Lensbaby - The Composer & Optic Kit

From the moment I laid eyes on the fresh, fun and beautifully inspiring boxes of the LensBaby Composer and Optic Kit, I wanted to drop everything and pull those little babies out and take them for a spin.

The Composer is selective focus lens made by Lensbaby. The lens is based on a ball and socket design which will stay in place without the need for locking the lens and focus is done manually. The optic swap system extends the versatility of the lens by enabling you to change from a one set of optics to another on the fly. The Composer comes standard with a very capable double glass optic. The Optic Kit adds changeable optics for a wider range of creative solutions.

The Composer has a focal length of approximately 50 mm, and has a manual focus. The aperture is controlled by a set of interchangeable magnetic aperture disks that are manually inserted into the lens. The available apertures are f/2 (no aperture disk), f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, and f/22. The minimum focus is 18” (45 cm) and maximum focus infinity. It is a light lens, weighing in at a mere 3.7 oz (105 g). The lens will not communicate electronically with the camera but it does support light metering for most cameras except certain Nikon, Kodak, and Fuji cameras.

The Composer is the most traditional looking lens of the Lensbaby lineup, but the images produced by this lens with the double glass optic have the distinctly non-traditional Lensbaby look. The ball and socket swivel enables you to effortlessly move the sweet spot around the frame using one hand and stays in place when you let go. The lens is so easy to use that you can take it straight from the box, attach it to the camera, and start photographing.

If this is your first Lensbaby lens, your first and most likely only visit to the Composer manual would be when you want to change the aperture for the first time. The aperture is selected by manually dropping in an aperture disk into the lens. The disks are stored in a small case that doubles as a disk removal tool when you need to remove a disk. The disks are labeled with the f-number so finding the right disk is simple.

The double glass lens is a high-quality lens that produces a sharp focus in the sweet spot. As the aperture gets narrower the sweet spot gets larger. The lens can be used in virtually any situation but really shines when used for portrait photography.

For those wanting to extend their creative options, the optic of the lens is changeable as well and available as an add-on to the Composer. The Optic Kit adds single glass, plastic, and pinhole / zone plate optics for your Lensbaby. Changing the optics is a bit more involved, but with a bit of practice it becomes almost as easy as changing the aperture disks. Again, intelligent use of packaging makes it impossible to forget the tool needed to change the optics in the lens, as the lids of the optic containers also serve as the tools to change the optics.

The single glass optic is similar to the double glass lens, but significantly softer. It works really well with portraiture in addition to still life/abstract imagery and adds a glow to the photographs. I personally liked to use smaller apertures with this optic, as it kept the effect subtle but still noticeably different from the double glass.

The plastic optic is the choice for those who like chromatic aberrations. If you want your photographs tack sharp this may not be not for you, but if you want excellent retro-looking black and white photos or color photographs that can range from dreamy to webcam-like, then this will be a rewarding option for you.

The third lens included in the optic kit is the pinhole / zone plate. A slider inside the optic, easily reached with your finger, acts as the switch between pinhole and zone plate. The pinhole has an aperture setting of f/177 and the zone plate f/19. Unlike the other optic choices, the images produced with this optic are equally sharp from edge to edge. Both the pinhole and zone plate produce beautiful landscape images with nice softness and interesting affects. The zone plate produces a fuzzier result than the pinhole, but has the advantage of not requiring as long of an exposure.

The Composer has quickly become a standard lens we bring along for every shoot, both personal and professional. The ease of operation ensures that you concentrate on taking the photo and not on the usage of the lens. The optic kit expands your creative choices and will make you think about your photography in different and surprising new ways.

Not only are the LensBabies artistically and creatively inspiring for us as photographers on a personal level, but they have given us a unique and artistic edge for our clients that can set us apart professionally as well. I am looking forward to getting this image up in our portrait studio as a large canvas!