If you’ve already read part one of my Lensbaby review (on the Velvet 56 and the Velvet 85), you’ll know that I was a bit overwhelmed about reviewing all of these lenses. Now, in part two of my review, I am taking on the Composer Pro II with the Sweet 50, Edge 50, and the Twist 60.
Like the others in this review, the Composer Pro II system is well-built. This unique-looking lens is an attention grabber. It’s small, quirky, and entices you to give it a try. For those who haven’t come across Lensbaby’s Composer Pro before, the basic concept is for the user to have selective focus control. This is a little difficult to visualize at first, but when the lens is centered, only the area in the middle of the frame is sharp, and the edges are blurred. By tilting the lens, it is possible to move the area of sharpness or “sweet spot” freely around the frame, selectively focusing on your area of interest.
In this photo I stopped down to show how this lens reacts to apertures f11 and higher. Most of the image is in sharp focus, and the distortive effect is much more subtle. I found this to be true with all of the lenses that I tested — they all become very sharp across most of the frame when stopped down. (Photo by Mike Nelson)
Lensbaby has been making the Composer for some time, but the newer version allows the user to interchange the optics to create different looks. The Composer Pro is effectively a “pseudo” tilt shift lens at a fraction of the price when compared to a Canon or Nikon TS.
Lensbaby Sweet 50 (), Edge 50 (), and Twist 50 ():
Overall:
Before I get into the performance characteristics of the optics, I should tell you the concept behind each one. The Sweet 50 optic () is a 50mm focal length and has a circular area of sharp focus in the center. The Edge 50 optic () is a 50mm focal length and has a line of sharp focus in the center that extends from the top of the frame to the bottom. The Twist 60 optic () is a 60mm focal length and casts a radial blur to the background or edges of the image.
Performance:
The single most important characteristic of these optics, in terms of getting the image you want, is the dependence of the size and sharpness of that “sweet spot” with aperture. You can use a large aperture to keep attention tightly focused on a small area of sharpness in the image, or stop down to make a larger area sharp. Keeping this in mind, and very much like the Velvet lenses previously mentioned in this series, I found all of these optics made the whole image a little too soft for practical use when shot wide open. As you stop the lens down, the blurring effects become less noticeable.
So, the key is to find an aperture that gives you sharp focus on your subject and significant blur where you want it. I found it difficult at times to achieve sharp focus on my intended subject, so some practice will definitely help you capture the image that you want. Overall they all had very nice image quality.
I really think the effect that these lenses cast on your images look especially great when shooting “light and bright” subject matter. (Photo by Mike Nelson)
Conclusion:
I’m not sure if Lensbaby’s intention was for this to be an everyday shooter, because that might not be the best fit. It’s a unique and flexible little system, but definitely not a run-and-gun lens. This is the lens you pull out after you got the “shot” and you have some time to get creative. Or, it’s the one of the lenses you pull out when need to give your client a variety of different looks.
That said, I really enjoyed my time with the Composer Pro II and out of all the products I tried. I think the Composer Pro II would be my first Lensbaby buy. If you can remove yourself from this fast-paced world we live in and get some one-on-one time with the Composer Pro, I am sure it will awaken that artist inside you.
Notice how the wide aperture has confined the “sweet spot” to small portion of the frame. (Photo by Mike Nelson)
Cons:
Mounting and removing the optics is a little tricky at first
Images are too soft for practical use when shot wide open
The aperture ring is hidden at certain times
No communication with camera
Pros:
Pseudo tilt shift lens characteristics
Small, lightweight, and very flexible system
Low price
Forces creativity
Macro capabilities with added converter
