Lens with good bokeh

[~myStical~]

for example a picture like this... the photographer was probably a few feet away.. but i want a nice blurred background than the one here..more creamish smooth ..

more like this one

If you didn't take the pictures you shouldn't imbed them in your post. Provide a link to them instead.

Forum Rules

Oops Sorry, I edited my post. I googled those images.

 

[kundalini]

Oops Sorry, I edited my post. I googled those images.

If you're speaking of post #25, then the links are showing (not going directly to the images) and the images are still in your post.

IMO, there is a direct correlation between the cost of a lens and its ability of producing quality 'bokeh'. The examples previously posted are adequate at best and sub-par in reality. Asking a $300 lens to produce excellent results is a tall order. However, there are a few tricks as the photographer that you can play that will produce better results from a 'lesser' lens. Getting the combinations right with camera-to-subject and subject-to-background ratios right will propel you further towards your intended goal. Also know the strong and weak points of your lens.

For a buck and a quarter, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 is pretty damn good at producing decent 'bokeh' if stoped down to about f/4. If you want the ultimate, drop $1200+ on the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4. The Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 ain't too bad either.

Good luck, just my 2¢ worth as always.

 

[~myStical~]

another question....

with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G or Nikkor 50mm F/1.8

will i be able to shoot something like this ? blurry background ...full body ?
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

because with my 18-55 kit lens ... to get a blurry background i have to be very close to my subject...and i get very tight portrait shot.
like this one
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

with my kit lens ... i can't get a blurry background when shooting from a few feet away from my subject.

 

[musicaleCA]

Also know the strong and weak points of your lens.

Bingo. Knowing your lenses inside and out, their strengths and weaknesses, is what will allow you to finagle every last bit of sharpness and quality bokeh out of them. I'd argue knowing your lenses is more important than knowing the camera body you're working with, but that's just me.

 

[Samanax]

another question....

with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G or Nikkor 50mm F/1.8

will i be able to shoot something like this ? blurry background ...full body ?
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

because with my 18-55 kit lens ... to get a blurry background i have to be very close to my subject...and i get very tight portrait shot.
like this one
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

with my kit lens ... i can't get a blurry background when shooting from a few feet away from my subject.

Depth Of Field (DOF) is affected by 4 things...aperture size (larger opening = shallow DOF, smaller opening = deeper DOF), focal length (longer lens = shallow DOF, shorter lens = deeper DOF), distance between the camera (closer to the subject = shallow DOF, farther from the subject = deeper DOF) and the subject and distance between the subject and the background (subject close to background = shallow DOF, subject farther from the background = deeper DOF).

 

[Josh66]

Also know the strong and weak points of your lens.

Bingo. Knowing your lenses inside and out, their strengths and weaknesses, is what will allow you to finagle every last bit of sharpness and quality bokeh out of them. I'd argue knowing your lenses is more important than knowing the camera body you're working with, but that's just me.

I agree. Lenses last longer than bodies anyway.

You will go through a few bodies over the years, but your lenses (if you care for them properly) will be with you forever.

 

[musicaleCA]

another question....

with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G or Nikkor 50mm F/1.8

will i be able to shoot something like this ? blurry background ...full body ?
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

because with my 18-55 kit lens ... to get a blurry background i have to be very close to my subject...and i get very tight portrait shot.
like this one
Yrsa on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

with my kit lens ... i can't get a blurry background when shooting from a few feet away from my subject.

Depth Of Field (DOF) is affected by 4 things...aperture size (larger opening = shallow DOF, smaller opening = deeper DOF), focal length (longer lens = shallow DOF, shorter lens = deeper DOF), distance between the camera (closer to the subject = shallow DOF, farther from the subject = deeper DOF) and the subject and distance between the subject and the background (subject close to background = shallow DOF, subject farther from the background = deeper DOF).

Technically, on the last one (subject-to-background distance), the DoF doesn't change, just the strength of the bokeh.

 

[Dwig]

For one that auto focuses on the D40, you'll either have to get the 35mm f1.8G, or the 50mm f1.4G.

Here is an example from the 50 mm, with the creamy background you are talking about.

This shows decent bokeh, but not the best. If you look at the out of focus spots where a single small highlight is the spots have a bright ring around the outside. They are not as bad as the rather ugly bokeh in the shot of a woman at a railing in an earlier post.

Also, if you look closely, the off center spots are not completly round, but are slightly clipped like a gibbous moon. This latter flaw exists in almost all lenses when used wide open. When stopped down slightly, the nature of the iris blades (number of blades and, more importantly, the shape of the blades) can cause the blurs to take on a faceted shape rather than smooth round shapes. This makes for uglier bokeh as a rule.

