Bokeh Babble

[Oh Two]

Well, it seems the bokeh issue seems to pop more than now again in lens choice.
So how important is to you in your lens selection, and which lenses are you favorite for the most dreamy bokeh? For me bokeh goes hand in hand with depth of field and is one of the major personality traits of a given lens. Is bokeh degenerating or disregarded in newer lens design?

My choices for best bokeh available with least compromise for sharpness:
1. f2.8 35mm Summaron
2. f2 35mm Summicron 1st version
3. f4 135mm Elmar (non tele)
4. f2 50mm Dual Range Summicron

 

[richard_l]

1. 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit
2. 35/2.8 Summaron

I doubt that bokeh is seriously considered in lens design. That's just my opinion, of course.

Richard

 

[rover]

My 35/2 Summicron 4th and Rigid 50 Summicron stand out to me from my bag.

 

[wintoid]

I've owned and used Hexanon 28, 35 and 50 lenses, plus 35 Summicron pre-asph and Nokton 40. Out of those, only one lens stood out as having good bokeh in my personal opinion. I feel my Canon DSLR has a much better choice of lenses with great bokeh.

Hexanon 50mm all the way.

 

[Dougg]

Is bokeh suffering from modern aspheric lens designs? Getting harsher? I'm not sure that this is so... There are plenty of older respected lenses that display unpleasant bokeh effects too. Maybe with the new lenses it's the improved sharpness and contrast of the in-focus stuff that stands in starker contrast to the out-of-focus areas. And it could be that the loss of dreaminess in the "sharp" parts erases the softness from the bokeh as well...

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Of my rangefinder lenses, I think it's still a close call between my 50mm Summarit and my Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm f/1.5.

Of the other lenses, I think, perhaps, either the Xenar 75mm f/3.5 on my Rolleiflex, or *gasp*, would you believe it, my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 zoom lens? It has a few molded aspherical lenses.

I think I read somewhere that Leica helped develop the technology for the aspherical lens molding...is this right?

 

[JimG]

Gotta' go with the Elmar 90 f4. One of my favorite lenses.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

50mm collapsible summicron, really smooth! Some manufacturers do put a higher number of blades into their lenses to improve OOF highlights, I think 10 or more.

Todd

 

[ElrodCod]

Bokeh Schmokeh! Who cares? I don't do yoga or tofu either.😀

 

[MCTuomey]

i prefer -

of the 50s I've tried: summilux 50/1.4 pre-asph and summarit 50/1.5
of the 75s I've tried: summilux 75/1.4, tho' the CV 75/2.5 is really very nice
of the 90s I've tried: 90/2.8 tele-elmarit

but the very best imho is my canon eos 200/1.8 - gawd it's near perfect and (sob) i can't afford it any longer

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Bokeh Schmokeh! Who cares? I don't do yoga or tofu either.😀

Ah, what took this comment so long? How's Photo.net, btw?

 

[jaapv]

Is bokeh suffering from modern aspheric lens designs? Getting harsher? I'm not sure that this is so... There are plenty of older respected lenses that display unpleasant bokeh effects too. Maybe with the new lenses it's the improved sharpness and contrast of the in-focus stuff that stands in starker contrast to the out-of-focus areas. And it could be that the loss of dreaminess in the "sharp" parts erases the softness from the bokeh as well...

Yes it is. The higher the state of correction of the lens the harsher the boke (generally speaking) The sharper edges to the light-disks break up the outline of unsharp shapes.

 

[steve garza]

Bokeh is a nice concept/feature. But it would never influence a lens purchase as much as sharpness or speed.

 

[MCTuomey]

Yes it is. The higher the state of correction of the lens the harsher the boke (generally speaking) The sharper edges to the light-disks break up the outline of unsharp shapes.

jaap, i don't understand. practical point of view, i have a very sharp canon telephoto, the 200/1.8, and it has stunning bokeh, i'd say incomparable

are you saying the sharper the lens, the harsher the lens, without reference to other variables like focal length and speed?

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

In order ...

50 cron (IV & V)
50/1.5 Canon ltm
35 cron-asph / 35 lux-asph (different but tied)

bit unfair comparing different focal lengths

 

[jaapv]

No I am not saying that, Mike. Sorry for not making myself clear.The better the lens is corrected outside the plane of focus, as the current apo and asph lenses tend to be, the harsher the bokeh. Good older design lenses like your Canon tend to be sharp on the plane of focus, but less well corrected in the unsharp zone, giving the beloved creamy boke.Of course, if the correction is really grotty, you get bad boke, double contours, rings, et.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

In order ...

50 cron (IV & V)
50/1.5 Canon ltm
35 cron-asph / 35 lux-asph (different but tied)

Really?? It's not a sarcastic "really??" but a shocked and confused one.

You think the 35 cron and lux asphs are "below" the level of this kind of bokeh?:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=39838&cat=500&ppuser=1505

That's with a Canon 50 f/1.5 shot wide open.

So is this one:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=39840&cat=500&ppuser=1505

 

[jaapv]

Really?? It's not a sarcastic "really??" but a shocked and confused one.

You think the 35 cron and lux asphs are "below" the level of this kind of bokeh?:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=39838&cat=500&ppuser=1505

That's with a Canon 50 f/1.5 shot wide open.

So is this one:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=39840&cat=500&ppuser=1505

I really don't want to be unpleasant, but I agree the boke in those shots (good photographs btw) is really not my cup of tea. The straight lines tend to double up, making it like I forgot to wear my glasses.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

I really don't want to be unpleasant, but I agree the boke in those shots (good photographs btw) is really not my cup of tea. The straight lines tend to double up, making it like I forgot to wear my glasses.

It's ok, it is what it is (the photo). Thanks, btw. Yeah, this is the worst example (bokeh-wise) I was able to get from the Canon 50 f/1.5; it was obviously by accident. Most other shots have a very Sonnar-like bokeh, but shots with straight lines in the background exhibit this behaviour with this lens; otherwise, it's rather pleasing.

 

[Magus]

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