I liek the idea of these too, and have wanted one for ages, but other things are more important for me right now - but will watch this thread!

xx

*Cough* are you calling my lensbaby images samey and cliche

Seriously, I have the Lensbaby Muse, the cheapest one, but I will get the Control Freak one day, the Muse is the hardest to use , as you have to hold it in place, and still take the shot, so you have to hold your camera different, and it does take practice, if you don't have patience then Lensbaby isn't for you TBH. I have the Double Glass Optic, and The Pinhole, and Macro optic. I would love to get all the accessories and optics one day too

There are some awesome lensbaby photographers around, who do stunning work, and I've seen a Wedding tog, who uses it to perfection, makes the most ethereal images.

If you aren't going to practice, and love the quirkiness, I would say don't bother wasting your money,as I know a few people who bought it, and didn't get the images they wanted, so gave up

Actually Moonie i think you have used it to perfection but when i look through Flickr etc i do see a lot of images that aren't very imaginative and look similar to the next one. The reason i was considering was weddings and portraits. You have hinted that it seems to be a bit of a pain to use which is what i was expecting, at least with the cheaper one.

Hmmm... will have a think.

Cheques in the post Matey!

There is a knack to using them, and it's part of the fun, if you are a total control freak, pixel peeing, everything has to be spot on, then it's definitely not for you, and you will hate it. I love using it though, it can give you such romantic, funky, or unexpected images. The Composer will be easier to use,everything on the Muse is up to you, if you move your fingers you lose the Sweet Spot, and when learning how to use it, it can be frustrating. I can now use it a lot quicker, have learnt to juggle the quite heavy D300 ,in a more precarious way, while still focusing and holding onto the Lensbaby.

They definitely aren't for everybody, and you could cheat I suppose in Photo Shop, and mimic the effect, but that takes away the fun, and is cheating Joking, each to their own, I just love using mine.

I used one once, thought it was 'novel' but realised I would probably play with it for a day and then never use it again.

I also thought the optics were really poor. it was a lensbaby but I can't remember which version (it was about 5 years ago)

Alan.

Yeah, the edge definition is terrible, really soft and blurry...