What do you think about Lensbaby? It’s kind of a odd chicken, right? On one hand, they are making $100 “cheap toy lenses”, but they they started making “object of desire”, high end $500 lenses. This change is fascinating, and definitely shows a change in how Lensbaby is perceived (by photographers, but also by itself). We sat down with Ken Mitchell, Lensbaby president for a chat during Photokina 2016 and listened for some of his insights and his plans for Lensbaby as a company.
One of the things that Ken highlighted is that the transition from cheap toy lenses to a higher spot on the prestige spectrum was not a matter of seised opportunity, but of a long term strategy. The company is actively changing it’s focus towards providing more (I don’t want to say serious but), controllable tools.
Another thing that was very curious for me was the kickstarter that Lensbaby made. They had a great run with the iPhone lenses, but failed with a GoPro lens campaign. Interestingly, Lensbaby turned to Kickstarter for the pure value of reaching GoPro oriented audience. I find it refreshing that a company admits that they are using kickstarter for marketing. (I mean, everyone is doing it, but not everyone admits it) Lastly, Ken hints on the Trio 28 which was already launched, but I wonder if there is another kickoff coming during 2016.
