LENSBABY MUSE Review

According provided by lenses Lensbaby Muse for Nikon many thanks to Elena Babenko.

Lensbaby Muse Review

The Lensbaby Muse is a totally creative lens. True, it is very different from the classical concept of 'lens', because it does not have, as such, either a focusing ring or aperture control ring. Lensbaby Muse is available for cameras from various manufacturers, this review presents a version for Nikon cameras with a Nikon F mount. The lens is suitable for full-frame cameras, the focal length of the lens is not indicated, but is approximately 50 mm by eye.

Lensbaby Muse with aperture disc replacement tool

To focus, you should use the rubber fur, moving or moving the front of the lens to the camera. It is recommended to use two hands for focusing, but I coped without problems with one. With the help of the tilt of the rubber fur, only a certain part of the frame can be caught in focus, in fact, with the help of this, a special effect is achieved for which the lens was developed.

Star-shaped bokeh when using an aperture dial with a matching notch

You can get used to the unusual technique of working with the lens very quickly.

The tilt should not be made very large, because you can get a black piece in the frame. The area that falls into the sharpness zone becomes really sharp, in the usual sense of the word, only in the center of the frame. You need to be careful when highlighting the area of ​​focus around the edges of the frame. If we compare with the classical understanding of lenses, we get something like a fifty-kopeck piece with a maximum aperture of F / 2.0, which, when shooting without tilting or shifting elements, greatly blurs the edges of the image.

Lensbaby Muse on the ZK

The diaphragm is controlled by removable magnetic disks. The package contains discs for F / 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 16 and F / 22, as well as discs with a shaped hole in the form of a heart and an asterisk. In the middle of the lens, the aperture disk is securely held in place by three magnets. To change the disc, you should use the device supplied - the installed diaphragm is magnetized to the stripper and can be easily removed from the lens.

Please note that automatic metering exposure it will be available only with some Nikon cameras, with all the others the lens can only be used in manual control mode exposure. You will find an exact list of cameras that support working with the lens in aperture priority mode, as well as recommendations for working with manual lenses here.

Bokeh in the form of hearts. A slight shift of the fur "pulls the picture" a little.

The lens can use 37mm light filters. Lensbaby Muse weighs just over 100 grams, while it has a metal mount. In general, I have no complaints about the assembly - everything is done quite simply and reliably to the touch.

Sample photo at LENSBABY MUSE

Here link to the archive with the originals - 87 MB, photo parameters in the archive and gallery are indicated here.

Lens operation. Psychedelic tear out eye.

Here are the prices for the lens in popular online stores:

All prices on LENSBABY MUSE

Results

LENSBABY MUSE is the 'muse' among lenses, you just need to think carefully about the scenes that will be filmed with it.

Thank you for attention. Arkady Shapoval.