Lensbabies

The selective focus capabilities of Lensbaby lenses and optics are a perfect match for macro photography, allowing you to get a sweet spot in focus while blurring out distractions.

To get you even closer to your subject, Lensbaby has introduced a set of macro converters with one, 8mm converter and one, 16mm converter, which can also be stacked together to make a 24mm converter.

Depending on the lens body and optic combination you can focus anywhere from zero to 8.13 inches from your subject. Lensbaby has a full chart to see just how close you can get with its … Read more

The latest lens accessory Lensbaby pulls out of its quiver targets pickier users who want better build quality and smoother focus and tilt operation than the company's previous products offered. The Lensbaby Composer Pro will come in two configurations: $300 equipped with the Double Glass Optic, or $400 with the Sweet 35 Optic. The older Lensbaby Composer will remain available at a lower price of $250 (with the Double Glass Optic).

If you've never heard of Lensbaby's products, they're adapters for a variety of dSLR and Micro Four Thirds lens mounts which deliver relatively inexpensive manual-focus … Read more

Lensbaby made a name for itself by providing selective-focus lenses and adapters for various dSLR mounts. For the uninitiated, the system allows you to use its various special-effects lenses, such Double Glass, Single Glass, Plastic, and Pinhole, in a special adapter that tilts in order to produce standard or odd depth-of-field effects. And it's not surprising that the company decided to branch out into the new interchangeable-lens (ILC) camera systems, starting with a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) mount. What is surprising is that the company's MFT debut includes a gratifying double bonus: it split the Composer into two … Read more

Though we haven't had a digital-imaging-related giveaway in a while, we have a good one this week from Lensbaby for all of you with dSLR cameras. We're not only offering up the Lensbaby Composer Lens but we're also throwing in the two newest additions to the Lensbaby Optic Swap System, the Fisheye Optic, and the Soft Focus Optic.

That's a pretty sweet package.  The good news is that if you win, Lensbaby will send you the right products for your specific camera, whether it's a Canon EF (EOS), Nikon F, Sony Alpha A / Minolta … Read more

Lensbaby is bringing a wider look to its line of selective-focus lenses, announcing the 0.42x Super Wide lens that expands its products' 50mm field of view to 21mm. … Read more

Lensbaby's selective-focus lenses thus far have brought a seat-of-the-pants, analog feel to the electronic and digital world that photography has become. But a new model announced Tuesday has a more traditional interface for those who weren't happy with the company's earlier approach of squeezing and flexing the lens until the image looks about right.

For the uninitiated, the company's approach deserves a little explanation here. Lensbaby lenses let people focus tightly on a selected spot; the rest of the view quickly recedes into blurriness. It's a bit gimmicky, but it gives a different look than … Read more

I've tried Lensbabies' 3G selective-focus lens, and I like it.

This lens, which looks more like a miniature Lunar Excursion Module than a traditional SLR lens, restores some physicality to a world of photography that's ever more electronic and automated. And the images it produces can be compelling.

The trend in photography in recent decades has been toward ever more automation. We have automatic exposure, focus, shutter speeds, white balance. As computers get smaller, the list of automated camera operations gets longer: newer Panasonic models can tell the difference between a landscape and portrait, and Sony's DSC-T200 … Read more

Lensbabies, a Portland, Ore.-based maker of an unusual flexible lens that selectively focuses only on particular areas, has expanded sales channels to cover "nearly all key markets," the company said Tuesday.

The company distributes products directly to retailers in the United States and Canada, but now has secured partnerships with others to distribute products in Germany, Japan, Russia, Greece, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Norway, Thailand and many other countries, the company said.

The lenses work on a variety of SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras.