Lensbaby The Composer for Canon EF mount Digital SLR Cameras

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches ; 5.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001GCUC6S
• Item model number: Composer Canon EF
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Camera & Photo > Lenses > Digital Camera Lenses

• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

With the Composer, Lensbaby introduces a completely new lens, based on a ball and socket configuration that delivers smooth selective focus photography with unparalleled ease. Photographers simply tilt the lens 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 and features the new Lensbaby Optic Swap System.

The Composer comes with the Double Glass Optic installed.

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.

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

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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 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 - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Andrew Bash - See all my reviews

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!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Luv my LensBaby, February 17, 2009

By	TheSpeechwriter (Midland, MI United States) - See all my reviews

Love it. Love it. Love it. This isn't something you'd want to shoot with every time you go out. But for creative portraits, some neat landscapes and closeups, it adds a bit of fun and creativity back into shooting.

Construction is sound. It's easy to use. Quality product and sharp as a tack as far as I can tell.