Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/09/04
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Beware! Long post from a long-time lurker!
On Wed, 03 Sep 1997 18:29:44 -0700, Jim Brick <jim@brick.org> wrote:
>The word "Bokeh" comes from the two katakana characters "bo" and "ke" =
which
>mean "out-of-focus blur" Bo ke have been transliterated from "boke" to
>"bokeh" so that English speaking people will pronounce it correctly.
>
>Jim
Actually, boke is the root of a Japannese verb which can be written
with a Chinese character. When pronounced as "horeru," it means to
fall in love with, to admire, or be entranced by. I've never heard it
used this way in casual conversation, but this useage probably abounds
in literature. The other meaning, pronounced "bokeru" or "hokeru,"
means to grow senile or (Eureka!) to fade or discolor. =20
"pin to bokeru" means out-of-focus (literally "faded focus?"), but
"boke" is often used to indicate an empty head or mental dullness.
After making a dumb mistake you can say: "Boketeru!" ("I'm getting
senile!"); "jisa-boke" means jet lag ("dull-headedness due to time
difference"); "renkyu-boke" is how I feel after getting back to the
office after a long holiday ("long holiday dull-headedness"). These
may all be connected to the "fade" nuance, in that brains can fade as
much as focus can. End of lecture.
Common gospel in the Japanese camera mags is that boke improves with
an increased number of aperture blades. This spec is listed in most
lens-spec charts, and the higher-priced, wider-aperture lenses from
Nikon (and probably most Japanese mfrs---don't have any Canon, Minolta
or Pentax catalogs on hand) tend to have more blades. Nikon has 7
blades in most lenses but 9 in the wide-normal/1.2-1.4 and
tele/1.4-1.8 lenses.
In the "new generation" of Japanese-made L-mount lenses, Avenon's
inexpensive 28mm/3.5 was just upgraded to 10 blades. Ricoh's 28mm/2.8
GR and the Konica 35mm/2.0 and 50mm/2.4 all have 10 blades. My
Summicron-M 50mm has 8; my Summilux-M Asph has 9. The Minolta TC-1
compact is supposed to have great boke due its perfectly-round
Waterhouse stops.
Please note that I'm not trying to start a debate on the merits of 7
vs. 10 aperture blades, Japanese vs. German glass, or senility vs.
faded brains. I'm just passing on what I've seen in the boke-crazed
Japanese press and market.
Nihon Camera magazine just ran a piece on the "new generation" L-mount
lenses. Once I clear my own boke-clouded brain I'll see if I can make
any sense of what's been written and summarize it here. =20
I think it's heartening that someone other than Leica sees enough life
in the Leica rangefinder world to produce these lenses. I also like
the idea that you can buy new lenses taking full advantage of the
latest design technology and glass for a camera and a lens mount that
hasn't been produced in Germany for 30yrs+.
One interesting tidbit in the Nihon Camera article was attributed to
an R&D guy at Sigma. He said that he couldn't say whether Sigma were
going to make Leica-mount lenses, but that if Sigma were going to make
Leica-mount lenses, they would make M-mount instead of L-mount. And
if they made M-mount lenses, the lenses would be a 25mm/2.0, a
50mm/2.0 and a 75mm/2.0, and that all three together would retail for
around 175,000 yen. Sounds pretty specific for an "if" project, but
then again he could have a very precise wish list which nobody else at
Sigma is thinking of ever filling. But if Sigma has no intention of
entering the market, why not just say so?
PB
Paul C. Brodek
Kobe, Japan
pcb@iac.co.jp