It’s my opinion that you either get soft focus photography or you don’t. I fall into the latter camp, which can make shooting with (and reviewing) a soft focus lens, even one for a unique tool like the Lensbaby, a challenge. The Lensbaby Soft Focus Optic ($90) works with any of the company’s Optic Swap lenses, including the inexpensive Spark ($167.58 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , the classic Muse ($112.00 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , and the top-end Composer Pro ($279.95 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . It captures images with a soft, dreamy look, which you can control by swapping out the three included aperture plates.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of the Lensbaby system, it does require a little bit of explaining. Lensbaby lenses have removable optic modules, so you can capture photos with different looks by swapping them out. They are designed to be moved around fluidly, tilting at any direction, which changes the plane of focus. With a standard lens, the front element is perfectly parallel to an image sensor, and that results in a plane of focus that’s parallel to the front element. With the tilt capabilities of a Lensbaby, you can move that plane of focus so that it can be diagonal in any direction. This gives you a sharp point of focus with blurred areas surrounding it that would normally be in focus with a traditional focus plane. Just how extreme that effect is depends on how much the lens is tilted, the focal length, working aperture, and distance to subject.

The Soft Focus Optic works just like any other Lensbaby optic to control the plane of focus. Its 50mm focal length is the same as the standard Double Glass Optic ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) that ships with most of the company’s lenses. But instead of capturing a sharp point of focus toward the center of its standard-angle (50mm) frame, it captures photos that have a soft glow throughout. You’ll still be able to tell what part of the image is in focus, and you can adjust the amount of softness and depth-of-field by swapping out the magnetic aperture plates. It includes three plates, all of which have a large center aperture and are surrounded by smaller openings that control just how soft the image is. The softest is an f/3.3 lens with an f/4.8 center aperture; the other two plates are both rated at f/4.8 in terms of light gathering, but have different center aperture openings of f/6.7 and f/9.5.

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Soft focus isn’t appropriate for every situation, but in the right hands it can be an effective photographic tool. Those hands don’t belong to me, but portrait photographers who are fans of the tilt effect that the Lensbaby system provides should consider adding this Optic, and a photographer with a keen eye could likewise make good use of soft focus to capture ethereal landscapes or flower photos. If you like the soft focus look, the optic is inexpensive enough to add to an existing Lensbaby system. But if you’re just thinking about giving the system a spin, consider starting out with either the inexpensive Spark or the midrange Muse lens.