Lensbaby

Lensbaby manufactures a line of camera lenses that combine a simple lens with a bellows or ball and socket mechanism for use in special-effect photography, allowing modern cameras to obtain effects associated with view camera. Lensbaby lenses can be used on cameras that accept interchangeable lenses, mainly of the 35 mm lens or DSLR formats. The focal length of the Lensbaby is approximately 50 mm, making it a normal lens in 35 mm format.

The reason I love this lensbaby is they provides a new way to control depth of field by bringing one area of a photo into sharpest focus with that Sweet Spot™ surrounded by graduated blur. By bending the Lensbaby lens, the photographer moves the sharp area around the photo for customized creative effects.

There are few types of lensbaby in the market now. The general types are composer, scout, muse and control freak.
The composer- Smooth and Precise

The Composer retains its position after being bent and is easy to use even with one hand. It can simply tilt the lens to a desired angle and then focus with a barrel focusing ring. The Composer stays in the desired bent position without requiring a locking mechanism and features the new Lensbaby Optic Swap System. The Composer’s barrel focusing ring has a unique design that becomes more sensitive (requiring greater rotation to move the optic in and out) as you approach infinity, making it easer to focus on subjects from 10 feet to infinity.


The Muse – Fast and loose

The Muse replaces the Original Lensbaby and Lensbaby 2.0 lenses while being very similar in appearance and functionality. It can used to focus by compressing the lens and move the sweet spot by bending the flexible lens tubing. The key update for the Muse is its new Lensbaby Optic Swap System.

The Control Freak – Step-by-step

The Control Freak updates the Lensbaby 3G by adding the Lensbaby Optic Swap System like The Muse. With The Control Freak, photographers compress to focus, bend to move the sweet spot, and then push a button to lock the lens in place. Once locked, photographers can adjust the fine focus with a barrel focusing ring and fine tune the tilt by rotating its three metal posts.

All these lens babies enable photographers to choose an optic that expresses their individual artistic vision.”