Lensbaby Composer
- Lensbaby Composer
The Lensbaby Composer is not a lens that you are going to use everyday or even very often, but it does have a creative place in a photographer’s kit. I think of it as an inexpensive, weird version of a tilt/shift lens.
The Lensbaby is very simple in concept. An element is placed in a ball and socket type of flexible container. The lens is not ground so that the image is not sharp throughout the image, but so that the farther away you go from the center, the blurrier it gets. The photographer can determine how sharp the image is at the edges by inserting a magnetic aperture ring in front of the lens. The different apertures are stored in a container attached to the magnet used to remove the rings from the lense. Like in a normal lens, the smaller the aperture, the more sharp the image from edge to edge.
Using the Composer is not difficult, but there is a learning curve. The whole purpose of the lens is to add creative blur to an image. By moving the ball and socket portion of the lens, you can move the location of the sharp area in the photograph. I refer to it as the sweet spot. It takes practice to learn how to move the lens so as to place the sweet spot on the subject.
Focus is also an issue. The Lensbaby doesn’t have an automatic focus system, so you have to focus manually. This takes practice to focus the lens and move the sweet spot to an off center point. I have found that if I focus on a subject and have the sweet spot at the center of the lens and then move it to the point I want it in the frame by keeping the lens pointing at the subject while turning the camera, I get good results.
As for the images that the Composer produces, they range from awesome to bleh. I think the subject matter has a lot to do with it. I have found that textures work real well. Also, the amount of blur can be controlled by the use of the aperture rings. Creative use of aperture is needed to produce nice results. I have found that there are some people who like the blur created in the images and others who really don’t like the blur. There seems to be no in between.
With a price around $250, it is a lens that is within reach of almost all photographers and should be considered if you are looking for a way to jump start your creativity and have some fun with your photography.
