Review of the Lensbabies Lens Baby 3

www.intro2020.com RRP: £199 The original Lens Baby is one of the most original and fun accessories to appear in ages. Essentially a lens mounted into a flexible tube, photographers can bend and squeeze the lens to get a huge variety of selective focus effects. Version two has seen optical improvements and a magnetic aperture system (replacing the washer of version one). Now comes the third in the trilogy, and this time it appears to be wearing one of those dental brace contraptions. One of the drawbacks of previous versions was that it was impossible to repeat the same effect twice. Version three solves this problem. You use it just as before: manipulate the lens to get just the part of the image you want in focus, but at this point you can press a button and the whole thing clamps onto the three silver threaded rods running down its length. At this point, you can adjust the bend in any direction by screwing the appropriate rod clockwise or anti-clockwise, and you can also fine-focus the image by turning the lever at the front. Because it’s all locked into place you can fine-tune it to get just the effect you want, and then repeat it. All this comes at a price, though, and the Lens Baby 3 is a steep £199. That’s a lot of money for what is supposed to be a fun toy. On the other hand, some people take Lens Baby photography very seriously and may consider that the improvements, which do dramatically increase its functionality, are worthwhile. Luckily, the Lens Baby 2.0 will still continue to be sold for those who can live without the benefits provided by the scaffolding.