OK, so, as you might’ve noticed, we (read “me”) at Out of Focus are a bit fascinated with the screwier bits of photography. So, it’ll probably come as no surprise to anyone that my favorite announcement from Photokina so far has been about the new Lensbabies.

For those of you not in the know, Lensbabies are basically the hackless way to make your top of the line digital camera with it’s 18 gazillion megapixels of razor-like resolutuion act like a 40 dollar piece of plastic that uses film. They aren’t sharp. OK, the ones with the new glass doublet approach sharp in the center, but that’s it. What Lensbabies excel at is making things blur into oblivion. And I love them. Oh yes I do.

That sucker up there, that’s their newest offering and I can already see myself shelling out for one. See, the older Lensbabies used a bellows system for focusing, you had to compress or expand the lens to focus. The highest end one (and the one in my bag), the 3G, had a system of springs and locks to lock the bellow-focus, and a fine tune barrel focus. They were fun, but impossible to work quickly. That new one, the Composer, is a much cooler idea. It’s got a drag control dial, and then you just point the lens where you want it, and then use some good old-fashioned rotate-a-ring focusing. Considering I use my Lensbaby most at rock shows, where the clunky bellows sytem of the old ones made keeping up with those darn rock kids nigh impossible, this won’t be any more difficult than a manual focus prime.

And, here’s the best part yet, all the new Lensbabies have swappable optics. That glass doublet just too sharp for you, do you long and desire for the soft focus of a plastic lens? Hey, you’re in luck, Lensbabies will sell you a plastic optic, just swap it in. They also have a glass singlet and, my favorite, a pinhole/zone plate offering up to f117. Yes, 117. It’s the opposite of the Noctilux. It’s only like 35 bucks to add to the Composer, giving me /two/ lenses for like 300 bucks! Beats the heck out of modifying body caps!

Lensbabies accomodate nearly every system too, so whether your Canon lenses need an artsy compatriot, your Nikon digital SLR camera isn’t flattering that bride very well, or even if you think that A900 needs to be a bit more playful, I recommend giving them a look.