sllɐqǝʎǝʎzznɟ

I remember a couple of years back, my first Christmas present for that year came early … in the form of a package from Lensbaby. This year … it is like deja vu … a juicy parcel landed at my office the day I started work after my short vacation! That made the first day at work (a little) better. 😀 Too bad it was too late for my trip, otherwise I’d have lugged my DSLR with the (Lens)babies along. Anyway … there is always a next vacation. 😀

There was a white envelope with my name on it (in the package) and in it … I found a card (with a very cute and cool photo). Thank you, Heather!

In the parcel was also a neat sticker that says ‘SEE IN A NEW WAY’. I couldn’t decide where to stick it and so it ended up on my iMac … so that I can see it every day. LOL.

My ‘Swirly’ aperture disc design was choosen to be included in the Lensbaby’s Creative Aperture Kit 2 and they kindly sent me a set of these fun & cool discs too. Now these are definitely enough reason for me to go fire more shots with the Lensbaby!

Here are a couple of photos … of the Scout mounted on my K-x …

“Scout gives photographers a versatile, fun and affordable option for Fisheye photography. The first Lensbaby lens that does not bend, Scout is ideally suited for Fisheye photography because your image will always be perfectly centered.

The Fisheye Optic offers two special features – creative lens flare when pointed toward a bright light source, and extreme close focus for a truly unique view of the world around you.

Scout is also compatible with all other Lensbaby optics, giving full access to the wide range of creative photography effects offered within the Lensbaby Optic Swap™ System.

Available in mounts for Canon EF (EOS), Nikon F, Sony Alpha A / Minolta Maxxum, Pentax K / Samsung GX, Olympus E1 / Panasonic Lumix DMC cameras.

The Scout comes with the Fisheye Optic installed.”

* The Scout that they sent me doesn’t have the Fisheye optic installed because I already have one of those. I did read somewhere in their forum that they will be selling the Scout alone (without the fisheye) for those who already invested in the optic.

Next is a Composer with Tilt Transformer. You can either use the Composer front that comes with it (it behaves just a normal Composer) or slap on a Nikon mount lens for more fun! I am using an el-cheapo Vivitar 19mm (wide!) lens on it and it seems to be quite a nice combo. The lens is not only wide … but it is (spell : plasticky) light … perfect to use on a m43 body. So far the Tilt Transformer only takes Nikon mount lenses but I guess they’ll be coming out with other mounts (don’t quote me on that!) someday.

As I spent all the time today with my family, I had only limited time to try out the lenses. Slapped on the Scout (and of course the fisheye optic) and fired some test shots today during the morning cycle/chase/breakfast with Fitzand at the park.

I’m loving the Scout lots! Previously using the fisheye optic on the Composer was quite a pain in the butt as I struggled to make sure the ‘circle’ stays in the middle of the frame (something quite impossible shooting with one hand) and the Scout was like having my prayer come true. 😀

I’ll try do some test shots with the Tilt Transformer tomorrow.

For more information about Lensbaby, check out their website here.