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Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 Planar

Bokeh (Glassware, Sony NEX-7)

Bokeh: the way the lens “draws” out of of focus areas, both in the foreground and background. Bokeh can have such a visual impact, either pleasant or distracting or neither, that some photographers might choose a lens for its rendering style, or avoid a lens for an unappealing rendition (wide open or stopped down).

When high macro and micro contrast combine with pleasingly smooth and yet “3D” bokeh, the lens can exert an alluring quality that test charts (“lab tests”) can never articulate, yet seasoned pros often have their favorite lenses for these hard to quantify qualities. Your author is no exception.

Worth noting is that bokeh is often grossly simplified to “smooth blur”. In that regard, some lenses said to have “good bokeh” might really be more about an even and pronounced background blur (e.g. f/1.2), but without the contrast, and so lacking that extra “pop” so important to the entire visual effect. Increasing experience with a variety of fast lenses steadily hones ones appreciation for the differences.

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Diglloyd Guide to Mirrorless offers comprehensive integrated coverage of most APS-C and full frame mirrorless cameras and lenses.

Special emphasis is placed on Sony full-frame, including Sony lenses and the high performance Zeiss Batis and Zeiss Loxia lenses plus Rokinon/Samyang and others. Fujifilm X, Olympus and Panasonic M4/3, Sigma dp Merrill and dp/sd Quattro are also covered in depth. Years in the making, it offers a wealth of material for choosing and using a mirrorless camera.

  • Make better images by learning how to get the best results right away. For example, the best way to set up your Sony camera.
  • Save money by choosing the right lens for your needs the first time, particularly with the numerous lenses available for Sony.
  • Make better images, a sort of “cheat sheet” saving yourself months or years of ad-hoc learning—best practices and how-to and processing parameters are discussed and shown.
  • Jaw-dropping image quality found nowhere else utilizing Retina-grade images up to full camera resolution, plus large crops.
  • Real world examples with insights found nowhere else. Make sharper images just by understanding lens behavior you won’t read about elsewhere.
  • Aperture series from wide open through stopped down, showing the full range of lens performance and bokeh.
  • Optical quality analysis of field curvature, focus shift, sharpness, flare, distortion, and performance in the field.

Want a preview? Click on any page below to see an excerpt as well as extensive blog coverage, for example on Sony.

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f/1.8 @ 1/30 sec handheld, ISO 100, 0.5 push
Sony NEX-7 + Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 Planar

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