Lensbaby

Hi All
New to the lensbaby world and just waiting on delivery of a Composer.

From looking at the additional hardware that is available, I have become stuck in a choice between the Wide Angle lens and the super wide angle lens.

I am obviously interested in obtaining a wider angle, but am also interested in the macro capabilities.

Both wide angle lenses seem to be able to focus as close as the two macro lenses stacked together. So by using one of the wide angle lenses, image quality should be better as there would be less glass involved.

Both seem to be similar price, super wide at £60 and wide angle/ telephoto kit also at £60. So then the choice seems to come down to either slightly wider (and sweet spot reduces) or not as wide (but the sweet spot remains the same) and the addition of the telephoto lens.

Does anyone have any experience/ advice/ recommendations regarding the 2 different wide angle lenses?

Many thanks

Jon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2011 01:07AM by jonrayner.

super wide angle 0.42 is good for double & single optic. It is impossible to use macro with it because its construction.
super wide angle 0.42 is not not good for soft lense & pinhole because strong vinietting in the angles.
wide angle 0.6 is good for double,single & soft and may be used with macro rings very good.

I have to disagree with ok21--no offense. Not sure what he means by " because of its construction" but I beta-tested the .42WA and it close focuses like crazy:

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As to it's "strong vignetting in the angles", that's only if you bend it far to one side, so it actually works better with the SF optic IMHO (less of a noticeable sweet-spot and less distortion with the SF). Also, that hard vignette can always be cropped out and shouldn't discourage one from experimenting with hard bending with the .42WA.

Ultimately, for reasons of versatility, I would probably reccomend the Wide-Angle/Tele-Photo combo. Haven't played with the .6WA in a while but I'm not sure if it can focus Quite as close as the .42. If you really want Macro capabilities I can't recommend the Macro set Highly Enough.

Also keep in mind that even the .6WA will also show that hard vignette with extreme bending (with a Muse any-way).

Hope this helps--

Johnny Crabcakes

"Failure is the key to success;
Each mistake teaches us something."
--Morihei Ueshiba

Oh Doh--I got it--

I believe that ok21 was assuming you were wanting to combine the WA with the Macro lenses. For that, he is correct--the .42WA has a protruding lens-housing that doesn't allow you to attach it with the macros attatched while the .6WA can go tight on top of the macros. Both however will close-focus on their own.

I was assuming you wanted macro-capabilities with just the WA lens attached....

Sorry for the confusion--

Johnny Crabcakes

"Failure is the key to success;
Each mistake teaches us something."
--Morihei Ueshiba



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2011 01:02AM by Crabcakes.

Many thanks for the response ok21 and crabcakes. Much appreciated.

I can confirm with crabcakes that I was wanting the macro capabilities with just the WA lens attached. From reading a couple of reviews of the Wide Angle Lenses, it suggested that the macro capabilities of the wide angle lens were a pleasant and unexpected bonus, and that the focusing distance matched that of the macro lenses combined.
This is what sparked off my question, as I thought I could combine the two functions (wide angle & macro) into one lens/ accessory.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to answer my question. At present, I beleive I am swaying towards the Wide Angle/ telephoto kit.

Jon

Interesting,but the vignetting effect in the images,is one of the reasons for me to use the LB lens.
From what ive seen here,the telephoto/wide angle combo would suit me fine,and i might also buy the macro kit.

TRYING IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS FAILURE.

Homer Simpson

Your choice could depend upon what camera you are using. The wide angle would be nice on a full-frame sensor while the super-wide works great on the smaller sensors. I love the super-wide on the Canon 20D, but do not like it on the 5DII. I agree also that the macro kit is excellent and that the super-wide provides excellent close-up capabilities on its own.

I have a Canon 400D with a 1.6 crop sensor - so would you say that I would be better off with the Super Wide with the 400D and that (in your experience) it would provide a good macro experience?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2011 02:12AM by jonrayner.

Quote
altprocess
Your choice could depend upon what camera you are using. The wide angle would be nice on a full-frame sensor while the super-wide works great on the smaller sensors. I love the super-wide on the Canon 20D, but do not like it on the 5DII. I agree also that the macro kit is excellent and that the super-wide provides excellent close-up capabilities on its own.

I agree with altprocess. I have the superwideangle and use it with a 5D. With the full frame sensor, even a very slight bend will already show the hard vignette.

Since you're using a 400D, the vignette shouldn't be as much of an issue, though I haven't had the chance to try the superwideangle with a crop sensor body yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2011 07:36PM by ErwinG.

Many thanks all for taking the time to advice me. It has been much appreciated.

I am still torn between the two options, so may have to buy both! So now that the decision is a little easier, just need to decide on which one first! Aaaaghhh decisions, decisions!

Thanks again.

Jon