Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!
SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

best 50mm bokeh lens suggestions please!
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:19 pm    Post subject: best 50mm bokeh lens suggestions please! Reply with quote
I`m looking for a 50mm which can be used on my nikon via an adaptor or directly. Smoooooth bokeh at MAXIMUM aperture is my main priority. I`ve seen good sample images of the Voigtlander Septon 50mm f2. Does anyone have experience of this lens, or can anyone suggest lenses with smooth bokeh?

Outlined bokeh puts me off a lens. Perhaps sample images on the internet aren`t always representative, and bokeh quality is subject-dependent, but they have put me off the zeiss 50/14, nikkors and even the E60 leica summilux r 50/1.4. These lenses appear to have nervous bokeh due to outlining - here`s an example from the leica on a aps canon: http://www.pzimages.com/8Reviews/lenses/leica_50_14_canon/samples/IMG_1358-01.jpg
I have nothing against leica as I find my 100/2.8 apo elamarit r a near-perfect lens and the bokeh is great


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Septon rare and expensive, other lenses just as good, sadly with a Nikon you are pretty limited in what will work at infinity, probably a Nikon 1.8/50 will do what you need, they are pretty cheap.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
iangreenhalgh1 wrote:
Septon rare and expensive, other lenses just as good, sadly with a Nikon you are pretty limited in what will work at infinity, probably a Nikon 1.8/50 will do what you need, they are pretty cheap.


Thanks for your reply, Ian. I tend to shoot close range, and rarely at infinity. There is a bessamatic/nikon adaptor on ebay which apparently enables infinity focussing and aperture adjustment, but I`d have to see it in action to believe it! Price isn`t a big problem if a lens is good - the only f mount lens currently in production with smooth bokeh wide open is the zeiss 50/2 at £1000, but I`d rather try to find a cheaper option first!

Septon images posted on this forum look great!

Last edited by andyedward on Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:49 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:44 pm    Post subject: Re: best 50mm bokeh lens suggestions please! Reply with quote
andyedward wrote:
I`m looking for a 50mm which can be used on my nikon via an adaptor or directly. Smoooooth bokeh at MAXIMUM aperture is my main priority. I`ve seen good sample images of the Voigtlander Septon 50mm f2. Does anyone have experience of this lens, or can anyone suggest lenses with smooth bokeh?

Outlined bokeh puts me off a lens. Perhaps sample images on the internet aren`t always representative, and bokeh quality is subject-dependent, but they have put me off the zeiss 50/14, nikkors and even the E60 leica summilux r 50/1.4. These lenses appear to have nervous bokeh due to outlining - here`s an example from the leica on a aps canon: http://www.pzimages.com/8Reviews/lenses/leica_50_14_canon/samples/IMG_1358-01.jpg.
I have nothing against leica as I find my 100/2.8 apo elamarit r a near-perfect lens and the bokeh is great


now your link should work.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nope I am wrong, link still bad.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
adent wrote:
Nope I am wrong, link still bad.


try....

http://www.pzimages.com/8Reviews/lenses/leica_50_14_canon/samples/IMG_1358-01.jpg

....or try the main article....

http://www.pzimages.com/8Reviews/lenses/leica_50_14_canon/samples/IMG_1358-01.jpg

I found this bokeh nervous due to outlining


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
pzimages is just a parked domain with nothing uploaded http://www.pzimages.com/ ???


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tervueren wrote:
pzimages is just a parked domain with nothing uploaded http://www.pzimages.com/ ???


The link in my last post works for me

Zeiss makro planar 50/2 web images look smooth and the 24cm MFD seems to provide excellent separation!


PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Take a cheap lens like 55mm f2 Takumar and take your most expensive ones I doubt it will be significantly better than cheap Takumar.
Pancolar 50, Helios-44 , Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 etc , etc almost any well known 50mm lens has great bokeh.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 3:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
Take a cheap lens like 55mm f2 Takumar and take your most expensive ones I doubt it will be significantly better than cheap Takumar.
Pancolar 50, Helios-44 , Micro Nikkor 55mm f3.5 etc , etc almost any well known 50mm lens has great bokeh.


