at a time since they would break frequently. A few years ago I heard about the web site Holgamods.com that sold Holga lenses that could be used on Nikon or Canon cameras. You can buy for a real Holga lens Micro Four-thirds for $22.99 from Holga Direct. (Note: Joe has one of the lenses for his Micro Four-thirds system and loves it.) One of these plastic toy camera lenses and a Nikon or Canon MFT adapter and you’re on the way to truly creative photos.

Last but not least is the famous Diana toy camera lens. You can buy the Nikon or Canon versions and use an MFT adapter and let the fun begin.—Mark Toal