au.was.here.

i've been saving up to get me the Nikon 50mm F1.8 prime lens (of course i would love the 1.4 but it's 3 times the price of the 1.8!) i've heard so much about it; they say fixed focal length lenses usually have better optics than telephotos. they also say the 50mm length is perfect for portrait shots because it most closely resembles how the human eye perceives images. but most of all i've seen shots using it with terrific bokeh due to the big aperture making it great for isolation shots. besides, it's relatively cheap compared to other lens on my wishlist so i thought i could swing this one myself. since it's out of stock across all sellers i know for the past several weeks so i knew i had time to save. however, it went back on stock last week but i only had half the amount i needed. patay! ang lakas pa manakot ng mga lokong supplier. ito ang dialog:"may stock na kayo ng 50mm 1.8?" tanong ko. tapos ang sagot nila: "ahh, oo, dumating kahapon...10 na yung nabenta ko, 3 na lang nandito..."

haaaay, you think i can really resist when faced with temptation like this? not if i can help it. time to get creative...hehehe...so the night before, i started making lambing to hubby. by the next day, i got my go signal...woooohoo...

so off to Hidalgo i went that same morning and snagged my 50mm at Mayer's. ang sungit pa nga ni Mang Ramon (owner of the store)...nakuuuu...bawal ang tawad. balibhasa there's high demand for this darned lens. as i went out of his store, i was already excited to hurry back to the Scrapfest to take the new lens for a spin. as i was traversing Hidalgo St., i remembered this little corner preowned store that had a Lensbaby 2.0 for sale. the first time i saw it on his glass cabinet several weeks back, i didn't have my camera with me so i couldn't test it. since i had my gear with me that day, i decided to drop in to check it out. the moment i snapped it on and peered through the lens, i knew i had to take it home! i had lovely creaminess at the edges of the photo and a nice sweet spot in the middle. cool, cool dreamy effect! the only caveat is that this is completely manual adjustment and not by turning a ring to focus like our usual lenses but by pushing the bellows-like body ever so slightly with fingers from both your hands. it may not be completely precise but i actually enjoy the tweaking and the unpredictability.

good thing it was already priced very low or the emergency fund i keep in my wallet wouldn't have fit. haha...it was such a steal at the P2500.00 i got it for! price of the new unit at JTs is almost P8K. a real stroke of luck for me! truth be told, i had more fun with this little toy-like manual focus lens at the Scrapfest than the new 50mm.

then, a few days later, i called Rolly who i met at the phphoto groups selling a preowned set of macro attachments for the Lensbaby. i saw his post quite a while back so i was happy to find out he still hasn't sold them yet. we met and i bought his stash for P1000.00. the macro kit is just a couple of lenses that come in a little purse, one +4 and +10 which one can use together to come in closer. truly wonderful for one who does not have the budget to buy real macro lenses which usually cost upwards of 20K. see here what it can do!