[Leica] Bokeh and Lenses

Thu Aug 21 09:39:36 PDT 2014

Tina Manley OFFERED:
Subject: Re: [Leica] Bokeh and Lenses

>>> I think you are right, Ted!  I'm not going to worry about bokeh any
more!<<<<<

Hi Tina,
I still think its a crock of techie nonsense! Simply because if it were
truly the "WORRIES SOME OF THE CREW HAVE?"
One would think I'd have learned something about its effects at sometime
during my 30 plus years of shooting published assignments prior to joining
the LUG.

Sure various lenses create weird light effects, if one wishes to look for
them. I however was always and still am far more concerned with the impact
of the content. Isn't that what photography is about? Certainly for those of
us shooting for magazines, newspapers, wire service and documentaries?

I had a "mirror lens" for a very short while. I hated the circles of light
constantly because they were so obvious any time one used a mirror lens. It
was nothing but a rat pack of truly weird circles of light. Including
highlights.

I had a 500mm Nikor lens adapted by LEICA CANADA to fit my R Leica cameras.
But got rid of it in a very short period of use.

It was nothing but "CIRCLES GALORE" too many times for my liking, so I
dumped it. But that's the only type of lens that "bokeh" caught my
attention. Never to be thought of again.............."UNTIL I JOINED THE
LUG!" And good old buddy Mike Johnson and his "tales of BOKEH woe!":-) 

"END OF BOKEH!" 
cheers,
Dr. ted :-) 

 From the examples posted here (and on Olympus and MUG) of "good" bokeh,
only a few look good to me and those are the ones where the bokeh is not
obvious.  If the first thing you see in a photo is the bokeh, that is a bad
thing!!  All of those hideous circles take your eye away from whatever it
is that you are trying to photograph in the first place.  I just don't
understand how that could possibly be considered good.

No more bokeh for me.  Just photos.

Thanks for the reminder, Ted!

Tina

On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 11:39 PM, Ted Grant <tedgrant at shaw.ca> wrote:

> TINA MANELY OFFERED AFTER READING: Mike Johnson's BOKEH article:
> >> He also comments that bokeh gets more problematic:
>
> the larger the aperture
> the closer the focus
> the more distant the background
> the more contrasty the background
> No wonder I had problems.  My 3 photos included all of the problematic
> possibilities!<<<<<
>
>
============================================================================
> ==============
>
> Hi CREW & TINA,
> So once again Mike and his bokeh assessments and spooky stories about this
> lens phenomena raises it's so called ugly head and nearly everyone
acquires
> wet pants of panic over it! Get over it! Simply because if you know
nothing
> about it
>
> "" It don't matter! "IT's THE CONTENT THAT COUNTS!!! HOWEVER IT MATTERS TO
> THE OVER TECHIE PEOPLE!"" Good buddy Mike being one of them! :-)  Hi Mike!
> ;-)
>
> OK here I go again.;-)
> So please let me explain before some of you get wet pants ? ;-) I had been
> a
> working well published and paid professional photographer for I suppose 30
> years or more and never knew such a lens phenomena existed. Until one day
> shortly after joining the LUG and Mike Johnson came on with his spooky
> "bokeh -- BS!" Heck I had never read anything about this "HORRID LENS
> EFFECT" let alone it even existed. So OK I had nearly always used LEICA
> glass, whether it exists on LEICA lenses or not?  "PLEASE DON'T TELL IF IT
> DOES, SIMPLY BECAUSE, "WHAT I DON'T KNOW ISN'T GOING TO HURT MY PICTURES!"
> :-)
>
> Besides it obviously wasn't a detrimental factor! As I was  being hired to
> fly about the world on "paying published assignments!"NEVER A WORD FROM
> SOME
> OF THE TOUGHEST-ASSED PHOTO EDITORS YOU NEVER WANT TO HAVE! KILLERS OF
ONES
> FEELINGS!
> So when it came up on the LUG screen and I read about it, my immediate
> re-action was "BUll-s-t!" STILL IS IN CAPITAL LETTERS!"
>
> Because if it were such a horrid picture spoiling effect? I'd certainly
> have
> been chastised to tears any number of times  in the past published 60
> years!
> But do you know what???? Not one peep about the "bokeh effect" in any of
> the
> over 300,000 images in the National Archives collection!
>
> OK folks, those who made it to the Leica Gallery New York? ........ "I
> didn't hear any comments about the horrid evil "BOKEH FACTOR" in any of
the
> photos hanging on the walls?  Therefore? Is "BOKEH" as usual, just another
> techie bit of jabber-whookie needlessly wasting our picture taking time
> babbling about it? INSTEAD OF TAKING PICTURES?
>
> OK folks, "have a go at the old LAD!" :-) Whatever you do say, truly isn't
> going to change my mind about "THE BIG BAD BOOGIE BOKEHMAN!" :-)
> cheers,
> Dr. ted :-)the "big bad bokeh boogeyman":-)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LUG [mailto:lug-bounces+tedgrant=shaw.ca at leica-users.org] On Behalf
> Of
> Tina Manley
> Sent: August-20-14 3:39 PM
> To: MUGers at yahoogroups.com; Leica Users Group; paw; seephoto; Olympus
> Camera
> Discussion
> Subject: [Leica] Bokeh and Lenses
>
> PESO:
>
> Mike Johnston (The Online Photographer) has written quite a bit about
> bokeh.  He has a pdf in which he rates many lenses for their bokeh.
>
> http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/files/bokehrankings5.pdf
>
> He also comments that bokeh gets more problematic:
>
> the larger the aperture
> the closer the focus
> the more distant the background
> the more contrasty the background
>
> No wonder I had problems.  My 3 photos included all of the problematic
> possibilities!
>
> Guess I'll try again.   The Summicron does get a 10 in the lens ratings.
>
> Tina
>
> --
> Tina Manley
> www.tinamanley.com
> tina-manley.artistwebsites.com
>
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>
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>

-- 
Tina Manley
www.tinamanley.com
tina-manley.artistwebsites.com

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