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Large Apertures and Full Frame Don't Always Equate to Good Bokeh |
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Written by Ken Norton
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Jul 02, 2010 at 07:21 PM |
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A common theme in the various photography forums is brighter lenses and full-frame sensors (or film) equate to better bokeh. This is not necessarily true. All this guarantees you is a narrower depth of field, but the quality of the bokeh is not related. Consider the following photograph. This photograph was taken with the Olympus Zuiko 50mm F1.4 lens at F1.4. Camera used was the Olympus OM-4T with Fujifilm 200 color film. 
Going to Seed, Olympus OM-4T, Zuiko 50mm F1.4, Fujifilm 200 This photograph illustrates two particular flaws of this lens when shot wide open and near or at the closest focus distance: Vignetting and rough bokeh. As a variation of the classic Double-Gauss lens design, the 50mm F1.4 has a tendency to produce harshness in out-of-focus areas unless stopped way down. When used for an effect, such as in the "Bokeh Guitar" photograph on this site, it is fine, but if pleasing bokeh is desired, other lens designs will yield superior images.
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Comment by roybenavidez on 2010-07-12 01:48:27
Thanks that was useful commentary. Which digital lenses in your opinion offer the best bokeh(I concede its a personal choice) today and why? And please dont come up with a 6000$ lens. Ahem. |
Comment by knorton on 2010-07-12 09:14:42
Your question does not have a simple answer. It depends on camera-subject distance and preferred DoF. Lenses are optimized to produce the best results at certain distances and apertures. Once you break from that "ideal distance" the image is compromised. Take, for example, the classic Zuiko 100 F2.8 lens. When used on full-frame 35mm, a head-shot portrait is among the best ever. But when placed on the FourThirds cameras, the working distance is doubled. This increase in distance alters the effective bokeh characteristic in the photographs. I will do a write-up on this shortly. Stay tuned. No, you don't have to spend $6000, but it doesn't hurt. |
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Last Updated ( Jul 02, 2010 at 07:33 PM )
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