Lensbaby (Booth #1133) announces the addition of the new Fisheye Optic and Soft Focus Optic to the Lensbaby Optic Swap System. Each new optic is available for use with the Lensbaby Composer® and Muse®. In addition, the Soft Focus Optic is compatible with the Lensbaby Control Freak™.
“With the introduction of these new optics, Lensbaby is moving beyond the realm of selective focus to offer photographers a Creative Effects SLR lens system, with six different optic options. The Fisheye and Soft Focus Optics, unlike earlier Lensbaby optics, do not feature a sweet spot of focus,” said Craig Strong, Lensbaby President and Co-Founder.
“The new Fisheye Optic transforms a Lensbaby Composer into a fun fisheye lens and the new Soft Focus Optic creates images that are overall soft and diffused, much like a classic Imagon portrait lens. The Lensbaby Optic Swap System now offers three selective focus optics and three optics that provide even more options for creative photography.”
The new Lensbaby Fisheye Optic allows photographers to turn their Lensbaby Composer or Muse into a fisheye lens by swapping out the installed optic and dropping the new Fisheye Optic into the lens. This optic’s six-element multi-coated optical design features an ultra-wide 12mm focal length capable of capturing a 160 degree fisheye angle of view from infinity all the way down to one-inch from the front of the lens.
The Lensbaby Fisheye Optic features a system of interchangeable aperture disks, with possible aperture settings ranging from f/4 to f/22. To change the aperture, users unscrew the top element of the Fisheye Optic and replace the aperture disk using the included Aperture Tool.
Due to the extremely wide-angle field of view, photographers who use a full-frame camera will generally see a black circle around almost the entire image, and smaller APS-sized sensor shooters will see black at the corners of their images. This black edge is typical for standard fisheye lenses.
However, the Lensbaby Fisheye Optic features a creative lens flare effect that causes the edge areas that would ordinarily be black to glow with color whenever there are bright light sources in the image. The Fisheye Optic lens flare effect is particularly apparent when shooting with a full-frame camera.
