Review: LENSBABY COMPOSER- selective focus lens

I have been a fan of the Lensbaby and the look it generates since I bought my first one four years ago. With the latest permutation of this lens, the Lensbaby Composer, Lensbaby has really hit a home run. It’s so much easier to use than any of the previous generations of the Lensbaby.

The Lensbaby Composer is a manual focus lens that comes in a mount for your brand of SLR. It is a selective focus lens that transmits an image that has an area of sharp focus, the “sweet spot”, with sharp focus dropping off towards the edges of the frame. The position of the “sweet spot” can be changed by rotating the Composer within its ball and socket mount. The size of the “sweet spot” is determined by which aperture ring you drop into the lens. Aperture ring changes are a cinch.

The Composer is a great improvement over previous generations of the Lensbaby. It works with the exposure metering system in your camera, which is something I love about the Composer over my Lensbaby 2.0. The position of the sweet spot is a breeze to change and there is a locking ring if you decide you need consistent positioning of the focused area.

I love the unique selective focus look of images taken with the Composer. It allows for infinite artistic license and I find that there are so many interesting possibilities that I end up experimenting with a subject much more.

Available accessories include a telephoto, a wide, and a super wide accessory lens, macro lenses, and the optic swap system, which gives you the choice of 4 different optics that can easily be installed and changed. The double glass optic gives a tack sharp sweet spot. The single optic gives a pleasantly soft sweet spot. The plastic optic yields an ethereal look, and the pinhole/zone plate optic allows for some really exciting artistic possibilities.

Times when I reach for my Lensbaby Composer:
1) when selective focus is a must for the subject, often in portraits
2) when one part of my composition is too busy and I want to simplify it with selective focus. (i.e. busy foreground in a landscape shot).
3) when I want to show the viewer an interpretation that they’ve never seen before.
4) when I’m feeling uninspired and looking for a creative interpretation of my subject to get excited about.

In summary, the Lensbaby is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED in my book. It brings new exciting views of the world and new, artistic possibilities that are within reach of anyone willing to experiment. It’s guaranteed to spice up your camera bag.

10% DISCOUNT

For a 10% discount on anything ordered from the Lensbaby website, lensbaby.com, enter the coupon code mwitschard09 into the coupon field as you check out.