I currently own the 7Artisans 50/1.1, and this thread confirmed two things I've thought: (1) It's happiest on a film camera, and (2) at any aperture wider than f/2, it's very much a "choose your own adventure" lens -- you might like where it takes you, and then again you might not!
The bokeh comments on the CV 50/1.1 bring back interesting memories for me. I remember a lot of discussion of this topic when the lens first appeared, with several people noting that out-of-focus objects behind the main subject looked "busier" than they had expected. On the other hand, various users (including me) felt that out-of-focus objects
in front of the subject looked pleasingly smooth.
Of course if you're shooting portrait-type photos, smooth out-of-focus backgrounds are what you want. But if you're shooting documentary photos, as I was then, it's all too common to have an unwanted object pop up between your camera position and your subject... and the less obtrusive you can make that interloper appear, the better.
I had learned from
this article on the "1001 Nights of Nikkor Lens" website that "defocusing cannot be attained simultaneously for both foreground and background" (which is why Nikon designed the "defocus-control" lens that was the subject of the article) and I realized that this was one of the choices that a lens designer had to make.
I tried to popularize the terms "portrait bokeh" (smooth out-of-focus background objects) and "documentary bokeh" (smooth out-of-focus foreground objects) but never got any traction for it... still worth thinking about, though, I think!
