The Best Bokeh Among Manual Lenses?

schildzilla · Joined: 13 Apr 2024 Posts: 8

Is it a must to have a swirly bokeh?

The TTArtisan 75mm 1.5 as a Biotar clone was mentioned before, so I don't mention it again.

There are so many good vintage lenses out there, so I can only tell you about my experiences and opinions.

If it's about money and you want equal results as with your Biotar lens (which you still can try to repair or sell as spare parts), you can get the Cyclop 85mm 1.5 (Helios 40 without aperture) from a night vision device.
It's cheap, a bit less contrasty and a bit less heavy than the newer Helios 40-2 models, but the swirl is intense and sharpness is good as long as you're in focus and you're not getting the sun too intense into your lens.
The Techart LM-EA9 works ok with the Cyclop and the 40-2 lenses, as long as contrast is good enough. Accuracy for me is with about 50-60% acceptable. A bit better due to better contrast with the 2015 version of the 40-2.
Cyclop 85mm 1.5: https://www.flickr.com/groups/14886933@N21/pool/
Helios 40 85mm 1.5: https://www.flickr.com/groups/14885202@N21/pool/

For lower focal lengths you can go for a cheap Helios 44-2, it also swirls, has a great optical performance and I like the sunflares. The regular 44-2 has 8 relatively round blades which makes the aperture better than the newer 44 models which will only have 6 with partially weird shapes (which some may like).
LM-EA9 adapter has an accuracy of about 70% with that lens.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14858403@N20/pool/with/54086933160

The Auto Revuenon / Tomioka 55mm F1.4 also has an interesting bokeh, is relatively sharp, small and lightweight. Price should be around a Helios 44-2 lens.
The bokeh is sort of bubbly, swirly, painted and dreamy at the same time. Sadly these lens often suffer from lens separation which will become an issue once you shoot at night time with background lights. Also the aperture might not be everyones taste, so it's a lens to shoot wide open when it comes to bokeh.
LM-EA9 accuracy is about 70%.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14848939@N24/pool/with/54082648177

For over 85mm, if the lens must not swirl, you can give the Cyclop (Helios) 100mm F2 from a night vision device a try.
It's a secret tip, as almost no one is using it, but it delivers very nice results and in my experience it's a high performer in some ways, especially for portraiture. It also has no aperture, but is very light and has very special unique characteristics.
It's very sharp in focus (even on my Sony a7R V 61MP sensor) - no matter if focus is in the center or the edge - and focus comes closer to the camera the more you're out of the focus area, which gives a very special object isolation especially for portraits.
It has nice lens flares against the sun, but still with good usable contrast and detail under these conditions.
General contrast is good, but sure contrast is not on the level of a modern lens, but a great performer for that time. Could be about the Helios 44-2 contrast level I guess and contrast is a bit better than the Cyclop 85mm 1.5 and newer Helios 44-2 (2015) model in my opinion.
The Techart LM-EA9 autofocus adapter works almost perfectly (even against sunlight) with this lens. Accuracy is about 70-80%. The adapter only focuses accurately with very sharp manual lenses and this combination is one of my best performing, even with Eye-AF.
Bokeh can vary from scene to scene, but bokeh balls are mostly round. Bokeh sometimes looks like soft bubbles and sometimes like painted dots - sort of smooth and painted at the same time - depending on distance and background lighting.
It's very cheap, so actually worth to give it a try. You can take a look for yourself (portraits are edited, therefore they look more contrasty): https://www.flickr.com/groups/14890389@N23/

I don't know if the TTArtisan 100mm 2.8 Bubble Bokeh lens might be interesting for you. It's a Trioplan 100mm 2.8 clone.
It's not very contrasty or too sharp wide open, but you have an aperture which makes the lens usable for many scenes. Bubble bokeh also looks great.
It's extremely lightweight compared to all other options.
LM-EA9 accuracy is about 50-60% but I would need to do further testing before I could tell the accuracy more detailed. But it should be around that.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14843766@N25/pool/

The Pentacon 135mm 2.8 with 15 blades (not all have 15 blades) is relatively cheap, + relatively sharp and a good overall performer.
Bokeh is mostly smooth and sometimes a bit like painted. Can become slightly swirly in some cases, but it's unlikely.
I also need to do further testing, but LM-EA9 accuracy should be around 50-70% depending on lighting.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14848939@N24/pool/with/54082648177

Hint: All my impressions (contrast, focus accuracy with LM-EA9, sharpness) are my experiences when looking thru the RAW photos of my 61MP a7R V at 100% view.
As I'm not leaving them as they come out of the camera, all JPGs of me (username schildzilla) in these groups most likely have raised contrast and sharpness, or are reduced in size to make them look sharper as they might have not been perfectly in focus. Not all shots that were in focus have been uploaded.
Absolutely all photos (from me) have been shot wide open.

If you ask me for my favorites, from the bokeh and overall performance it is in that order the Cyclop/Helios 40-2 85mm 1.5 (I go more for the Helios because of better contrast) because of the unbeaten swirly bokeh, the Cyclop/Helios 100mm F2, the Auto Revuenon/Tomioka 55mm 1.4 and the Helios 44-2.

But everything is a matter of taste Smile

Gatorengineer64 · Joined: 26 Oct 2017 Posts: 288

Funny been trying to almost give a nice biotar away and no takers. They are less than half what they were precovid... chinesium to me just feels different.. results are good but the tactile is very different.

pepperberry farm · Joined: 02 Jan 2017 Posts: 73

Crazy Leica Fox · Joined: 29 Apr 2017 Posts: 81

Hi Charles,

If you're still searching, and you want nice bokeh without the swirl of the TTArtisan Biotar remake, have you considered sonnar lenses? A lot of people consider the sonnar to be their favorite rendering. There are a huge variety of vintage sonnars at 85mm f/2, which is nice for portraits and not far off from your original 75mm/1.5 Biotar. The most common ones are from Zeiss Contax and Jena, Nikon, and Jupiter. One of my favorites is a bit more obscure (and pricey) though: the MS-Optics Sonnetar 73mm/1.5. Take a look at the sonnar rendering and see if you like it!