Lensbaby continues to develop new and varied manual focus lenses. Its latest, the Burnside 35 ($499.95), features the old-school throwback build we saw in the soft focus Velvet series, with an anodized aluminum barrel and smooth manual focus adjustment. The 35mm f/2.8 prime is available for a number of systems, and is compatible with full-frame sensors, on which it in enjoys a modest wide-angle field of view. It's also the widest Petzval optical design we've seen to date, capturing wide shots with swirled background blur. If you love the Petzval look it's worth a look, but don't forget about the more affordable Lensbaby Twist 60, which accentuates the swirl due to its longer focal length and costs quite a bit less.

Editors' Note: This review has been updated to reflect changes in camera systems for which this lens is sold. It was originally published on February 15, 2018.

Design

The Burnside measures about 2.6 by 2.6 inches (HD), weighs 13.2 ounces, and supports 62mm front filters. It's finished in black, with an all-metal build and a knurled manual focus ring. The barrel does telescope slightly when focusing close, but doesn't feel wobbly at all.

The 35mm f/2.8 optics cover sensor sizes up to full-frame. Lensbaby sells the Burnside for Canon EF and Nikon F SLRs, as well as for Fujifilm X, Micro Four Thirds, and Sony E mirrorless cameras. It had previously offered hte lens in other mounts, but those have been discontinued. You may still stumble on Pentax K, Samsung NX, or Sony A versions at retail.

There are dual apertures built into the lens, which is not something you see on a lot of optics. The standard six-blade aperture is controlled via a ring at the base of the lens and can be set from f/2.8 through f/16 in full-stop increments. It's a standard flat design.

It's joined by a second eight-blade aperture, located right behind the front element. The aperture is curved and has four steps of adjustment (including the wide open position). Controlled by the gold effect slider on the side of the barrel, the aperture is actually curved. Narrowing it changes the quality of the background blur, giving highlights a more defined look and adding a vignette to images. You can see its effects, along with that of the main aperture, in the video below.

The manual focus ring turns smoothly, with some resistance for precise adjustment. The focus throw is long, requiring a 180-degree turn to move from the minimum 6-inch focus distance to infinity. The Burnside isn't a macro lens by any means, but you can get up close and personal with subjects.

The Petzval Look

We've seen a number of lenses billed as Petzval over the past few years. Lomography started the trend with one of its early Kickstarter efforts, the New Petzval. It's a throwback design, with roots in the early days of photography, characterized by a sharp center and somewhat trippy, swirled background blur.

The original Petzval lenses were designed for large format cameras, but modern takes are most commonly used on 35mm full-frame and APS-C digital sensors. Lomo's first New Petzval is an 80mm design, but we've also seen the 58mm New Petzval 58 from Lomo and the 60mm Twist 60 from Lensbaby itself.

The longer focal lengths show a much more defined swirl than what we see from the Burnside 35. While it's there if you look for it—and seems more pronounced as the effect slider is closed down—it's not overwhelming in the same way as the Twist 60 ($279.00 at Amazon) and Lomography Petzval lenses.

I really enjoyed using the Burnside for portraiture when paired with the full-frame Nikon D850. The moderate wide angle view takes in a good amount of the environment around your subject, giving a sense of space, and shooting at f/2.8 delivers a pleasing amount of background blur.

For landscape subjects, shooting at f/2.8 with the effect slider dialed in as far as it will go—adding a strong vignette to subjects—creates a unique look. The central area of the frame shows good detail, but gives way to darkened, blurred edges.

Conclusions

The wide-angle Burnside 35 is another solidly built, art-focused lens from Lensbaby. It's built to the same standard as speciality lenses like the soft focus macro Velvet 85, but delivers a distinctly different look. If you've been thinking about adding a Petzval to your kit, but prefer a wide-angle field of view it's worth checking out. We give slight preference to the Twist 60, however, for its more pronounced swirl effect and lower cost, but it doesn't offer the creative control that you get from the Burnside and its effect slider.

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