The Soft Focus II optic is the new, revised and improved version of the already existing Soft Focus optic. It is part of Lensbaby's Optic Swap System. The system offers two different mounts that attach to the camera like a lens, and then you can choose many optics with the effect you want to fit into the mounts. Apart from the Velvets, which are only offered as lenses, all other effects can be purchased as lenses for this very interesting system. I really appreciate being able to carry several optics with me with a minimum of weight and bulk.

 

With Soft Focus II you have a range of apertures from f/2.5 to f/22, at brighter apertures you create an impressionistic image with fine, sharp details and the colours are muted. At f/8 and above you have very detailed and sharp images with a large central area in focus and blurred edges. So the choice is vast: from impressionistic images full of flare to sharp contrasts.

This extraordinary effect can be combined with the tiltable Composer Pro II base and the Spark 2.0 - in which focusing is achieved by pressing the tiltable 'bellows' together, more so than the Composer.