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IR Lens Test – Lensbaby Composer Pro/Sweet 35

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The Lensbaby Composer Pro/Sweet 35 is a cool, unique lens,

composer35

 

But how is it for Infrared???

For the past decade, Lensbaby has been designing and refining a specialized type of art lens.  The term they use is “Selective Focus”  and the best way to explain it is the lens has a “Sweet Spot”, an area in sharp focus, and the rest of the area has an ethereal, sometimes surreal look, and with the composer pro you can move that sweet spot around.

Sounds cool, huh?

It is.

But does it work with Infrared?  That’s what I wanted to know, so I contacted Lensbaby and they sent their Composer Pro/Sweet35 to test.

So, does it have the dreaded “Hotspot”?

That gut wrenching condition that kills the soul of many Infrared Artist??

….Umm,….NO!

The Lensbaby worked perfectly on all of my Infrared converted cameras.  In fact, the only challenge I had with the lens, was …. me!

This lens is a manual lens, and when I started using it  I felt completely out of my comfort zone.  That’s a nice way of saying I didn’t use it right.  That  feeling passed quickly though, and I liked the control I felt using this lens.

Here’s a few things to pass on to you before I show you what I came up with.

-This is an Art Lens

This lens works perfectly for what it is designed to do.

-There is a learning curve

You need to learn how this works to get good results.  This is not your standard auto focus lens.  You manually control what this lens does.  My first few images were, ..um,.. less than great.  That’s a nice way of saying “bad”, …But it was not the lens, it was me.  Thankfully,  because of the delete key, no one will ever see those images or even know about them.  Okay, .. so I told you,… keep that to yourself.

-You can control the size of the Sweet Spot

The size of the Sweet Spot is controlled by the f-stop.  I tried most every f-stop, but in the end found I love f2.8.  The small Sweet Spot is very cool.

fstop

Okay,…. 

Now let’s see what this lens can do.

The day the Composer Pro/Sweet35 arrived it was raining (of course) so my enthusiasm had to wait for a bit.  I decided my first shots would be a subject near and dear to my heart, a rose.  I love to shoot roses in Infrared. I attached the Composer Pro/Sweet35 to my Super Color converted Canon 7DMKII.

The first thing I did, is what I always do, a Custom White Balance.  I shot on auto exposure bracketing a set of 3 exposures +/- one stop, and used the grass in my yard as a White Balance reference.

LBWBI liked the third image, set the White Balance, then moved on with my life.  Total time; 1 minute

As I mentioned earlier, there might have been one or two images I shot before this one, but for some reason I could not find those to use.

That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

This is the RAW image that I shot of a rose right after the rain.

DANW0071-

And from this I was able to get this

DANW0071-a

It was just like I had read, sharp and smoothly out into oblivion.  I adjusted the levels, tones, contrast, and then removed the red tones and darkened the blue and cyan tones.  At this point, I was hooked! And I had just started.

I did try some landscapes, using the Composer Pro/Sweete 35 with a larger Sweete Spot, but didn’t think it was as interesting.

Here is an example:  This is the RAW image

DANW0025-a

And this is the post production image,

DANW0025-

I adjusted the levels, and contrast, then swapped the red and blue color channels.  I then desaturated the red and yellow color tones to give it the traditional look of white foliage.  The Composer Pro works as it is designed, I just don’t think I did it any justice with my landscapes.  Perhaps with time I might find a niche with landscapes.

Now it was time to try the Composer Pro/Sweet35 on a person.

For this next test, I do admit I stacked the odds in my favor.  I contacted a local model by the name of Megan Mafucci.  Megan is a professional model and has the classic features of  a woman from Greek mythology; light colored eyes, curly hair, good bone structure.  In Infrared she looks amazing, and has no problems with veining.

Prior to shooting, I White Balanced the camera using grass as a reference.  I kept the Lensbaby at f2.8 and  captured this RAW image.

DANW0096-I was amazed.  The eyes were tack sharp, and then everything smoothly melted into a dreamy mist.  I could have almost stopped at this point, but of course I didn’t, so I ended up with these.

Untitled-1


Win a FREE Camera Conversion!

(click to enlarge)

Now I am officially thrilled with this lens.

Next I wanted to see what I could get by moving the Sweet Spot slightly off center.  I placed the model in shadows with serious back lighting.

This was the result.

DANW0141-

Once again, the eyes are sharp, but now the Sweet Spot is smaller and the transition has a sort of motion blur to it.  And the bokeh is great.

From here, I created this set.

4up

(click to enlarge)

 

I thought I would try a wider Sweet Spot close up to see what could be done.  This was f8.  The RAW file.

DAN297

The sharpness is still there, but the softness less pronounced.  The results were still good.

DANW0297a1

Next I wanted try the opposite; a small Sweet Spot, wider angle.  My concern was could I keep her face in focus from a distance?

Once again not as concerned with the lenses ability as I was my own.  Neither let me down.  This is the RAW file.

DANW0184-

And from here I was able to create this

DANW0184a

Which could then be cropped into these.

DANW0184b

The dream like quality of these images is exciting.  So artsy, with minimal post production.

I know you are not going to be surprised to hear that I feel comfortable saying that the Lensbaby Composer Pro/Sweet35 is is an excellent art lens for Infrared Photography.  I’ve only had it a few days, and already I don’t want to have to give it back.

If you want to get more information, or read all the technical specs on this lens, click here.

I want to thank Megan Mafucci for being a perfect model.  To see the rest of the series on Megan, click here.

I have one more image to show you.

This was the Raw File

DANW0307-

and these the finished pieces.

2up

What a cool lens.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment below so I know you were here.

  • Latest Articles
  • Author Bio
Dan Wampler

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Dan Wampler

Dan Wampler

Dan Wampler is a digital artist from St Louis, MO. Having been interested in art and photography since childhood, he spent most of adult life working for Kodak and in the portrait photography industry. A student of the works of Ansel Adams, Any Warhol, and David Hamilton, Dan attempted to keep a wide range of artistic style.

As an early adopter of digital imaging, he found it gave him a way to completely incorporate art and photography. Began shooting Digital Infrared in 2004, and had first camera converted in 2006. His work has been seen in numerous gallery shows, is featured in an iTunes app. He produces Infrared and natural color digital art for sale and teaches his post-production techniques online.

Dan is LifePixel's Creative Director,  social media manager, lead blog author, main workshops and training sessions instructor. His images appear in this gallery and throughout the website.

If you have a topic suggestion or request feel free to shoot him an email at danwampler@lifepixel.com

Otherwise all LifePixel customer service inquires should be directed to service@lifepixel.com or by phone at 866-610-1710.

View more of Dan's work on his Website | Facebook


See All Articles by Dan Wampler
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Filed Under: Gear

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  11. phil moreton says

    May 19, 2016 at 7:49 am

    Hi Dan,

    Thanks for this IR test. Do you know if the Sweet 50 and the Edge 80 are also clean of any evil hot spots?

    Reply
    • Dan Wampler says

      May 21, 2016 at 8:13 pm

      I have not personally shot with those two, . . . yet. I will let you know when I do.

      Reply
  12. Long and strong says

    February 13, 2016 at 11:13 pm

    This blog was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something that helped me.
    Thank you!

    Reply
  13. Mike Cunningham says

    August 29, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    I really don’t care for the landscape ones, but I would use it for closeups and portraits. I love the way yours came out, they were spot on. I’m sure it would take practice to get use to using a manual focus lens again. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but it would be fun to have in your bag of different lenses for different occasions. Thanks for the review….

    Reply
  14. Todd Heilman says

    August 29, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    Great article. Well written, informative. Love the examples.

    Reply
  15. jackie says

    August 28, 2015 at 6:41 am

    beautiful!

    Reply
  16. chis doole says

    August 27, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    Nice shooting!

    Reply
  17. Mark G says

    August 27, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    Neat effect on this lens – it was a bit disorienting to revert back to manual focus and aperture, but also grounding; keeps your fundamental skills up.

    Reply

Comments

  1. buy cerebrolysin says

    November 27, 2018 at 10:00 pm

    Your style is so unique in comparison to other folks I’ve read stuff from.
    Thanks for posting when you’ve got the opportunity, Guess I’ll
    just bookmark this blog.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    January 23, 2018 at 12:07 pm

    I got this website from my pal who told me regarding this web site and at the
    moment this time I am browsing this website and reading very informative
    articles or reviews at this time.

    Reply
  3. marbella Delineados cejas pelo por pelo says

    January 19, 2018 at 9:21 pm

    Fine way of explaining, and good post to obtain data about my presentation subject matter, which i am
    going to deliver in school.

    Reply
  4. Funciona Para Adelgazar. Opiniones Y … says

    October 26, 2017 at 10:47 am

    Funzionale – Risultati – Esperienza – Osservazioni.

    Reply
  5. JCad says

    August 31, 2017 at 2:00 pm

    Hey great post. I hope it’s alright that I shared it on my Twitter, Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  6. xbox 360 red flashing lights says

    August 29, 2017 at 7:52 pm

    I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this web site.

    Reply
  7. Moravian College says

    August 25, 2017 at 12:33 pm

    Hey great post. I hope it’s alright that I shared this on my Twitter, if not, no
    issues just tell me and I’ll delete it. Regardless keep up the great work.

    Reply
  8. breakfast nook tables says

    August 12, 2017 at 11:30 am

    Some truly great content on this site, thanks for contribution.

    Reply
  9. TrimFire says

    May 17, 2017 at 9:47 pm

    There is obviously a bunch to realize about this.

    I think you made various good points in features also.

    Reply
  10. clash royale gemmes illimite says

    September 25, 2016 at 7:45 am

    I am really grateful to the holder of this site who
    has shared this impressive post at at this time.

    Reply
  11. phil moreton says

    May 19, 2016 at 7:49 am

    Hi Dan,

    Thanks for this IR test. Do you know if the Sweet 50 and the Edge 80 are also clean of any evil hot spots?

    Reply
    • Dan Wampler says

      May 21, 2016 at 8:13 pm

      I have not personally shot with those two, . . . yet. I will let you know when I do.

      Reply
  12. Long and strong says

    February 13, 2016 at 11:13 pm

    This blog was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something that helped me.
    Thank you!

    Reply
  13. Mike Cunningham says

    August 29, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    I really don’t care for the landscape ones, but I would use it for closeups and portraits. I love the way yours came out, they were spot on. I’m sure it would take practice to get use to using a manual focus lens again. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but it would be fun to have in your bag of different lenses for different occasions. Thanks for the review….

    Reply
  14. Todd Heilman says

    August 29, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    Great article. Well written, informative. Love the examples.

    Reply
  15. jackie says

    August 28, 2015 at 6:41 am

    beautiful!

    Reply
  16. chis doole says

    August 27, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    Nice shooting!

    Reply
  17. Mark G says

    August 27, 2015 at 6:55 pm

    Neat effect on this lens – it was a bit disorienting to revert back to manual focus and aperture, but also grounding; keeps your fundamental skills up.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

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