Lensbaby

Yes, i've touched on this before and have asked questions about these three. I noticed today as I was reading up on the control freak that you cant use the fisheye optics on it. or at least is is un-advised, or I could have read some more. Can anyone explain why this is. I would like to puchase both but if I cant use the FE on the CF then whats the point. I only have an Original LB so the FE optics wont work on that either. My choice got narrowed down the composer :(

Now, yes I use an OGLB so the muse would be more suited to my style of shooting and I would be used to the operations of it.

The actual question....
is there any kind of physical restrictions or effect restrictions when using the composer. Like the bellow style lenses you can manipulate the stuff out of them. Does anyone feel like their creativity is stiffled when useing a composer vs. a muse or any other similar LB?
and would anyone have an exaples of the FE used on a control freak? I would like to see how much of the arms are visible .

Thanks

kylep



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2010 05:17AM by kylep.

I have used pretty much all LB's except for the L0. To be honest I have never tried the CF either, but my first lensbaby was the 3G, which is pretty much the same (apart from the optical swap system).

For me, the 2.0 or muse are the all time favorites. As you say you are used to the bellows style. Then I would say go for it. If you need the ability to fix the position of the lens I would go for the composer, but be ware, the composer is a totally different lens. Different way of shooting. I wouldn't say that you loose the ability to be creative, but it's different.

When I started out with the 3G I thought that the controllability of it would be great, but I almost never used it. I also found it irritating with those rods. I actually dismounted the rods at some time, but realized I was better off selling it and getting me a 2.0.

Much blah, blah here. I hope you get the point. If you can afford it I could suggest both the muse and the composer (if you need the controllability), but not the CF.

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My website: [www.fotoaalborg.dk]
Blog (English): [www.retrofoto.dk]
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Hey Kyle,

I'm an Original lover, too, and to be honest, I find the Composer totally weird in comparison. Feels a little like cheating! Tho I do love the swapability of the new optics, and I confess I haven't played with it too much. It does work beautifully and smoothly, but I miss manipulating the bellows!

I've recently been testing the Control Freak with fisheye combo, but for macro purposes. Yup, macro! Sounds weird, but surprisingly you can focus on an object that's so close it's touching the lens! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to focus much farther beyond that, however, and it's difficult getting enough light between lens and object, but could add some extra, fun functionality for the lens to someone with a studio set-up.

(I've attached some samples)

[www.flickr.com]

Right on guys, thanks for the advice. I was thinking of selling my original but think i'll keep it now. I like the flexibility of it, no pun intended. I ended up ordering a composer and the FE optics. Im currious to see how much different the creative process is vs. the original.

Thanks again, IM HYPED!!!!

kylep

Kyle: I feel you made a good investment in the Composer and fisheye.....but if you want to modify your Original to use swappers it's easy to do and you can always add small extension tubes to space out optics that need additional room to focus correctly.

Just because a modification won't work straight out of the box doesn't mean with a little investigation of the subject it can't be done .

Remember this is Bending....we go where others have never ventured....hee

And beyond ! Check out some of my very old posts to see where I've ventured in the last six years of Bending :)

It's nice to hear that some lucky Benders are getting to test the latest Control Freak or are they confusing us with 3"G" Bending ?

Since the Control Freak production has been on hold so long, I decided to just buy a bunch of 3"G"'s to convert to swapper optic use......too kewl !

Hi, ranfoto
Have you succeeded in converting 3g for swap optics?
I've mistakenly bought 3g (as visually it looked like control freak which I suppose is not available now) and swap optics and now thinking how to get the two together.
What I see is that one can modify the holder but loose the original double glass and the ability to do fine-focus.
Maybe your investigations have brought you to a better solution? I don't think the composer will be to my liking after 3g (maybe just for fish-eye macro, dunno)and the control freak is the same as 3g in all but the swaps...

Hi, ranfoto
Have you succeeded in converting 3g for swap optics?


Well...yes and no .......the swap optics were never made to be used with this 3G model, but anything "CAN" be made to work if you put your mind to it and have the machinery to cut the proper attachments for the modifications .

The mods I have done were for optics that I wanted to Bend but adapters were not available from a Lensbaby kit.....so I had to make my own adsapters.

Lets face it, the easy way and probably the most advantageous solution for you is to just purchase a new Lensbaby model that is designed to accept all the new swapper optics you have already invested in.

The new Control Freak is not the cheapest model to do this with and for my money I would start out with a Muse to explore my new set of Swapper optics with, with the adapter that is available to attach the fisheye with you can't go wrong .

The Composer is what I use, but I have invested in all the older Lensbaby models and have modified them all to get images I enjoy making.....so now I rarely change the modified version (Lensbaby) into something else .....whereas with the Composer I can easily swap out all the LB optics I own.

If a Bender (Lensbaby user) doesn't have a bellows style Lensbaby or is just starting out ......do invest in a Muse because like the originl models it's one of the best ways of doing "REAL" Bending .

I got the Composer because it is rigid, so it really isn't a Bender, but a "Twister" model ......the 3G or new Control Freak is just another varation between rigid and bending because it has a bellows, but also the three focusing rods to add the needed control......all models have their good points, but for pure Bending you've got to go with a Muse style Lensbaby in my opinion .

Lastly.....but not leastly, Lensbaby models do a great job without ever modifing them, my problem is that when you get so addicted to Bending images that you get impatient with waiting for Craig to read your mind as to where and what the next design should do.......so I make my own mods until Craig figures well maybe that Ran is on to something, mostly "NOT"......but that's the way it is .

To each his or her own way is the goal......enjoy and have fun Bending your own way :)