I was originally pretty impressed with the build construction on the Lensbaby Composers (compared to the previous models, anyway), but a few months ago we noticed some of the screws that held the lens section (away from the camera mount, in front of the ball) had come out on a couple of our rental copies. But when we looked a little closer, it was obvious the internal screw threads were gone. Anyway, this made the front element quite loose and the lens not to useable, so we took a couple of the bad ones apart to see what was up. It turns out the internal structure is very, very soft plastic and its obvious that it cracks or fractures along the screw mounts - probably from torquing the lens over to maximum tilt here and there (here's four of the eight internal threads from two of these lenses we took apart). Best be gentle with these!!
good to know, I assume you've contacted them, at the very least they will get to see
it's weaknesses if they haven't seen the problem before.
Any problems with the muse? I've been looking at it since it was released.
Interesting. I have been lucky to test this lens when it was being designed and have one of the original Composers from when they were released and haven't had any problems. I will keep an eye out for what you described in the future though.
I emailed Lensbaby about your post and received an immediate response from their customer service department. They sent you an email today regarding your problems.
I have had nothing but great experiences with their service and I am sure they will take good care of you.
I got a very nice email from Kirsten Hunter of Lensbaby who acknowledged they had seen this problem and have changed the supplier of that part. She didn't tell me if there was a specific time frame that the part was a problem but did state that 1) All Composers currently being sold have the new part which doesn't have the same problem and 2) that Lensbaby would repair the lens and replace the part for anyone who experienced the same symptoms.
