Originally posted by k100d after reading this thread, i took some quick snaps around the house to experiment more with the bokeh of the A50 1.2. these photos have no artistic merit. looks pretty good to me, but there are some hard rings if you look closely and some pretty apparent CA if not careful.
back to the original post, i think this would be the lens i'd use for bokeh, just because it has the ability to blur almost anything in a very smooth way that lets you highlight certain details. however at 1.2, there is a bit of a "glow" around the focused subject that needs to be carefully used / hidden.
oooohhhh... no you di'n't. thats niiiiiiiccceee.... glow and everything. . . . must resist. . . .. . . temptation!
that shot hits my buttons. if i'm being honest, it looks quite noktonish! you could probably save your cash if you'de ever considered one, thats what it does best too, very similar looking.
Originally posted by Arjay Bee Regarding the number of aperture blades, as shown before is the Isco Gottingen Tele Westanar 135 3.5 M42 that has 15 aperture blades making a perfectly circular aperture at all positions.
...But then macro distances are fairly easy to produce reasonable bokeh. This one is at a more standard 2metres or so:
quoted for truth re:macro. of course, closing toward minimum focus distance is a sure fire way to isolate. hard to judge bokeh quality when too close.
this pic is nice, smooth, even 'modern' looking, bokeh wise.
It brings up a side note for me re:aperture blades. When the lens is wide open, they aren't in the shot - circles of confusion are round on all lenses. And for me, if I'm stopping down - I kinda like having a hexagon or bit of a star burst of light - I'd just as soon design a lens with 6 straight blades. But there it is - subjectiveness sneaking in again!
Of all movies, I was watching Rambo the other night, and during the scene when the missionary chick was first pleading with him, there was all kinds of cool hexagonal bokeh, it made me want to find a 6-bladed lens.. . . hey, I think I'll go do that (any suggestions?)