If you have never heard of a Lensbaby and you’re a photographer then where have you been?  The Original Lensbaby brought the imperfect Holga look to digital and film SLR photography, but with greater versatility and new effects. While Lensbabies have broad appeal, the unique look is particularly attractive to portrait, wedding, product, and fashion photographers.

I have used a Lensbaby 3G which was designed for repeatability of the same position as well as a double glass optic which gives a sharper image at the sweet spot. I played with the 3G but for some reason it never fit my style of shooting. The images it produced were different but not so dramatic that I fell in love with them, possibly this was because I was using it on a 40D body which is not a full frame sensor and the effect was most likely diminished because of the crop.

I recently won a $100 gift certificate from dgrin.com DSS challenges and lensbaby.com. Now that I am using a 5D full frame body, this gave me the perfect opportunity to give the Lensbaby goodness another try. I decided if I was going to try this again I should start with the classic version that comes with a plastic optic. The Lensbaby Muse with Plastic Optic is now the classic version which captures the spirit of Lensbaby photography, opening up a new realm of fun in focusing. The optic is interchangeable using an Optic Swap System, letting you use single glass or double glass optics if you feel a sharper sweet spot is needed or you can even get a pinhole insert for it. I opted to not purchase any of the inserts just yet but it is nice to have the option.

The Muse arrived in the mail today and I quickly slapped it on my 5D to see what sort of images it would produce. Right from the very first shot I was pleasantly impressed and excited; this little baby delivered the dramatic blur and dreamy effects that I was hoping for. I had to laugh to myself, here I was using a 21 mega pixel camera to shoot images that would probably look just as good at eight mega pixels. Regardless of my pixel overkill this gem of a lens is not only easy to use but it has the feel of spontaneity and fun that I craved. It certainly will not be on my camera 24 hours a day but because it is just so much fun, I will likely pull it out several times a week to open up a new window of exploration that I have previously been ignoring. The lens is very light and quite small so it is easy to put it in any of my camera bags along with the included rings that allow you to control the aperture of the lens from F2 all the way to F8, (If you want even more aperture control rings that go all the way to f22 they are available separately). The Muse comes with an F4 ring installed and that is the one I used to take the two pictures you see above.

Would I pay $100 USD for this lens if I had not won the gift certificate? I have to give a very loud enthusiastic yes! I am probably going to order another optic for it just because I like it so much. Thank you dgrin.com and Lensbaby.com for giving me the opportunity to explore new photographic frontiers of pure fun! ~ Click on the photos above to see them larger.