Re: [Leica] Bokeh

[nightblind@juno.com (Don B)]

On Sun, 21 Jun 1998 15:11:37 -0800 Charles Dunlap
<cdunlap@emerald.ucsc.edu> writes:

>Bokeh is like smell. Something that smells strongly can smell good or
bad.  Something with "Lots of Bokeh" is not neccessarily pleasing. I had
a Nikon lens with lots of Bokeh, and I stopped shooting with it.<<

I don't believe the amount of Bokeh is a function of lens brand, rather
it is a function of aperture and focal length of the lens used.  Any
50/1.4 lens should show lots of Bokeh if used at f/1.4 focused on a near
subject.  But the quality of its Bokeh may not be pleasing (pleasing
being subjective).   A brand X 50 f/1.4 may produce a pleasant Bokeh
while brand Y may have very harsh, aggravating, or unpleasant Bokeh. 
Perhaps that is what you were seeing?  Bokeh that was unpleasant to you. 


Boyd Norton's book, _The Art of Outdoor Photography_ includes a few
images to describe basic depth of field technique i.e., how to make a
near subject stand out in a busy background by going with a wider
aperture to throw the background out of focus.  One example in the book
shows a side by side of the same shot, one with the background barely out
of focus and the other with it heavily out of focus.  He then tells the
reader how much better the heavily out of focus background photo is
because the subject (in this case a tree) stands out more.  Personally, 
I preferred the not so out of focus photo because the Bokeh of the Nikon
lens he used was unpleasant (harsh, double line,  and distracting).  And
that is, I believe, what the Japanese are addressing with the issue of
Bokeh.  While many consider it a subjective lens property or even a
non-issue, if it has the potential to distract from the subject of the
photograph, then it is something that should definitely be considered
when evaluating a lens.  Subjective or not,  it does impact the
photograph.  As in the case of the Boyd Norton photo I spoke of above,
while it is technically correct, I did not find it  a pleasing photo
because the lens used exhibits rather harsh Bokeh properties.

Personally I would like to see magazine lens tests/evaluations address
the issue in their reports.  Very much as the most recent issue of _Photo
Techniques_ has done in their evaluation of the Fuji 645 camera where
they show out of focus images taken with the camera.  It is not necessary
for the author of a lens test/evaluation article to draw a conclusion
about the quality of the Bokeh, but at least show it as PT has done and
let the reader draw their own. 

My thoughts only,
Don

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