The money in lenses goes towards more predictability - sharper, wider aperture, faster to focus, smooth bokeh for portraits - or technical achievements like ult

The money in lenses goes towards more predictability - sharper, wider aperture, faster to focus, smooth bokeh for portraits - or technical achievements like ultratelephoto lenses. The people who can pay are looking for those features, not random effects. The value here is in novelty - it doesn't look like anything else. If it was mass produced, demand for the effect would likely go down, not up. And it's certainly not without compromise - sharpness across the entire frame in those example shots is worse than your average plastic 18-55mm kit zoom.