Hey Readers! If you've been following my photography for a while now, you know I'm an avid Lensbaby artist. If they make it, I want to shoot with it. It's gotten to the point where I plan my sessions around what type of effect I want to create with, and my most recent trip to Disneyland, I rented a Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens and I kid you not, I kept reaching back for my Lensbaby Edge. It's not just the fact that I love shooting with these lenses, but they just add a little extra magic and creativity to the story I want the viewer to immerse themselves in.
So what's the newest addition to the Lensbaby family? *drumroll*
I was going through my old blog archives this week and I found a post from 2016 asking the Lensbaby staff if there was any chance of an Edge 35 coming out. 2016 ya'll. I have been ready for this to be in my hands for ALMOST 3 YEARS TO THE DATE! I may have squealed when I got the email about testing it out. Dallas thought something serious happened... haha
Like I said before, the Edge system is possibly my favorite optics to travel with. I was lucky enough to be sent this optic last year and have been able to travel to 5 different states shooting with it. I love the tilt to create the miniature effect and the ability to draw focus to a certain spot in the photo. When traveling with the Edge 50 & Edge 80, I always found myself having to either back up to get the whole story in the shot, or finding a different angle to shoot from entirely. With the Edge 35, I was able to stand in one spot and get everything I wanted in the frame while blurring out any unwanted people or junk. Granted, there is a little bit of warp on in the photos because it is a wide angle optic, but that's nothing that can't be fixed in photoshop. The second thing I've found while using the Edge 35 is the amount of glass on the actual optic. I'm that person that tends to lose lens caps, and within the first couple hours of walking around with it, I had finger prints and dust all over the glass. It's heavier and longer then the other optics and because of this, make sure to keep a lens cap available to protect it from dust and scratches.
So what's so special about the Edge 35 vs any of the other Composer Series optics? For starters, the slice of focus is a little bit larger then the other two Edge's with the aperture all the way open. Since these optics are manual focus, I found that I could achieve the area of focus a little bit quicker because it is a wider slice. While I am normally drawn to longer focal lengths for my portraits, the Edge 35 is exactly what I needed to complete my gear for my travels. The next attribute I look for in a new optic is how it works with sun flare. I shoot with a lot of back light so when it came time to use in this situation, once again, the Edge 35 creates it's own unique style of flare. The streaks are more subtle then the Edge 50 & 80, but when angled correctly, there's definitely a pretty rainbow.
I know for me personally, I didn't realize how much I had actually needed a 35 mm in my kit due to the ever changing photography industry and stylistic wants of our clients. I was constantly having to change what I had envisioned a photo to look like because I either didn't have space to do it, or I just couldn't get to a location that I wanted to shoot from. After years of working with the Composer Pro Edge series, I'm so happy to say that my kit is finally complete with the Edge 35 and if you're looking to add a wider optic to your kit, this is it.
For more information make sure to visit the Lensbaby website.
And make sure to check back tomorrow for my thoughts on shooting a couples session with the Edge 35.
All photos shot with Nikon D800.