New Lensbaby Sol 45mm f/3.5 is a $200 tilt-shift lens

Lensbaby has just announced Sol 45, a budget-friendly tilt-shift lens. The Lensbaby Sol 45 is a 45mm f/3.5 lens, designed for both DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The company describes it as its “most playful and accessible lens yet,” so let’s see what you get with this $200 creative lens.

The Lensbaby Sol 45 is a manual focus lens with a fixed f/3.5 aperture. It features a metal body, three optical elements in two groups and two diaphragm blades. The goes from 0 to 8.5 degrees and the minimum focus distance is 14 inches.

This tilt-shift lens comes in six different mounts: Canon EF, Fuji X, Nikon F, Pentax K, Sony A and Sony E. The company is also about to launch a Lensbaby Sol 22, specially designed for Micro 4/3 Olympus and Panasonic.

Here are more images of the lens, as well as some test sample photos taken with it:

Lensbaby Co-Founder and CCO Craig Strong says that this lens is ideal for those who want to “dip their toes in the Lensbaby pool.” Considering that tilt-shift lenses are generally pretty expensive, the Lensbaby 45 can be a good lens for a start, just to let you experiment. It’s already available for ordering and will set you back $200. As for the Lensbaby 22 for MFT cameras, it’s coming soon, but it’s available for preorders at the same price.