What is the best bang for the buck Bokeh lens for a D5300

[sdlogan9]

What is the best bang for the buck Bokeh lens for a D7000.. Ignore the title I purchased a D7000 instead of the D5300

I need to purchase one soon. Sigma? model number your would recommend?

Some other brand?

Thanks for the advice

-Shane

 

[astroNikon]

That would be the Nikon 50mm/1.8 G AF-S lens for best bang for the buck.

Just make sure that you need an AF-S or equivalent from 3rd party for AutoFocus.

There's other cheaper options such as a Nikon 50/1.8 AF-D lens but that won't AutoFocus on that camera body. You would need a d7x00 or higher for AF on non-AFS lenses.

 

[goodguy]

Another vote for the Nikon 50mm 1.8G, wonderful lens and very cheap

 

[KmH]

Yep. That lens will work.

When you say 'best bokeh lens' are you referring to a lens that can deliver a shallow depth-of-field?
DoF is adjustable, bokeh isn't.

If you are wanting to make photos of people, many people are uncomfortable with the photographer as close as a 50 mm f.18 requires to get a very shallow DoF.
That's why I used 105 mm to 200 mm to photograph people . I could get the same shallow DoF, but I was 4x further from the subject compared to using a 50 mm lens.

Point of focus distance, lens focal length, image sensor size, and lens aperture determine how shallow the DoF is.

Bokeh is an aesthetic quality determined by lens construction. The number and shape of the lens aperture blades plays a big part in determining the quality of bokeh. More aperture blades and curved blades that have rounded edges tend to produce the most pleasing bokeh.
So the only way to adjust bokeh is to change the lens design.

 

[JoeW]

Actually, a very inexpensive, reliable, good lens for getting a tight DoF is the Nikkor 35mmDX f1.8. Small, light, works like a charm, you can get them new for as cheap as $150 and they're so small and light you can just slip it in a cargo pocket or jacket pocket or purse as a second lens and skip your sling or messenger bag. B/c it's wide angle you get some distortion of straight lines (like if you're shooting a model framed by a window or door).

Here are two examples:

 

[goodguy]

With the right skills almost any prime lens can work well for portraits but personally I would never choose 35mm lens for portrait.
35mm on crop sensor is like 53mm on FF, you really want to get closer to the classic 85mm but as I said some can do very good job with 35mm and even 24mm

 

[Msteelio91]

I have the 35mm f1.8 and I love it, here's a flickr pool of images taken with that same lens...

Flickr The Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f 1.8G Pool

 

[sdlogan9]

So I ended up buying a Nikon D7000 instead of the D5300 - I liked the camera better. I also bought a Nikon 50/1.8 AF-D to get me by for now.

Although I would like to buy a few better lenses in the near future. I might pick up a sigma 50mm f1.4 art, or some 85mm to 105mm to 200mm variant that Keith @ studio 101 referenced.

Thanks for all the good tips guys!
-Shane

 

[qleak]

So I ended up buying a Nikon D7000 instead of the D5300 - I liked the camera better. I also bought a Nikon 50/1.8 AF-D to get me by for now.

Although I would like to buy a few better lenses in the near future. I might pick up a sigma 50mm f1.4 art, or some 85mm to 105mm to 200mm variant that Keith @ studio 101 referenced.

Thanks for all the good tips guys!
-Shane

I think that's a reasonable choice. However, I wouldn't recommend buying the sigma f1.4. It is too close in function to your 50mm f/1.8. You'd probably only use one of them.

Instead consider a different focal lenth the nikon 85mm f1.8g is about $450 and is the sharpest lens for nikon under $1000. It's also pretty damn fast at f1.8.

 

[480sparky]

You want bokeh? You want it cheap?

Pentacon 135mm f/2.8. The one with 15 aperture blades. Goes by the alias Bokeh Monster and Bokeh King. Sells for around $200-225.

Downsides: It comes in the M42 mount, so you'll need an adapter. And you lose the ability to automatically close the aperture, so you'll be using it as a preset lens.

 

[sdlogan9]

You want bokeh? You want it cheap?

Pentacon 135mm f/2.8. The one with 15 aperture blades. Goes by the alias Bokeh Monster and Bokeh King. Sells for around $200-225.

Downsides: It comes in the M42 mount, so you'll need an adapter. And you lose the ability to automatically close the aperture, so you'll be using it as a preset lens.

Sounds like a really good price for a good 135mm I will check into that one~!

 

[480sparky]

Sounds like a really good price for a good 135mm I will check into that one~!

Caveat Emptor. There's 4 or 5 versions. Again, make sure you get the one with 15 blades. If you're not paying attention, you get 6 or 8 blades.

 

[qleak]

You want bokeh? You want it cheap?

Pentacon 135mm f/2.8. The one with 15 aperture blades. Goes by the alias Bokeh Monster and Bokeh King. Sells for around $200-225.

Downsides: It comes in the M42 mount, so you'll need an adapter. And you lose the ability to automatically close the aperture, so you'll be using it as a preset lens.

Sounds like a really good price for a good 135mm I will check into that one~!

Make sure you look into the details of what using an M42 lens means. Every major manufacturer has used some sort of bayonet mount for at least the last 30 years.

So this lens will not work natively on your camera. You could pay someone to adapt and chip it, but that would probably cost $**2

Also beware, aperture blades can get sticky and not work correctly. The more blades you have the higher the risk.

This is not an autofocus lens, so be comfortable with manual focus, at f2.8 it's harder than you might guess even with AF.

Getting an optically good copy of a lens this old could be questionable too.

You get what you pay for.

Edit: Fact check canon adapted the EOS mount less than 30 years ago, but they still were not using screw mount all the way back to the FL mount in 1964.

Edit 2: Canon has not used a screw mount to my now increased knowledge. My original assertaion appears to be true since there were 2 types of fd mounts bayonet and breech lock

History of the Canon SLR Lens Mount items in Plumtree Photo store on eBay

 

[sdlogan9]

Do I need a special adapter to mount it to my D7000?

 

[sdlogan9]

They seem to be selling on Ebay for a wide variety of prices.70.00- 275.00