Okay, I'm in my worst European mood: honest, straightforward and without any sense of tact or political correctness.
About the site:
too many adds and pop-ups for our (ancient browser's) taste, I would rate this site as a ....
just kidding! It just seems to me it is hard to rate something as subjective as bokeh and assign values to lenses. Smells to me of driving prices of lenses up (or down) unnecessarily.
But: I miss bokeh tests for larger format lenses or old and obscure lenses.
The summicron bokeh pic lookes nice, but I wanna know which lens would do the same for me on the scale of let's say, a 2x3 or 4x5" lens - and I'm probably not alone either.
Or am I...? Hello hello ..... (echo) hello hello...
While I agree that bokeh is an important ingredient in the way a photo looks and that it can be classified. Since it is aesthetic I believe that one can only determine for themselves wether a given lens has pleasing or displeasing bokeh.
While I agree that bokeh is an important ingredient in the way a photo looks and that it can be classified. Since it is aesthetic I believe that one can only determine for themselves wether a given lens has pleasing or displeasing bokeh.
I think it is all a conspiracy for owner's of those lenses (and future suckers...err, owners) to up the price even more in the future. Usually, photos that say "umm , nice bokeh"...is kinda like saying "ummm, yah, my date was okay, she had a nice...umm...personality". I guess its a fallback to say if the photo wasn't that good, then complement the parts that are "out-of-focus".
My $10.00 Spiratone Portragon has nice bokeh...wonder why it didn't make the list? Imagine if it was! Man, I can sell it for like $1,000 bucks! I know, I"ll make another web page, copy all those links, and post non-scientific data (because EVERYTHING you read on the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T is True!) about my Portragon and jack up the price of that lens!
I've always found the bokeh on the 135mm f/4.7 Graflex Optar to be very pleasing. I'm surprised that they sell so cheaply. (Perhaps the fact that about a zillion of them were manufactured helps keep the price down. )
First time I heard the word Bokeh was when a japanese photographer mention it about an image of mine. I ask him what was the meaning of it, he answered that there are no translation, but what it means is how some lenses because the design of their diaphragm renders polygonal figures in the reflexions or highlights that are out of focus, and a good Bokeh is that that keeps it's shape even if the focus goes really out. As I understood, Bokeh is kind of "mood with a shape".
Now I discover out of the web page mentioned that it is something so complicated that need an explanation the lenght of some pages full of diagrams and formulas.
The photo Bird of Paradise enclosed is an example of what I think Bokeh means.
Luvcameras, your page is nice, but I find the real test of bokeh is shooting with small sources of light in the background, such as streetlights or sunlight streaming through leaves. Any lens will render low-contrast background with no point light sources acceptably.
The Ken Rockwell article is pretty good, but "bokeh" isn't just about specular highlights.
Another distracting feature can be double lines in the out-of-focus area. Long before anyone used the term "bokeh" in photography, the Wollensak advertised the Verito as a lens that did not create distracting double lines in the out-of-focus area.
There is also the "plastic" (in the positive sense) "three-dimensional" look that occurs when there is a sharp separation between the in-focus and the out-of-focus area, that is a sign of good bokeh. Heliars are particularly known for this effect.
Adv Reply
Originally Posted by luvcameras
Imagine if it was! Man, I can sell it for like $1,000 bucks! I know, I"ll make another web page, copy all those links, and post non-scientific data (because EVERYTHING you read on the I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T is True!) about my Portragon and jack up the price of that lens!
