Lensbaby The Composer for Canon EF mount Digital SLR Cameras

by Lensbaby

• Slective focus lens, based on a ball and socket configuration, delivers smooth selective focus photography with unparalleled ease of use and greater precision
• Features the Lensbaby(TM) Optic Swap System
• Magnetically suspended disk aperture system allows f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8.0, f/11, f/16, f/22 aperture settings. All aperture settings included.
• 37 mm threads allow you to attach Lensbaby(TM) Macro Kit lenses, wide angle and telephoto conversion lenses, and other filters and accessories
• Note: a Lensbaby does not communicate electronically with your camera body

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches ; 5.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001GCUC6S
• Item model number: LBCC
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

Size: Canon EF

From the Manufacturer

The Lensbaby Composer is a manual focus SLR lens based on a ball and socket configuration that delivers smooth selective focus and other creative photography looks with unparalleled ease. It comes with the selective focus Double Glass Optic installed, which delivers a Sweet Spot of sharp focus surrounded by graduated blur. The Composer also features the Lensbaby Optic Swap System which includes several selective focus as well as other creative optic options. Photographers can simply tilt the Composer to a desired angle and then focus with a manual focusing ring. The Composer stays in the desired bent position without requiring a locking mechanism.

The Composer features a unique manual focus design which requires more rotation to move the optic as focus approaches infinity. This makes it easier to focus on objects at intermediate and distant depths than regular manual focus lenses.

How to Use the Composer

The Composer is a breeze to use. Simply bend the lens to move the Sweet Spot and then focus.

The Composer stays in its bent position without needing to be locked. If you want to ensure the Composer will not move during an extended shooting session, you can lock the lens's position by rotating the Locking Ring. This locking feature makes the Composer ideal for studio photography or for longer or repeated exposures.

Composer Product Specs:

• Great for a smooth and precise shooting style
• Ships with the Double Glass optic installed (a multi-coated optical glass doublet)
• Features the Lensbaby Optic Swap system
• Focal Length: 50mm
• Focus Type: Manual
• Features a unique barrel focusing ring that becomes more sensitive (requiring greater rotation to move the optic in and out) as focus approaches infinity, making it easier to focus on subjects from 10 feet to infinity.
• Aperture Type: Interchangeable levitating aperture disks
• Apertures: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22
• Minimum Focus: about 18” (46cm) / Maximum Focus: Infinity
• Size/Weight: 2.5” (6.35cm) high x 2.5” (6.35cm) wide / 5.5 oz (155.9g)

Recommended Lensbaby Accessories for use with Composer:

• Lensbaby Optic Swap System (LBOBUND)
• Lensbaby Accessory Kit (LBABUND)
• Lensbaby 0.42 Super Wide Accessory Lens (AWA42)
• Lensbaby Step-Up/Shade (LBASTEP)
• Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic (LBOSOFT)
• Lensbaby Fish Eye Optic (LBOFE)
• Lensbaby Custom Lens Case for Composer and Muse lenses (LBCCM)

Key Specs

• Focal Length: about 50 mm
• Focus Type: Manual
• Aperture Type: Interchangeable, magnetic aperture disks
• Apertures: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22
• Minimum Focus: about 18 inches (45cm) / Maximum Focus: infinity
• Size: 2.25 inches (5.7cm) h x 2.5 inches (6.35cm) w / Weight: 3.7 oz (104.9g)
• No electronic communication between the lens and the camera body
• Available in mounts for Canon EF (EOS), Nikon F, Sony Alpha A / Minolta Maxxum, Pentax K / Samsung GX, Olympus E1 / Panasonic Lumix DMC
• Automatic light metering is possible by shooting in aperture priority mode for almost all digital and film SLR camera bodies except certain Nikon bodies including the D40, D50, D60, D70, D70S, D80, D90, D100, N50, N65, N70, N75, N80, Kodak 14N and ProN, and Fuji S1, S2, and S3

Composer Box Contents:

• Composer Lens with Double Glass Optic and f/4 aperture disc installed
• Aperture case containing f/2.8 through f/22 apertures
• Front and rear lens caps
• Microfiber bag
• Microfiber lens cloth
• User guide
• Bend the Rules book

Product Description

All Lensbaby™ selective focus SLR camera lenses provide photographers with 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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

222 of 239 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Just another gimmick? "Fine art"? March 2, 2010

By Rick

Size Name:Canon EF|Amazon Verified Purchase

I took the time to use the Lensbaby Composer on my Panasonic G bodies, my Canon 40D and my Canon 5D Mk II for a total of about 200 purposeful images before writing this review. I didn't want to approach the Lensbaby with any bias or preset expectations, nor did I want to prematurely fire off a trivial review after taking a few casual images. I hope you find this review helpful.

