[Leica] Wow, the last word on Bokeh, from Zeiss

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

> I'm glad the lens designers seriously consider bokeh.
> 
> It should then become invisible in the photograph;
> without need of further discussion;
> except when it becomes a visual distraction.
> 
> Regards,
> George Lottermoser


I find the word annoying when pronounced right : like the way  a flower
smells.
I pronounce it with a short a at the end not long a.

As most shooting that goes on is not deep focus shooting but is done with
limited depth of field  taking a cold hard look at the fuzz  which dominates
the major area a photograph  and realizing that the delineation of this area
was important was a mind set long overdue and its effect makes it look like
nothing short of a revelation. In lens discussion on the internet you'd
think this was the major feature of a lens with little else worth
discussion.
Apparently it was a group of top Japanese fashion photographers who got the
word going. They were being quite noticeable by their strong preference for
German glass and here they were in Japan. As apparently in the mid  or
earlier 90's the optics coming out of the German optical industry had those
parameters built in while the Japanese glass did not.  At least in these
guys' view but they were proably right. That all evened out soon enough. A
decade.
It made the lens designers change their tact.
In the long run I believe Bokeh is just a component which points to
generalized better quality lens design but its also  is addressed in other
ways. With the simple mechanics of adding a few more aperture blades and
even having those blades be curved. This seems to smooth out the fuzziness
to everyone's hearts content.
Much of it though is the hard shape of the highlights.
Are they little pentagons like you get with a lot of classic glass like
Zeiss made for Hasselblad? Or are they something else?

I can say that for every exposure I ever made with my Hasselblad glass one
out of a thousand were made wide open.




[Rabs]
Mark William Rabiner