My thoughts are along the same too.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Important to understand what the trade offs can be. read this fully to appreciate what Rick is demonstrating here.

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-207.html

Quote:

"So if it's not the diaphragm shape, what DOES cause good and bad bokeh?

There are multiple factors, but the overriding one is the correction of spherical aberration in the lens formula. A lens with overcorrected spherical aberration will render FOREGROUND highlights smoothly while those in the BACKGROUND will appear as donuts. In a lens with undercorrected spherical aberration the reverse is the case. Because we more often have out-of-focus backgrounds than foregrounds, in most cases this means that lenses with undercorrected spherical aberration have better bokeh. "


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
From what I've seen, the Nikon 50 1.8G gives really smooth OOF areas. I would say even smoother than the Septon gives. Plus it fits Nikons.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
+1 , alternative is 50mm f1.4 nikkor also cheapo ...


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I was very pleased by bokeh of olympus om zuiko 50/1.2, sadly it´s not mountable on nikon achieving infinity focus...


PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2011 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Id grab a Helios 44M 58/2 and/or a SMC Takumar 50/1.4 if I was you


PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Probably my Helios 44-4 58mm/2.0 would be such a lens - with it´s DIY apodization filtering to get smoother bokeh - as long as one has no extreme bright highlights in the image.





That is a 28mm lens as far as I remember:



PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Helios 44-2 here...best bokeh I have, but its the only manual 50 I have also.


Test by babasujaan, on Flickr


Orchid by babasujaan, on Flickr


PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How about a medium format lens like the Mamiya 55/2,8? You can use it with an adapter on a Nikon, like I do on my Canon 5D (FF). It combines sharpness with a creamy bokeh (though the pebbles on the ground of the first picture are not very suitable for bokeh tests). Among the 50s the Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2 has a lot of fans, due to its bokeh. But I don't think that you can adapt that one on a Nikon.

Lichtstrom






PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
SMC M Pentax 50/1,4 my fave cheap. wide open

or you can get any 50/1,2 lens


PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Stunning photo IAZA! I think your samples are prove it what I said before , no matter which 50mm lens do you take all have great bokeh if background has some distance and not so busy like bush etc


PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Attila wrote:
no matter which 50mm lens do you take all have great bokeh if background has some distance and not so busy like bush etc


+10
and I would add, also no highilights in the background, this is important.


PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Not a manual only lens, but the Sigma 50 is about my second or third favorite 50.

The Zeiss 50/2 Makro and Rokkor 58/1.2 are my next favorites.

Sigma 50 is in Nikon mount


PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="plasticmotif"]Not a manual only lens, but the Sigma 50 is about my second or third favorite 50.[/ quote]

Well the Sigma 50mm f1.4 EX is known for having very creamy bokeh but its way out of my price range so I use a Canon FL 55mm f1.2 instead...Sadly, I dont think the FL can be converted to Nikon mount.


PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lichtstrom wrote:
How about a medium format lens like the Mamiya 55/2,8? You can use it with an adapter on a Nikon, like I do on my Canon 5D (FF). It combines sharpness with a creamy bokeh (though the pebbles on the ground of the first picture are not very suitable for bokeh tests). Among the 50s the Minolta Rokkor 58/1.2 has a lot of fans, due to its bokeh. But I don't think that you can adapt that one on a Nikon.

That Mamiya looks very nice in those shots. I have seen shots from the 80/2.8 and 80/1.9 that have the opposite qualities (bright ring bokeh), but they were not focused that close.

The Rokkor 58/1.2 can be converted to Nikon, just not with infinity focus, but the OP doesn't seem to care too much about that as he mainly wants good bokeh for his close-up shots. Stopped down to f/1.6-1.8 the bokeh of the Rokkor is in a class of its own (extremely creamy). The Sigma 50/1.4 is actually a bit too smooth/creamy for my taste. Some people call it "sissy bokeh" for that reason. Wink


PostPosted: Wed Dec 21, 2011 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Does it have to be a 50mm? If you can live with 60mm, I've found the Tamron Macro 60mm f2 SP DI II LD IF WTF ROFL lens to have superb bokeh in all the shots I've seen from it.
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Manual Focus Lenses
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4  Next
Page 1 of 4