Lensbaby’s Trio 28 Combines Three Top Lenses Into One [Tech Tuesday]

Lensbaby‘s new Trio 28 takes three of the company’s most popular optics—Sweet, Velvet and Twist—and neatly packages them in a single, compact and lightweight lens. Designed for mirrorless cameras, the Trio 28 is available in Sony E, Fuji X and Micro Four Thirds mounts.

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby

Because it’s self-contained, the Trio 28 is not Optic Swap Compatible and that’s part of what makes it so convenient—just put this in your camera bag and you’re good to go. The lens measures 2 inches high by 2.75 inches wide and weighs 4.9 ounces, which is a perfect match for the smaller body sizes of mirrorless cameras.

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby

As the name implies, the f/3.5 Trio 28 has a fixed 28mm focal length. There’s a minimum rousing distance of 8 inches and, like all Lensbaby optics, it’s manual focus.

Here’s how it works. There’s a small round protrusion on the front of the lens that turns to access one of the three optics. Each position is marked with the name of the optic visible when you rotate the dial into your chosen optic. The optic is a little difficult to turn, but it locks solidly into position so there’s no chance of inadvertently switching from one position to another. The focusing ring has just the right torque for accuracy. My biggest complaint is that the small lens cap is a little difficult to remove.

In case you’re not familiar with Lensbaby’s different optics, here’s a quick explanation with some sample images:

The Sweet Optic features a “sweet” spot of focus in the center of the frame, letting everything else go soft. And you can easily get the focus right so that the center is super sharp.

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby/lesmarti.com

Velvet is a little more difficult to describe since it’s more of a feeling. It creates a velvety and silky-smooth image without the more in-your-face blur that other optics, like the Twist, feature.

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby/lesmarti.com

The Twist is a smooth, twirling effect that affects the outer edges of the image. I’ve tried it on the Sony APS-C a6500 and the full-frame Sony a7 and, because the effect is stronger at the edges, it’s more pronounced on the latter model. Wedding photographers should keep that in mind and might want to use a cropped sensor camera to get a more subtle, less dizzying effect.

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby/Keri Friedman

Photo courtesy of Lensbaby/Jeff Caniparoli

At $280, the Trio 28 is really a bargain with its hat-trick of lenses and it’s a great introduction to the wonderful Lensbaby optics for photographers who haven’t yet tried any of the company’s lenses. The Trio 28 comes with front and back body caps, a Microfiber bag and user guides.

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