Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/04/15

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Subject: [Leica] Bokeh and lenses
From: eyes1@webtv.net (Isaac Crawford)
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 22:48:39 -0400
 
I'm new to this list, so I apologise if this has been discussed to
death...  I have always been happy with my Pentax prime lenses
sharpness-wise, but recently I have been experimenting with long lenses
and large apertures.  Much to my dismay, my favorite lens (135mm f2,5)
does a terrible job rendering out of focus information.  All of the out
of focus highlights show up as hexagons...in some cases this leads to a
mosaic effect, which effectivly ruins the picture.
     I have always heard that Leica lenses had superior "bokeh" (smooth
rendering of out of focus areas), my question is which lenses?  I'm
looking at getting an M system.  My most used lenses in 35mm are 50mm
f1.4, 85mm f1.9, and 135mm f2.5.  Any suggestions as to which lenses
would do what I want?  Are the new "Aspheric" lenses better or worse in
this regard?  Are there any older lenses that would be better for this
(primarly for the 135 and 90)?  Thanks for any info...

Happy Shooting!

eyes