best bokah lense on this page?

[ryanjennings]

I want to shoot at a medium distance outdoors and get some good bokah can anyone help me by selecting a lense on this page that is around 1000 or less?

Canon : Lenses - BestBuy

 

[rusty9]

50mm f/1.4 meets your criteria. great lens.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

What *kind* of bokeh ate you after?

 

[usayit]

Lenses that I've had experience with and I liked the bokeh produced in your price range:

Canon 50mm f/1.4
Canon 85mm f/1.8
Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro

You can also look into the Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro... I would recommend checking out samples online as I'm recommending this based on an older (manual focus version) design which is similar to the current AF one.

If the bokeh you are after has a lot of specular highlights, remember to remove filters (assuming you have one)

 

[Dominantly]

Boy, I wouldn't mind having an 85mm f/1.8

 

[Derrel]

Canon's 135/2-L has lovely bokeh, as well as a nice rendering or drawing style. The 85/1.8 is not in the same league, but it's decent. The "OLD" Canon 100mm f/2.8 EF Macro, the pre-USM model, the one that extends when focused closer, is a legendary lens among bokeh nuts; the newer 100mm f/2.8 EF USM model (which I own) has sharp-sided out of focus highlights at smaller apertures, and the Tamron 90mm AF-SP f/2.8 has prettier bokeh than the 100mm 2.8 USM Macro. Canon's 135/2.8 Soft Focus is low-priced and not too bad either. (I am not talking about the new 100/2.8 L-series Canon macro.)

Going to some of the larger photo sharing sites and entering a lens name and searching for it will bring up collections of photos shot with individual lenses. You mentioned "shooting at medium distance outdoors"--so, most of the $1,000-price lenses with good bokeh will probably need to be telephoto lenses to achieve much of a defocused backdrop at medium outdoor ranges. Most manufacturers' 300mm f/4 models have decent bokeh,and are around the $1,000 price point also.

Not sure what you need the lens for...one not too bad bokeh lens is the Nikon 100-300mm f/5.6 AiS manual focus zoom--it's got an absolutely perfectly round wide-open aperture, which is f/5.6, and it goes from 100 to 300mm...kinda' hard to beat that as a cheap "f/5.6 bokeh" lens that also works super with a reversed 6T cloesup lens as a macro setup.

 

[Dao]

I love my EF 85mm f/1.8

 

[Dao]

The 85/1.8 is not in the same league, but it's decent. The "OLD" Canon 100mm f/2.8 EF Macro, the pre-USM model, the one that extends when focused closer, is a legendary lens among bokeh nuts; .

I have that 10mm macro lens, I may want to try that and see how good it is and compare it with my 85mm

 

[Alpha]

Canon ain't got nothin' on Pentax, which makes a 135mm 1.8.

 

[usayit]

Canon's 135/2-L has lovely bokeh, as well as a nice rendering or drawing style.

I agree (I've also shot with that wonderful glass) BUT I didn't mention it because I wouldn't consider it a medium telephoto especially on a crop.

I would in no way recommend the 100mm soft focus...

 

[Derrel]

Here's a few links that might be of interest to you, OP.

Flickr: The Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 Soft Focus Pool

Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM Lens Sample Photos and Specifications

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Lens Sample Photos and Specifications

modifying a lens for better oof - Photo.net Sony/Minolta SLR System Forum

 

[SecondShot]

if you do get the 50mm 1.4 don't buy from Bestbuy, esp at that price. $580???

More like $350-370

 

[dak1b]

50mm 1.4 FTW!

 

[Josh66]

Here's a few links that might be of interest to you, OP.

Flickr: The Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 Soft Focus Pool

LOL, 4 of my pictures are on the first (most recent) page of that. (I'm J__E on Flickr.)
(Not saying that they're good or anything, but I do have the lens - so I could do some kind of test if anybody was interested.)

Only one of those 4 (the most recent one, and currently the most recent in the group) has the soft focus 'turned on'.
(And it needs to be re-scanned - I don't really like the way it came out, but I haven't got around to doing it yet...)

There are much better examples of that lens on there than the ones by me...

I can dig through my archives and see if I can find some better ones...
(Not exactly my most used lens...lol. Just checked, and I only have 144 pictures from it since 2006. )

It's not too bad with the soft focus turned off. Not "L" sharp, or even 50mm 1.4, or 85mm 1.8 sharp, but it's better than the kit lens.
Overall - not a bad lens for the price. I can't remember what I paid for it, but I do remember that it's the cheapest lens I own.


edit - again, lol

OK, here's two pictures I found. Not the best, but of what I have from this lens, they probably show the bokeh the best.
(Only posting them so you can see the bokeh - no C&C necessary, lol.)

Soft focus OFF:

Soft focus ON:

There are 3 soft focus settings on the lens - 0 (off), 1, & 2. I don't remember which the last one was at (1 or 2), and that doesn't get recorded into the exif... Looks like it was probably on 1 though.