Lensbaby Twist 28 Review: The Squint and Shoot Experience

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Last Updated on 03/09/2026 by Chris Gampat

There’s something that’s always so appealing about Lensbaby products. Sometimes its the fact that they’re embracing metal in their build quality. At other times, it’s their unapologetic slap in the face to traditional standards of photography. And with the new Lensbaby Twist 28, we’re seeing that Lensbaby is still who they really are. This new lens creates the Petzval look in a low-contrast way while making sharpness and critical focus something very tough to achieve. Essentially, this lens is basically how I see the world to a point. Nothing is ever really sharp. And if you’re sitting there squinting at your screen trying to find what’s in focus, I say this: same. That’s literally how I go through life. If anything, the Lensbaby Twist 28 is a challenge to a mindset that the camera should do all the work for us very quickly. So if you’ve been working to slow down brain rot brought on by short form video and content scrolling, you may want to consider the Lensbaby Twist 28.

With a fixed f3.5 aperture and manual focus being the only control, the Lensbaby Twist 28 is a bit quirky compared to many other modern lenses. To use it, you’ll literally have to focus it manually. You can choose to use it in aperture priority or something like that, but you’d be much better off using your camera in full manual mode instead. It doesn’t have focusing or communication contacts, so don’t even bother unless you’ve got a special Nikon camera where you can easily dial in that information.

A Nikon Z fc camera with a lens and strap, resting on a wooden surface. — Lensbaby Twist 28 product image

Close-up of a Nikon Z fc camera with a 28mm lens and a Nikon-branded camera strap on a wooden surface. — Lensbaby Twist 28 product image

If you’ve never used a Lensbaby Twist product before, I strongly suggest that you do so with training wheels on: and by that I mean that you enable all sorts of exposure preview settings. Plus, you’re going to really benefit from using both focus peaking and magnification. Getting the subject really in critical focus is kind of hard while balancing the focusing to get the desired swirl effect. That’s to say that the closer you focus, the more swirl and bokeh you’ll get in your photos. But also, the harder it will be to get the tiny sliver of a focus plane tack sharp. Then you have to sometimes underexpose your photo to see the swirl around the edge.

You also need pretty much no negative space in your image as you otherwise won’t really see the swirl at all. This is partially why I call it a squint and shoot experience — because you won’t believe something is in focus when you see it.

It’s really, really, really hard to use. But it could be an issue involved with my using a prototype lens. However, in my conversations with the Lensbaby president, he states that they’re currently trying to figure out the same thing as of late November 2025. If this lens just had more contrast, it would be so ideal in various ways. The last encounter that I had with a lens like this is with the Lomography Joseph Petzval 80mm f1.9 lens. And I loved it so much that I bought the 35mm f2 and am currently awaiting it to be shipped to me.

A small tree with red leaves stands in front of a brick building with a window. — Lensbaby 28 twist sample image

A sign on a tree warns to clean up after dogs with a maximum fine of $250; red car in the background. — Lensbaby 28 twist sample image

With all this said, I don’t think that I’d ever use the Lensbaby Twist 28 again simply because it’s so very difficult to use. While I like creative challenges, this feels more like a grind where the fruit you harvest isn’t worth the gallons of water you have to dump onto the berry bush. It’s possible to make good images with the lens — but it is also possible to do that with nearly any other lens around, too.

Update March 9th, 2026

After receiving the marketing materials for the Lensbaby Twist 28, I was really, really, really skeptical about what I was seeing. So I emailed our reps at Lensbaby to ask about how others seemingly got sharper units that I had. Otherwise, I flat out said that there was a lot of Photoshopping in the imagery.

I was told by Lensbaby VP of Sales Michael Anthony that I got a bad unit and that one of the internal optics was about 1.2mm off in the housing. During my review period, I even talked to them about this. Then Mr. Anthony ensured that I got a new unit.

When I put it on my Nikon Zf, I realized that it was indeed a bad unit. The Lensbaby Twist 28 that I’ve got in my possession now is very sharp, more constrasty, and it’s easier for me to get the Twist ability. On top of that, the images that I make with it really are very sharp in the center of the image.

Of course, that means that I can only ever frame subjects around the center — and that’s fine.

I really wish that this lens had aperture control. For the record, though, I get more of the Petzval look than I do with Lomography’s 35mm f2 Joseph Petzval lens (reviewed here).

Ultimately, both lenses add extra character to the otherwise bland Nikon Z system unless you’re using the Nikon Picture Control profiles.

Here are extra sample images made with the new unit. It’s rather incredible that I can get this look with a wider lens than the Lomography 35mm.

A blurry photo of a parking meter on a wet city street at night, with apartment buildings in the background.

A potted plant with a bare stem sits on a windowsill, with a street visible through the window.

Close-up of a motorcycle parked on a city street at night, with blurred lights and buildings in the background.

An empty, covered outdoor patio with string lights and scattered trash on the concrete floor.

A white to-go coffee cup with a brown NYCBC&H sleeve sits on a table in a cozy café.

Close-up of pine tree branches with a blurred background of a building and a fence.

A blue Little Free Library box stands empty in front of brick apartment buildings and a garden.

Close-up of a street sign pole reading TEDZ GOT GAME on a city sidewalk with parked cars and buildings.

Close-up of dried roses in a yard with a white fence and blurred houses and street in the background.

A wooden garden arbor stands beside a brick building with greenery and trees in the background.

Two plush toys, one skeleton and one monster, sit together on a windowsill inside a colorful, artistic shop.

Baskets filled with fresh loaves of bread on display behind a glass bakery counter.

A torn green tarp hangs over a chain-link fence in a cluttered urban backyard.

Pathway lined with leafless trees, surrounded by red brick apartment buildings under a cloudy sky.

A bright yellow bench stands in a small urban park with other dark benches and dried leaves scattered around.

A city street with parked cars, buildings, and a large STOP painted on the road in white letters.

A bouquet of pink flowers rests beneath a black lantern, with a bare tree and buildings in the background.

A red hand signal on a pedestrian crossing light, with bare tree branches in the background.