Freakscene
Obscure member
It’s science. No belief required. Just open mindedness and understanding.
The Mandler 35mm f2
- Thread starter Archiver
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It’s science. No belief required. Just open mindedness and understanding.
skahde
V for Victory!
Has been researched in depth. In german unfortunately, but maybe AI can crack that nut for you.
Pages 25ff:
Edit: I found the english version too:
Edit 2: This passage (p25, right column, below center) is too good not to cite in the context of this thread:
"It is therefore not surprising that one often hears different and sometimes contradictory judgements about the bokeh of many lenses. Undue generalisations are all too often drawn from single observations. Many effects are attributed to the lens even though they are mainly caused by the subject in front of the camera. Differences between lenses are often very marginal but are then grossly exaggerated."
Pages 25ff:
Edit: I found the english version too:
Edit 2: This passage (p25, right column, below center) is too good not to cite in the context of this thread:
"It is therefore not surprising that one often hears different and sometimes contradictory judgements about the bokeh of many lenses. Undue generalisations are all too often drawn from single observations. Many effects are attributed to the lens even though they are mainly caused by the subject in front of the camera. Differences between lenses are often very marginal but are then grossly exaggerated."
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Archiver
Veteran
One day, it would be interesting to see how qualities of out of focus rendering are correlated with what you described. To my knowledge, no one in popular online media has done this, not even big websites like DPReview or Petapixel.
Subjectively, I like a bit of swirl that helps place attention on the central subject. Too much swirl is distracting to me. Same with overly busy highlights, as some look like giant dirty soap bubbles. Some talk about nervous bokeh, where the out of focus areas render in a jagged or 'fizzy' way, and I'm not too fond of that, either.
Funnily, many Voigtlander lenses have a way of rendering out of focus areas in a kind of 'smudgy' way, like the background is smeared and slightly unclean. Hard to describe.
panatomic
Member
A good bokeh test should include samples from the most challenging situations:
1. Wide open aperture, minimum focus, background that makes contrasty, backlit out-of-focus bokeh balls across the frame, e.g., head-and-shoulders portrait with backlit foliage in the background.
2. Same situation, but at medium focus distance, e.g., full-length portrait with backlit foliage in the background.
3-4. Same situations as #1 and #2, but with point light sources in the background, e.g., Christmas lights.
Complement that with less challenging situations like less contrasty front-lit scenes, diffused light sources in the frame (e.g., fluorescent lights), and with the lens stopped down two stops to get a fuller idea of the range of bokeh to expect from a lens.
There’s an educational aspect as well, since it shows how you can control the appearance of bokeh in various ways, how to get different looks out of a lens.
1. Wide open aperture, minimum focus, background that makes contrasty, backlit out-of-focus bokeh balls across the frame, e.g., head-and-shoulders portrait with backlit foliage in the background.
2. Same situation, but at medium focus distance, e.g., full-length portrait with backlit foliage in the background.
3-4. Same situations as #1 and #2, but with point light sources in the background, e.g., Christmas lights.
Complement that with less challenging situations like less contrasty front-lit scenes, diffused light sources in the frame (e.g., fluorescent lights), and with the lens stopped down two stops to get a fuller idea of the range of bokeh to expect from a lens.
There’s an educational aspect as well, since it shows how you can control the appearance of bokeh in various ways, how to get different looks out of a lens.
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Godfrey
somewhat colored
Hmm. I believe bokeh can be measurable.
However, I don't see that it matters all that much: I can't afford a half a dozen different 35, 50, 75, 90, 28, 21, 135 mm lenses so that I can pick and choose what bokeh I want for a given situation, nor would I want to carry them all. I just find a lens I like, through what other people I trust tell me or from pictures I see, and then I work with it, learn it, and do my best to get the most out of it. None are perfect, most are quite usable, all have their good and bad moments.
I'd rather spend my money and my time learning a few good lenses and going places to take photographs with them. 😀
G
However, I don't see that it matters all that much: I can't afford a half a dozen different 35, 50, 75, 90, 28, 21, 135 mm lenses so that I can pick and choose what bokeh I want for a given situation, nor would I want to carry them all. I just find a lens I like, through what other people I trust tell me or from pictures I see, and then I work with it, learn it, and do my best to get the most out of it. None are perfect, most are quite usable, all have their good and bad moments.
I'd rather spend my money and my time learning a few good lenses and going places to take photographs with them. 😀
G
skahde
V for Victory!
Sounds like wisdom, but in this thread that is like telling a group of alcoholics they should have just one drink a day.
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