New Lensbaby Double Glass II Lets You Shoot with Customizable Bokeh
Lensbaby has unveiled its new Double Glass II optic at CP+ 2023 in Japan. The latest in Lensbaby’s long line of unique creative photography lenses and accessories, the Double Glass II is a new-and-improved version of Lensbaby’s Double Glass optic for its Optic Swap system.
The Double Glass II optic improves upon its predecessor by incorporating an all-metal construction and a 12-bladed manually adjustable internal aperture diaphragm. The original Double Glass optic was launched way back in 2008. The Double Glass II utilizes a drop-in magnetic aperture system and ships with nine drop-in aperture disks. The special disks include a five-pointed star, a heart, and seven designs developed by visual artists in the Lensbaby community. These aperture disks modify the look of out-of-focus areas.
The Double Glass II is a 50mm lens with an adjustable aperture ranging from a reasonably quick f/2.5 down to f/22. The lens creates a “sweet spot” of focus surrounded by blur and bokeh, allowing photographers to integrate special aperture disks into the area surrounding the subject.
Photographers must use the Double Glass II with an Optic Swap lens body, such as Composer lens bodies. When used on a Composer body, the manual focus lens can focus as close as 15 inches (380 millimeters). The effective maximum magnification ratio of this focus distance depends upon the crop factor of the attached camera. The Double Glass II is compatible with all Optic Swap macro accessories, including Lensbaby’s 46mm Macro Filter Kit and Macro Converters, further improving the new optic’s close-up performance.
The Double Glass II is compatible with full-frame, APS-C, and Micro Four Thirds cameras, including DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The Optic Swap system is available for Canon EF and RF, Fujifilm X, L Mount, Micro Four Thirds, Nikon F and Z, Pentax K, and Sony A and E mounts.
“We’re thrilled to introduce the Double Glass II to our Optic Swap System,” says Craig Strong, Lensbaby’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “With its dual aperture system and all-metal construction, this optic brings the very best of creative photography in a single, unique lens. Visual artists everywhere will soon be creating magic with this versatile new photographic tool.”
The Lensbaby Double Glass II is available now. The optic by itself is $199.95. A kit including the Double Glass II and Lensbaby Composer Pro II is available for $369.95.
Image credits: Lensbaby. Sample image photographers credited in captions.
