Bokeh for days: Lensbaby Lenses

So, I have been thinking about getting a Lensbaby for a while now, but a couple of things have held me back.

First of all, they're pretty expensive for novelty/specialty lenses. A Lensbaby Control Freak will set you back $350. Kind of like a fish eye lens--I have one, but rarely use it and with varying results. --->

Second--and this is going to sound overly dramatic--Lensbaby photos make me sick. Literally. I'm not saying I don't like them. I do. But the extreme blur makes me dizzy and if I look at them too long I start to feel nauseous. It's the same feeling as being car sick.

Then I saw the Lensbaby Spark for Nikon. It's much less expensive and because the aperture is fixed at f/5.6 the blur is not as dramatic ... as far as I can tell: I've only had the lens a few days and I'm still figuring it out. (I'll post some test shots soon.)

Meanwhile, here are some photos from other Flickr members that I like (so long as I don't look at them too long). They are all taken with the more expensive Lensbaby lenses, I think. I say "I think" because many photographers only tag their photos "Lensbaby" and don't always say which one they used. I searched Flickr looking for ones that were taken with the Spark that I like enough to share *and* that had the "share this" feature turned on ... no luck.

By the way, a lot of Flickr members have disabled the sharing feature on their photos, which means you cannot post them on blogs or other non-commercial sites even in the smallest sizes. Please click on the photos below to see the original size on the photographers' pages. A comment or fave is a nice way to thank these folks for sharing.

Which one is your favorite?

Totally works, even though *nothing* is in sharp focus. Salbjörg Rita Jónsdóttir, AKA Dalla*  

Yummy colors. Sweet 35. Dave King

Everyday objects elevated by John Baird.

Rick Hebenstreit, AKA Ricko always makes me smile. 

Lovely for portraits. Victoria Hederer Bell with an Edge80.