Gotta Love Those Lensbabies!!
- Michele
- Mar 14, 2019
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 21, 2021
Last December Lensbaby asked me to beta test a new optic for them. I was so excited! I love the Lensbaby concept and to think that a company even gave two hoots about what I thought about their products was quite the honor! Recognition and reverence so to speak! So Keri asked me if I had any experience with the Composer Pro. Not a bit. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Well the girl sent me a brand new Composer Pro II and the Edge 35 (the optic I was beta testing). So being a landscape photographer by heart I knew the landscape photographs would be easy for me. I wanted to think outside of the box and come up with some really killer shots! Ya, that Composer Pro gave me a run for my money! I shoot exclusively with the Trio and Sol 22. Those lenses are the easiest to use and give me the best results. I have to admit. I was perplexed at the beginning of the beta test. It didn’t start clicking (no pun intended!) until my husband and I were up at Mossbrae Falls. I played around with it and became frustrated so I moved to my other camera and started photographing the waterfall. When I looked back my husband was toying with the camera with the Edge 35 on it. Leave it to Mike to figure it out. I’m not sure why I was having such issue because once he showed me a few things I was off and running. To be honest, I’m pretty sure that the Mossbrae Falls photos that Lensbaby chose for their promo is one of the ones that Mike took!
Two of my favorites tho is the one of our grandson Kai and of Mike and the boys walking the trail at Burney Falls. Check out the gallery below to see what I came up with!
I give Mike kudos for figuring it out. So After we had figured it out somewhat I took time to take some shots everywhere I went. I felt like I was always behind the curve tho. We had the holidays then I was super sick for about two weeks with pneumonia, sinus infection and double ear infection. I begged a couple of additional weeks so that I could make up for lost time. Lensbaby was awesome about it.
So now to my review of the optical in question! Not ever having used the Composer Pro, the first thing I noticed was the significant weight of it. I’m sure this isn’t as noticeable to others that shoot with big hefty cameras but I am a micro four thirds shooter. My cameras weigh ounces, not pounds! Once I got over that I was ok. At first I used a tripod so that I could focus more and not feel like I needed a third hand to manipulate the Pro. I figured out the tension on the Composer and the optic and was able to start shooting freehand. That’s kind of my style anyhow. I like to shoot on the go. I loved how playing with composition and tilting the optic would change my focus point. I would take several shots with varying focal points and try to pick one I liked and try to figure out why I liked it. The ability to change the aperture was something new to me. On my other Lensbabies I don’t have that ability. To be honest, I would forget that I could do that! I found that I liked the ability to photograph water with a slower shutter speed that the smaller aperture afforded. My favorite aperture was still the wide open one! I just love the bokah achieved! For those people that have the optics for the Composer Pro, I’m sure they will add the Edge 35 and Composer Pro II to their collection! I am seriously thinking of purchasing one for myself!
Once again, I feel very privileged to have been asked to test the new Composer and Edge 35!
Hop on over to the Lensbaby site and check out the newest and greatest and some of the shots that other testers came up with!. I’m sure you will agree with me when you start using them.......they are completely addictive!