 

[Derrel]

mySticl wrote, "Basically I want to be able to shoot from a distance where I wont have to be too close to the subject and will be able to get a nice blurred background. That's my main concern ...A good distance away. I want to be able to also zoom in with my lens and not with my feet.. >With my kit lens (18-55mm) is okay for casual shooting but I feel like the ability to achieve nice blurred backgrounds is not that great."

After re-reading your comments and the thread, I've determined that what you want is the ability to throw backgrounds well out of focus. Bokeh is a more-esoteric quality than mere background or foreground blur. The problem you have with the kit lens is that with a small sensored camera and a short focal length lens, the combination produces quite a bit of depth of field. With the kit lens, having only an f/5.6 maximum aperture at 55mm means that, once a subject is 10-15 feet away, the depth of field at that distance range and at f/5.6 or smaller, everything from infinity and closer to XX feet is rendered in "recognizably sharp focus"; mind you I am not saying that objcts at infinity are rendered as acceptably sharp enough to be considered within the Depth of Field zone, but simply sharp enough to be "recognizable" Your lens aperture limits with the 18-55,combined with an APS-C size sensor, means that the majority of your photos have backgrounds that are "reasonably" in-focus. And the only way you've been able to get the backdrops well,well out of focus is by shooting from a close camera-to-subject distance,and having backgrounds that are relatively "far away" from your main subject.

What you want to do has long been called achieving a "blown-out background". That is very hard to do with an 18-55 kit zoom; it can NOT be done at longer working distances like 15 to 20 feet on APS-C.

Welcome to the world of slow consumer lenses shot on APS-C cameras. I recently wrote a lengthy blog post on how APS-C impacts people photography,and your situation is very frustrating to many people. Still, all hope is not lost. When you asked if you could get a full-body shot with the 50mm f/1.8 with an out of focus background, the answer is "somewhat" out of focus. I think you'd find it easiest to buy an 85mm lens or a used 105mm f/2.5 AiS Nikkor, and experiment with those two focal lengths, at apertures of f/4.5 to f/2.5.

With a 50mm on a D40, you will need to be 17 feet away from a 6-foot tall person in order to get a field of view that is 8.16 feet tall, to allow for some space above their head and at their feet. At f/2.8 you will have good depth of field from 15.2 feet to 19.2 feet, a four-foot deep DOF band. Objects that are "close" to 20-30 feet will appear reasonably recognizable, while backgrounds that are "far" behind the 19 foot range will appear increasingly out of focus.

Using your kit lens at f/5.6, the DOF band is from 13.8 to 22.1 feet, or a total depth of 8.35 feet--twice as much as with a 50mm lens set to f/2.8. it might not "sound" like much of a difference, and the numerical or quantitative difference between a four foot and an 8.35 foot deep depth of field might seem like it is not significant, but the qualitative difference is quite significant, especially at short focal lengths like the 18-55 zoom has.

Buying a longer focal length zoom, like a 70-300 would give you more framing and distance flexibility and the ability to get what I think you seek--out of focus backgrounds WITHOUT the need to be really,really close to your subjects, the way the 18-55 forces you to do.

A good lens to look for would be a 105mm f/2.5 in AiS mount. No zoom, no metering, but a long enough length and a wide enough aperture and excellent manual focusing characteristics on something like a D40. Decent bokeh, but not as good as newer,more-costly, rounded-diaphragm bokeh lenses like the 85 1.4 or 70-200VR.

 

[~myStical~]

Thank you so much Derrel. You understood exactly what I was talking about...
Thank you for taking your time and explaining. I really really appreciate it.

105mm f/2.5 in AiS mount ....

What is AIS ? is this one compatible with the nikon d40 and does it auto-focus?

How much is it ? I couldn't find it online.

 

[PastTheFuture]

Thank you so much Derrel. You understood exactly what I was talking about...
Thank you for taking your time and explaining. I really really appreciate it.

105mm f/2.5 in AiS mount ....

What is AIS ? is this one compatible with the nikon d40 and does it auto-focus?

How much is it ? I couldn't find it online.

I don't think that one auto-focuses. I think the only lenses that auto-focus for the D40 are AF-S lenses.

 

[~myStical~]

oohh soo any suggestions for a 70-300 mm lens for the nikon d40 ?

 

[Derrel]

The 105mm f/2.5 is widely available used in either Ai or AiS mount variations at used dealers like the on-line used specialist KEH.com. It is one of *the* easiest-focusing Nikon short telephotos ever made, but it is manual focus only,and it will not give light metering on a D40. It's an excellent outdoor portrait lens on a crop-body d-slr.

Nikon has made several 70-300 models that I can recall. The discontinued,very low-cost 70-300G series model which is optically rather weak at the long end, the 70-300 standard model, the 70-300ED, and now the 70-300VR model. The best optically is the new current VR model, followed by the 70-300ED.

Sigma also makes a 70-300 APO model which isn't too bad from reports I've heard; make sure if you buy a Sigma to get the APO-designated model.