 Lisa C. Lloyd |
Good Lens for Bokeh I have a Nikon D90 and I would like to know what a good, affordable lens would be to get nice bokeh. I would really like to have the Nikon 85mm f/1.4, but was wondering if there was a really good, more affordable, alternative for a beginner.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Tony Sweet |
Well, the thing here, Lisa, is that fast lenses are the best way, to achieve the soft, detail-less background that we all like, but fast lenses (f/2.8 for most lenses and f/4 for very longer lenses) can be unbelievably expensive! However, there is a brand new software, named Bokeh, made by Alien Skin software, which can be used to create a true soft focus background while maintaining detail in the subject area, just like a long lens effect. You can check it out by downloading a trial version from http://Alienskin.com. When ready to buy, you can order from my blog to get a 10% discount. Make sure you watch Jim White's tutorial (Jim's also a instructor here at Betterphoto), which is tremendous and very helpful.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Pete H |
Lisa, The term "Bokeh" is difficult to quantify. The broad definition is essentially the "soft out of focus (quality) of the back ground" "Quality" being the subjective term. What is nice bokeh to one may not be to another. Different lenses produce different looking (Bokeh.) Technically it is tied to the circle of confusion which is based primarily on f/stop as well as the physical shape of the aperture opening leaf and lens optical design. As Tony correctly points out, fast glass will produce out of focus backgrounds, not necessarily pleasing bokeh to some. Personally, I don't get carried away into discussions of what lens produces the best "Bokeh." Those discussions are a little too aristocratic for me. LOL Any long focus lens will produce shallow depth of fields..OR; wide open f/stops. For me, the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 produces one of the most pleasing out of focus backgrounds. Personal opinion only.
Pete
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Tressie Davis |
I like the Nikkor 50mm 1.8 too, and it doesn't get much more affordable than that. :-) My all time fave though, is the 105mm macro 2.8.
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
John G. Clifford Jr |
I agree WRT the 50/1.8... you can pick up a manual-focus one for less than $100 and these make great portrait lenses on APS-C dSLRs. You might also want to consider manual focus 85mm or 105mm lenses... again they're much cheaper than the AF equivalents and you can often pick up a great manual focus lens (great image quality) for much less than a mediocre AF lens. However, if you can ensure that the portrait subject is well away from the background, then almost any lens of 50mm to 100mm or more in focal length and with a max aperture of f/4 or greater will be sufficient to make nice portraits with pleasing out-of-focus backgrounds (bokeh).
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
John G. Clifford Jr |
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
|||||||||||
