Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/09/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric Welch wrote: > > At 11:15 AM 9/3/97 +0100, you wrote: > >Hi, > > > >Simple question - why 'bokeh'? I understand what it means, but where > does > >the word come from? > > It's Japanese for "out of focus" or something like that. > OK, sorry all LUGers who went through this before but... I think it was Photo Techniques who did a series of articles not so much on lens sharpness but "Bokeh" or that quality of unsharpness in the non-focused area of an image. Apparently, the Japanese are sensitive to this quality and the article articulates this quality as well as those lenses which best exhibit it. While it is somewhat subjective, the article does give some objective criteria to look for and to judge one's precious glass by. Not surprisingly, Leica glass is referenced as having good "Bokeh". For a complete working to death of the topic, retrieve some of the LUG archives from earlier this year. The dialog was actually quite informative. Carl S.