I consider the Lensbaby prices rather steep for what you get, so I held off buying one for quite some time. The Composer looked to me to be the first viable implementation of the Lensbaby, not being attracted to the hand and finger gyrations required to work the other versions such as the Original, 2.0, and Muse. I also wanted to be able to lock in specific shots.

Mechanically, I was disappointed with the operation of the manual focus ring. It is not smooth and consistent during its entire rotation. At the closest focusing distance, the ring rotation is jerky. After a quarter of a turn or so, it smooths out and becomes consistent. Unfortunately, many of my shots are taken at or near the minimum focus distance. For a manual focus lens only, the Composer needs to provide an optimal focus experience. It misses the mark. I can live with it, yes, but it's annoying and shouldn't be happening on a lens in this price range. The mount, however, is machined nicely and fits snugly. The locking ring works well, allowing a good degree of how much friction you want applied to the lens movements. The lens cap is of questionable build quality, and the lettering on the front of it arrived partially rubbed off, or never painted on. Not very attractice for a brand new lens.

Optically, the Composer comes with the Double Glass Optic, consisting of only two glass optical elements, each multicoated.... Being a primitive optical formula with erratic (if any?) quality control, you can rest assured of chromatic aberration, vignetting, decentering, flare, veiling, distortion, and any number of optical gremlins that normally leave photographers in painful grimace. Once you start twisting and turning the Composer to move its "sweet spot", what Lensbabians call "bending", those gremlins multiply and intensify. If the Lensbaby teaches you nothing else, it will be an appreciation for the efforts of optical engineers to tackle those nasty gremlins so that we may produce images of technical quality with our regular lenses. However, as strange as this may sound, you're either going to embrace these gremlins and enlist them as agents of creativity, as I chose to do, or you're going to be sending the Lensbaby back to take advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee, which I was tempted to do.

The Composer includes aperture disks that control the size of the area that is in focus. The Composer has an approximate focal length of 50mm and, sans any aperture disks, it's rated at f/2. But wait, there is quite the rub with that focal length. It's 50mm, true, but only on a full frame sensor body. On cameras with "cropped" sensors, and that covers the majority of cameras being used at this time, the effective focal length changes. On a Canon 7/10/20/30/40/50D and all Rebel digital cameras, that 50mm becomes an 80mm lens. Ugh. Not exactly a versatile focal length. To remedy that, well, be prepared to spend more money. There are two wide angle adapters available: a .42 and a .6. Both of them introduce even more chromatic aberration, and with the .42, hideously so. There are aperture disks for f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16 and f/22. Changing these disks can be an awkward exercise, especially if you're shooting from a tripod and don't want to disturb your setup.

There is a clever optical swap system the Lensbaby employs to switch to a variety of optical setups. I also purchased the single optic system, which is even more primitive than the double glass optic. It's just one glass uncoated element, less sharp than the double optic, and hosting a variant breed of the optical gremlins mentioned above.

The Composer, as it ships, does not have a very close focus distance. If you're going to hang onto your Lensbaby, an investment in the macro kit is a no-brainer. It includes +10 and +4 closeup filters that simply screw into the front of the optic. They are also stackable, but if you do stack, place the +10 closest to the lens, and screw the +4 on top of it. With either of both macro filters, you'll gain the ability to close focus. It is in the macro mode that I find myself making some of my favorite Lensbaby images.

Likely, you'll find the Lensbaby to have a steep learning curve. You'll have to become familiar with how your camera body works in its non-automatic modes (Program, Aperture Priority or Manual), as the Lensbaby has no automation to it whatever. It does not automatically change lens aperture settings, nor will it automatically focus. The camera body does still compute exposure automatically, but bending the lens may throw the auto exposure off, as light is now bouncing around at crazy angles. You'll need to monitor your histogram and know how to dial in exposure compensation. If your body has it, LiveView is a godsend, enabling you to zoom in on areas you want to manually focus. Also, if you change to aperture disks smaller than f/4, it becomes increasingly difficult to focus with accuracy as your viewfinder grows dimmer and dimmer. LiveView uses video gain to brighten your LCD. Invaluable. As for how to move the sweet spot to the desired location, practice makes the closest thing to perfect you're going to find with the Lensbaby. In summary, you'll need to learn to master your camera in its more manual modes and learn the trickiness of the Lensbaby lens movements to achieve successful images.

If you go to the user forums at the Lensbaby web site, you'll be able to view many images taken by its members, for better or for worse. I often find Lensbaby images to fall into the "trick shot" category, akin to those made by fisheye lenses. Overall, I view them as gimmicky. Sometimes you'll find an image that really works for you, but much of the time, they're muddy blurry mis-takes that make you wonder why anyone would want to degrade, even brutalize, the sophisticated sensors embedded in your expensive dSLR.

