Kit : Lensbaby Spark 1.0

The Lensbaby Spark 1.0 is a plastic toy-like lens with a manual focus.

It was just what I fancied experimenting with on a trip around a park during a rare flurry of snow in London (UK), during the monotony of lockdown in the early months of 2021.

In this mini photo diary, join me on the walk for a bit of messing about with this preloved, plastic lens and experiment with this fun side of photography, explaining how to use the kit as we go along.

A yellow LA lily in bloom photographed against a soft purple background

LA Lily shot with a Lensbaby Spark 1.0 and Canon 5D Mkiii

The Lensbaby Spark 1.0

First introduced onto the market in 2004 as part of the Lensbaby Creative Effects SLR lens range, it's lightweight, plastic and squeezable. The Spark I have appears to have been manufactured in 2012. Bought from eBay for £39 in 2014, it was ex-demo stock. With the bare minimum signs of use and a scuffed box, the lens itself came in perfect working order. I recall it being sold at around £100 brand new.

Overhead shot of the Lensbaby Spark without the lens cap. The cap sits next to it. 'Lensbaby Spark' is written on the ring of the lens

The lens cap is petite, measuring approx 4.5cm diameter. It's not much bigger than a pog (a small disc shaped childrens toy from the 90s). Adjusting the ISO and shutter speed are your lighting control options for this lens. When mounted on a digital camera the lens doesn't register and the aperture will show up as 00 or --, depending on which camera body you're using. This is because the lens is not digital and doesn't communicate with the body. You cannot control the aperture via the camera, only by positioning the lens itself.

Close up of the camera display screen showing how the aperture will appear as '00' with the Lensbaby mounted. This is because it is a manual lens

Focusing the Lensbaby Spark

The focus point is chosen by manoeuvring the lens with your fingers. Quite literally manually focussing.

- Pull the lens away from you to focus close up subjects

- Move side to side and/or up and down to focus on different areas of the frame.

- Pull the lens towards you to focus distant subjects

Lensbaby Spark mounted onto the camera. A hand holds the outer rim of the lens so you can see how it pushes in towards the camera to choose focus points

Pull back to focus further away

Lensbaby Spark mounted onto the camera. A hand supports the camera and pulls outer rim of the lens so you can see how it pulls away from the camera to choose focus points

Pull away to focus close up objects

Lensbaby Spark shown unmounted to a camera. A visual demonstration of an index finger pressing down on the top rim, towards the camera mount, showing how flexible the lens is and its ability to push towards the camera (if it was mounted)

Side to side or up and down to focus different parts of the frame

Side view of the Lensbaby Spark showing its plastic bellows

Side view of the Lensbaby Spark 1.0 showing its plastic bellows

Front shot of the Lensbaby Spark 1.0 mounted on a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera

Lensbaby Spark 1.0 mounted on a Canon 5D Mkiii (front shot)

Side shot of the Lensbaby Spark 1.0 mounted on a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera

Lensbaby Spark 1.0 mounted on a Canon 5D Mkiii (side shot)

Ease of use and accessibility

The lens must be held in position while a shot is taken to keep your chosen focal point. If you let go, the focus point changes. It requires a level of manual dexterity so for those with arthritis, hand tremors or people who have difficulty gripping, it may not that accessible to use, however using a tripod may make it a little easier. From an accessibility point of view, the Lensbaby Composer Pro II may be a possible alternative option to look into for visually similar results, as it has a locking ring to secure the chosen focal point. I haven't personally used the Composer and am recommending this based on information about its similarity, comparing product descriptions and reviews.

Square image of a red post box. The background has soft focus with beige and white tones, hinting at a quiet London street covered in snow

Close up macro shot of holly bush leaves. In the centre of the leaves there is one lone red berry and a light dusting of snow

Shooting with the Spark

The lens blurs the edges around the frame and the depth of field looks almost as if it's flowing towards the focal point, creating the illusion of movement. The light was flat and the sky white, a combination that can easily result in fairly bland images; the focal positioning enabled by the Spark added dimension and allowed me to hone into various focal points that I wouldn't be able to get with traditional lenses. There is a new version of the Spark available on lensbaby.com. The 2.0, priced at £147.66 at the time of writing (Feb 2021 - unsponsored and unaffiliated).

A grand house with many windows and chimneys. There is snow on the ground and the edges of the frame are soft - a creative effect of the Lensbaby Spark

It was pretty fun to shoot with albeit a little frustrating at first to understand the focussing method. After a few shots however, I got into the swing of it. It was easier on static subjects, which is to be expected since you don't have to keep chasing a moving object for the chosen focal points only to find its flown off before you've clicked the shutter (...i.e. swimming ducks, the Common Pochard and a Mallard).

I didn't get a chance to try it out for portraits but I did like using it on buildings. The light was flat and sky was grey - not always the best weather conditions for interesting building shots. The Spark made this matter less so, by adding unique areas of focus.

Two ducks in a pond, a common pochard which has a browny red colour head, grey back and black-tipped tail and a mallard, which have grey and black feathers on it's body, an orange beak an shimmery green head

Clissold Park Education Centre, a brick pavilion in a snow-covered park. There are pale red doors and wooden beams in the centre of the building.

Conclusion

There can be something special about old kit, from vintage folding cameras to more much more recent creative lenses. Other than the thrill of an eBay bidding war, we can find nostalgia when going back and utilising equipment that is no longer shiny and new. It can keep the fun and playfulness of photography when we allow ourselves to be beginners again, messing about with different photography kit.

Thank you for reading

H x

Clissold Park House, a grand house with many windows and chimneys. There is snow on the ground and the edges of the frame are soft - a creative effect of the Lensbaby Spark. There is a person walking in the distance with a red and orange umbrella

Brown church doors and an arched stone entrance to St Marys Church. There is snow visible on the ground. The edges of the image have a shallow depth of field, meaning they have soft focus.

St Marys Church, Stoke Newington

Darwins Barberry