Maxwell International has announced a new Lensbaby product, the Edge 80 Optic, which is an 80mm f2.8 lens (12-blade aperture) which delivers a tilt-shift lens effect.
A $339 it’s an affordable and easy-to-use alternative to an expensive dedicated tilt-shift lens. The Edge 80 Optic is the latest in Lensbaby’s expanding ‘Optic Swap’ system. A Lensbaby lens body is required in addition to the Edge 80, and when tilted, the effect is ‘a slice of tack sharp focus through the image, bordered by a soft blur.’
When not tilted, the lens will capture normally focussed pictures, and the 80mm focal length makes it ideal for portraits.
The selective focus effect can be adjusted in the same way as conventional depth of field control, with the extent of the slice of focus determined by the aperture setting, which ranges down to f22 from the f2.8 maximum.
For example, f2.8 will produce a thin slice of focus with abundant blur; f22 will produce a very wide slice of focus with just a small amount of blur. To adjust focus along the image plane, rotate the focus ring.
The Edge 80 also features a special close-focus function. Extend the front of the optic to focus as close as 430mm (17in.) away from your subject.
The Edge 80 is compatible with bodies including the Composer Pro, Composer, Muse, Scout and Control Freak.
When customers purchase just one Lensbaby lens they gain acess to a system offering eight interchangeable optics that each give different ways to control depth of field and other creative effects – unprecedented within the world of photography.
For a short demonstration of the Edge 80, click here.
(Lensbaby Edge 80 Optic image below by John Swainston.)
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