Be forewarned: you may not enjoy using the Lensbaby, and you may find the resulting images to quickly wear out their welcome. I consider the current Amazon rating to be higher than it deserves to be. There is comfort to be found in the 30-day money-back guarantee -- you'll only be out the return shipping costs and your time. Read more ›

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For those days when you're not feeling very creative . . . March 20, 2009

By Jessica M. Sweeney

Size Name:Canon EF

You know those times when every picture you take seems a little flat? Maybe nothing seems worth shooting. Everything's been shot before. How can you possibly put your stamp on the scene around you?

Well, I'm not going to say that the Composer is the magic bullet. But it does help. It makes you see things in a new way, and that's not something you get with every new lens. Household objects, flowers in your garden, the house next door . . . the Lensbaby makes them worth photographing again.

However . . . this is not really a walk-around, shoot everything lens. It is manual focus only. I've had mine for about a month, and the manual focus was easier than I thought it would be to get used to, but forget photographing babies or animals with this lens unless they are sleeping. You'll take 100 photos and one will be in focus. Also, it gets a lot harder to tell when you've achieved focus when you move the sweet spot out of the center of the frame.

In addition, the Composer doesn't deal with photos that have a large dynamic range very well. It's easy to blow out your highlights if you're not looking at your LCD screen after each shot. However, this wasn't a problem I encountered that much, usually only during the middle of the day.

And buy the creative aperture kit! It makes night photography so much more fun when all your out of focus lights turn into hearts or stars or snowflakes. Definitely worth the extra ten dollars.

So, to sum up. This should be your second 50mm lens, not your first. But if you have all the regular lenses you need (we'll call those your dinner lenses), don't skip dessert. The Lensbaby Composer is worth it.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great lens! December 25, 2008

By Andrew Bash

Size Name:Nikon F

The Lensbaby composer is a great lens! it has the same cool Lensbaby effect as the other Lensbaby lenses, but it's much easier to focus as it has a standard focusing ring and the sweet spot doesn't move from where you've placed it. The composer is a portraitist's, party photographer's, and street photographer's dream!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, addictive and frustrating December 27, 2009

By ksuwildkat

Size Name:Pentax K

Hard to say more about this than others have already said but I will try. This is a really fun lens but also a powerful tool. That said, in many ways it is like Photoshop - the gap between cool fun shot and works of art has a mountain sized learning curve.

The double glass optic is a great choice for a starter lens. It has the largest and easiest to find area that is in focus. Finding and identifying that is key to getting predicable results. When you first start using this, I recommend finding a subject you know well that is also far enough away that you can focus on infinity. Then start shooting with no aperture ring installed at all and the lens fixed to straight ahead. This will give you maximum blur on the edges and the best chance of finding the center focus spot. I made the mistake of trying to shoot stuff close up at first and every time I moved even a tiny bit I lost the focus point. Once you get the hang of focusing, unlock the lens and start moving it around. I started with a subject that had a lot of clearly defined lines so I could move the focus and track it. Once you are comfortable doing that, moving to the aperture rings should be a piece of cake. I have posted some images but they dont really do the product justice. i recommend searching for "Lensbaby" on flickr.

One issue I have with my Lensbaby is that the aperture ring tool does not have a magnet strong enough to lift the rings. I have resorted to using a magnetic tool from my tool kit. I think I got a bad tool because it wont even pick up a ring that isnt in the lens. I need to contact Lensbaby about a replacement.

I cant speak for other brands but on my Pentax K200D I can use Aperture Priority mode and get accurate metering.... I cant imagine getting decent results without it so if your brand does not support it, you might want to borrow one before taking the plunge. I assumed I would have to use all manual for the first day and frustration did not begin to describe my feelings.

Once you get past the pure joy of bending focus you will find that the Lensbaby is an excellent lens for portraits and flowers. For portraits you can put the focus on your subjects face and by adjusting the aperture determine how much else is in focus and even how quickly it transitions to blur. Same for flowers . And you can shoot using the rule of thirds in a way the really gives depth to the picture. Traditional lens makers have spent millions preventing focus drop-off at the edges forcing photographers to spend hundreds on Photoshop to blur those same edges! Now you can not only get the blur, you can get as much or as little as you want.

I highly recommend adding the Lensbaby Optic Kit as soon as possible. The difficulty progression is Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic, Zone Plate and Pinhole but the rewards are worth it. If you can only add one lens, add the plastic. It adds an element of predictable but uncontrollable distortion that is just a ton of fun to explore.

Lensbaby is not for everyone. If your photography consists of happy snaps, documenting life or spending hours on getting tack sharp pictures, dont get one. Maybe some photographers can capture candids of people or moments with a Lensbaby but for me, every picture is a 30 second or more affair. You have to be willing to spend time both taking the pictures and learning how to take the pictures. In my opinion, the rewards justify both but you will have to decide for yourself. Read more ›