Re: [Leica] Bokeh - Leica myth.

[Henry Ting <henryting10@yahoo.com>]

Hey that's the best explanation I read on this topic.
Nobody has proven to me one iota of evidence that
Leica has this "bokeh" designed and built into their
lens. Which lead me to experimenting in the first
place. 

- --- "dante@umich.edu" <dante@umich.edu> wrote:
> 
> It is a myth that "bokeh" is an inherent or
> intentionally-created
> characteristic of any Leica lens.
> 
> What we call bokeh is a complex of aberrations in
> out of focus areas.  As
> Erwin Puts is quick to point out, for about 75
> years, Leica has attempted to
> design all aberrations out of their lenses.  As they
> become more and more
> successful at eliminating them, the bokeh gets worse
> and worse.  If a Leica
> lens has bokeh at all, it is either the product of
> technology limitations
> (in the past) or aberrations that just can't be
> killed (present line).
> 
> Perhaps the most obvious evidence that bokeh is not
> a Leica concept is that
> we use the Japanese word coined when nostalgic
> Japanese lens designers
> wanted to resurrect aberration complexes whose
> product on film was
> reminiscent of that of old lens designs.  Otherwise,
> we would call it
> "Hintergrundunschärfe," or something like that.
> 
> > From: Henry Ting <henryting10@yahoo.com>
> > Reply-To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> > Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 17:44:35 -0800 (PST)
> > To: Leica-users
> <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> > Subject: [Leica] Bokeh  - proven myth ?
> > 
> > 
> > This is going to be controversial.
> > I read about a lot of Leica lens offering a
> distinct
> > "Bokeh" image that's missing from lens of other
> makes.
> > I was confused as to how could this be possible,
> > unless outside of physics' existentialism, Leica
> lens
> > have a metaphysical spirit that the likes of Nikon
> or
> > Zeiss lack. 
> > 
> > To prove my point, I did some experiment.
> > I used my Leica M6 with the 35 Summicron and a
> Nikon
> > F2 with a 35mm lens. I set them up both on tripods
> > with the same camera to object distance in
> shooting my
> > car head on at a range of only 5 feet. The
> background
> > was a cul-de-sac of our neighborhood with florals
> and
> > houses and images that I am familiar with.
> > Then I shot the pictures with Ektachome 64 with
> the
> > aperture of both these cameras wide-open. I
> controlled
> > the session with everything identical from the 2
> > cameras except the lens (Leica vs Nikon).
> > 
> > I got the slides back right before X'mas and here
> are
> > the results :
> > 
> > I setup my projector against a white screen at 15
> feet
> > distance, the image of the Leica lens show a hint
> of
> > warmth and the same amount of details from the
> > highlights to the shade compared with the Nikon.
> The
> > area of the car's hood which were the focal point,
> > both images are tack sharp. The Nikon image shows
> a
> > bit more contrast, but very minor when everything
> is
> > in sharp focus. However, the image behind the
> car's
> > hood, extending further back from medium distance
> all
> > the way back to infinity, the images get
> progressively
> > blurry as the distance increase. Using some
> florals
> > and our neighbors front yard, the out of focus
> image
> > from both the Nikon and the Leica were 100 percent
> > identical. Even the sizes of the Bokeh images were
> of
> > the same size (we all know the image gets
> > progressively bigger as it comes into focus). At
> least
> > from my eyes, I cannot see any differences from
> the
> > highlights to the shades. Both these pictures were
> > taken at F2, 1/1000 sec with the same subject to
> > camera distance and the same film used.
> > 
> > The result?   No differences whatsoever. I think
> the
> > reverse is true. If both lens are of the same
> focal
> > length, the graduality from sharpness to
> blurryness
> > should not be different at all. Based on the law
> of
> > physics this should apply to every lens.
> > I for once proved to myself there is no difference
> and
> > for anyone that claim there is a "Bokeh"
> difference
> > between Leica and Nikon lens, my only comment from
> > here onwards is "More power to them".
> > 
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