The ultimate Bokeh thread; pics please

Pentax 645, 75mm f/2.8, Portra 160VC

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Ricoh GXR-M, CV 35/1.2 II wide open. Pretty well-behaved, but not all that challenging bokeh-wise either.

Seasonal shot near Rock Creek Park, WDC.

Kirk
 
I recently started playing with some really old (1950s-early 1960s) Nikkors on a Nikon F. Here are some examples of the bokeh (first roll), in keeping with the spirit of this thread:

Cressida
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Nikkor-H.C 50mm at f/2.0, Kodak TMY-2 400, Nikon F, scanned darkroom print

Water, through the shroud
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Nikkor-H.C 50mm at f/2.0, Kodak TMY-2 400, Nikon F, scanned darkroom print

Mousse (Portrait)
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Nikkor-P 10.5cm at f/2.5, Kodak TMY-2 400, Nikon F, scanned darkroom print

Minimal Growth
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Nikkor-P 10.5cm at f/2.5, Kodak TMY-2 400, Nikon F, scanned darkroom print

The first generation Nikon SLR optics are superb, and they are probably built to the highest mechanical standards ever attained. Other 50-year-old lenses that have never been serviced often look and feel like junk by this time (even Leica lenses), but these have a smoothness and solidity (and most importantly, clarity / lack of fogging) that is a thing to behold.

I tried some of Cosina's Zeiss-branded F-mount lenses the other day, and these feel like typical off-brand SLR lenses from the 1970s, no comparison whatsoever. The only really good-feeling one is the Distagon 35/1.4, but it's a giant boat-anchor (for a manual-focus 35mm lens)!
 
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Can a 21mm lens have bokeh? Only just. This is the CV 21/4 at minimum focus and wide open.

Some of them certainly can! For example, the OM Zuiko 21mm f/2.0:

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And of course, the amazing Leica Summilux 21mm f/1.4... (probably won't get one in my lifetime though, will have to be content with f/2.0 at this focal length)
 
Some more Large Format bokeh

Some more Large Format bokeh

The Schneider-Kreuznach APO-Symmar 150mm f/5.6 is among the very best of large-format lenses (only significantly outperformed by the Rodenstock APO-Sironar S series) with exceptional resolution and contrast even wide open. But it is generally plagued by awfully unsmooth bokeh, especially my particular version, which has a non-circular aperture opening even at f/5.6. I guess it's a Compur shutter made for 150/4.5 lenses. It's all-original, linhof-branded though, so that's the way it came from the factory.

Shooting at close range, however, makes most such concerns disappear:

Snowbells A
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(Ilford FP4 4x5in, Schneider-Kreuznach APO-Symmar 150mm at f/5.6, Linhof Technika V)

Snowbells B
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(Ilford FP4 4x5in, Schneider-Kreuznach APO-Symmar 150mm at f/5.6, Linhof Technika V)

The Nikkor-T*ED 360mm f/8.0, however, produces consistently excellent bokeh by most standards (roughly equivalent, of course, to a 90mm f/2.0 lens in 35mm format):

Arrangement in the rain
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(Ilford HP5 4x5in, Nikkor-T*ED 360mm at f/8.0, Linhof Technika V)

GEA Garratt Detail
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(Ilford HP5 4x5in, Nikkor-T*ED 360mm at f/8.0, Linhof Technika V)
 
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