Newport Beach — Sebastian Schlueter

Lensbaby Edge 50 optics on the Fuji X-Pro2

First impressions

Ok guys, this is just a very short post with some sample images I just recently shot in Newport Beach Southern Clifornia. The Lensbaby Edge 50 optics together with the Composer Pro II has been the latest addition the my Fuji X-series lens lineup. I every wanted to own one of those lenses to add a certain mysterious effect to my photographs. Then after Lensbaby announced a massive sale on this baby, I could not resist any longer. I will do a more detailed review on this lens in an upcoming post, but as it was very hard for me to find sample images taken with this lens and any kind of Fuji X-Series camera I thought I share them really fresh for everyone who is interested in this lens as well.

Of course the APS-C sensor makes the 50mm lens longer than the intended standard field of view. This is initially kind of weird, but after experimenting and getting used to the lens, I think it even boosts your creativity and call for a fresh look on your environment.

Newport Beach, just south of Huntington Beach California is a nice and beautiful town with a boardwalk that can be followed along down to Balboa Beach.

With the 50mm optics you can get quite close to distant objects and the blur characteristics of that strong or even very subtle effect make a certain point of interest stand out of the surroundings.

The blurry look is sometimes a bit awkward to the eye in my opinion. It does not work in every situation and the photographer needs to make sure that the viewer is not getting tired of it. It can however be used to convey a certain mood and if chosen wisely and subtly enough, I am sure it can add the desired mood and drama to the right moment.

Without getting too deep into the way of shooting with the lens I can share some initial thoughts with you. The effect achieved looks more pronounced when viewed at a larger screen and what looks sharp in the EVF (electronic view finder) is often blurred in the final image.

The characteristics of the lens are very interesting but they can be confusing, so you need to practice quite a bit before you master this combination. At least I need more practice to have the lens do exacetly what I expect it to do.

There is one plane of focus that can be tilted around the image area. The stronger you tilt the lens the more uncontrollable the effect gets. The chosen aperture defines the DoF and and the width of the focus plane. But besides all that challenges, the Lensbaby is fun to use and I am looking forward to shoot more with it