Lensbaby Composer with Tilt Transformer: Conclusions

CONCLUSIONS
Once again, the team at Lensbaby has done what they do best: They created a product that can be used to craft great images, but it isn't for everyone. For starters, $250 is a lot of money for an amateur photographer to spend and not even get a lens. The other nagging concern that keeps popping into my mind is that the "novelty" or "creativity" of using a Lensbaby starts to disappear as more and more people start flooding the internet with Lensbaby photos.

The Tilt Transformer and Composer are solid, reliable, and user-friendly tools for creating "selective focus" images. I still hate the magnetic wand and the aperture disks used in the Composer since it's so much nicer to use the aperture ring on a lens. Additionally, I was a little disappointed that Lensbaby engineers didn't put a line on the tilt ball of the Tilt Transformer so that you can quickly set the lens to the "normal" position.

Despite the minor technical annoyances, price criticisms, and questions about the novelty of these images, the Tilt Transformer works exactly as advertised. If you're a photographer using a Micro Four Thirds camera or a Sony α NEX and you love to use manual focus and have "fun" while creating images then the Lensbaby Tilt Transformer and Composer might just bring a smile to your face ... and the faces of the people who look at your images.

Pros:

• Affordable way to get a Nikon tilt-shift lens
• Fun, creative way to capture images
• Versatile lens options

Cons:

• Expensive if you just want a Nikon lens adapter
• $250 and you don't even get a lens
• Aperture disks on Lensbaby Composer are still annoying

Individual Ratings: *

Image/Video Quality 
Features 
Design/Ease of Use 
Performance 
Expandability 
* Ratings averaged to produce final score