The Shitty Camera Challenge: The Canon EOS 10D And The Lensbaby Composer

The Shitty Camera Challenge: The Canon EOS 10D And The Lensbaby Composer

I recently posted about using the Lensbaby Muse to digitally recreate the wonderful radial blur effect of the Ilford Pixie 35-II camera. I've had some fun with the Muse, but using it with the brick that is the Canon EOS 10D DSLR I've found it really difficult to handle and focus. So I looked around the Interweb and, of course, the Kamerastore came through with a Lensbaby Composer and the double glass optic. 

The Composer is like a better constructed Lensbaby Muse, except that instead of squeezing the lens to focus it you turn the lens barrel, just like a 'real' lens. The Composer of equipped with a lockable ball and socket joint so that the amount of bend can be fixed in place. Mounted on the EOS 10D the whole camera is definitely much easier to use. Like the Muse, the aperture of the Composer is changed with little magnetic discs, and just like the Muse this one came only with the f5.6 aperture disc.

We needed to go to Barra for some shopping but decided to make a day of it so first of all we went to Vagueira for a nice lunch. Before lunch we stopped in Costa Nova for an aperitivo at the Kon-Tiki beachfront café. Of course, I took the opportunity to try the Composer with people walking along the wooden walkway that stretches the length of the beach. It was a good test for the Lensbaby, and I certainly found it easier to use than the Muse. 

After lunch, we made our way to Barra and I was able to make some images along the way. As with the Muse, the 'sweet spot' for focusing the Composer is about 5-10m distance from the camera. This is best shown, I think, with the images of the small sunken boat by the side of the river where the blur comes out splendidly. As with any fixed aperture lens on the EOS 10D, judging the exposure was a bit fiddly, but I'm getting used to the camera now and finding it easier to dial in the correct shutter speed now. Mind you, after so many years positively avoiding D/SLRs, I never would have imagined that I'd be using one again.

In Barra I took a short wander along the beachfront to capture the farol (lighthouse) and the wooden walkway that once stretched from Barra all the way down the coast to Vagueira and the beach at Labrego. (I'm not sure if it does now after the storms of January to March this year.) Here I put the Composer to test with subjects at varying distances from the lens. I reckon they came out quite nicely, especially the cat sitting on the fence. This was from a clowder of cats (I had to look that up) living behind a beachfront restaurant, probably being fed from leftovers from the kitchen. I've created an album on my PhotoWeb (https://public.photowebcloud.fr/albums/6ab78ebf6f699) if you want to see a few more images from the day. 

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