Digital SLR Reviews Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Bokeh’

Pentax SMC DA Series 16 50mm f 2 8 ED AL IF SDM Wide Angle Zoom Lens for Pentax Digital SLR Cameras

Designed for exclusive use with Pentax digital SLR cameras, the Pentax DA* 16-50mm f/2.8 wide-angle zoom lens is a terrific choice for landscapes, portraiture, and just about any other application. The lens features a tightly sealed, weather-resistant and dust-resistant construction to enhance durability in rainy or dusty conditions. The lens’s three aspherical elements and two special optical glass elements, meanwhile, help compensate for chromatic and spherical aberration, producing images with superior contrast, clarity, and edge-to-edge sharpness. And thanks to the lens’s Pentax-original Quick-Shift Focus System, you can easily and instantly switch from autofocus to manual focus.

Specifications

• Focal length: 16-50mm
• Maximum aperture: f/2.8
• Minimum aperture: f/22
• Lens construction: 15 elements in 12 groups
• Angle of view: 83 to 31.5 degrees (when used with Pentax digital SLR camera body)
• Number of diaphragm blades: 9
• Metering system: TTL open-aperture metering
• Minimum focusing distance: 0.3 meters
• Maximum magnification: 0.21x
• Filter size: 77mm
• Corresponding AF mounts: Pentax KAF2
• Dimensions: 3.3 inches in diameter and 3.9 inches long
• Weight: 19.9 ounces (without hood)
• Warranty: 1 year

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Stunning lens
It’s too bad there are bad copies out there because the only thing thing I can say about my copy is “stunning.” Well, there are other adjectives but you get the idea;)

I’ve had mine for a little over a month now and it’s by far my favorite lens. Crystal clear sharpness, incredible colors, great bokeh, and wonderful contrast. For me it’s the perfect walkaround lens–although I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a 31mm Limited!

As for the bad copies, I know there are bad copies out there and you should always test your lens but make sure you test it correctly. The WRONG way to test it is to make a test board, open up the lens to 16mm, 2.8 and get close to the board so that it fills or nearly fills the frame. I guarantee the edges will be hugely out of focus. The reason is the edge is 40% farther from the lens than the center of the picture. So it’s better to back away and take several shots by focus locking on the target and then moving your camera so the image is on the various edges of the frame.

My copy does have very, very slight vignetting at 16mm at 2.8 but it’s never been annoying, but it can be easily PP’d out if need be. I didn’t mark it down for this because it is so slight and is actually pleasing to the eye, imo.

One thing, however, is you should buy it from a reputable dealer with a good return policy so if you do get a bad one it won’t be a hassle to return it. I have to say, though, that this lens is so good it’s worth taking the risk.

5 Stars Great Lens!
I’ve been using the Sigma 18-50mm f2.8, and upgraded to the Pentax because of the SDM, the wider wide angle, and the Weather Resistance, and I don’t regret it. The Sigma isn’t a bad lens, considering it costs ~60% as much, but this lens is far superior.

Initially, I thought it was broken – when I pressed the shutter button I didn’t hear *anything*. Then I realized that it had focused, and was amazed. It’s much faster focusing than my other short zooms, nearly silent, and very precise. Contrast is great, bokeh is very nice. It also focuses closer than I expected – down to around four or six inches. Not a Macro, but definitely useable for lots of close-ups.

The images I’ve gotten from it in the days I have had it are extremely sharp and contrasty. The Sigma I have tended to underexpose by about half a stop; this one seems dead on.

This thing is huge, too. It’s probably 30% bigger than the Sigma, and much heavier. Prepare to spend money if you want to put filters on this baby. Make sure you have a good strong back before strapping this thing on your camera, too!

Pentax continues to amaze me with the quality they produce at such low prices. If you’re one of the people that just snorted when I said “Low prices”, I suggest you go check the price on the Nikkor or Canon equivalent of this lens (L series in Canon lenses). Then report back.

2 Stars I sent the first two back
They are still having problems with quality assurance. This lens arrived and it looked great. I took several test images of a large 2 foot square black-on-white ink line drawing. It had sharply defined ink pen lines all over it, all the way to the edges. The images showed that the focus was unacceptably out of alignment from left to right and also a bit out from bottom to top. Looking at the test images over all, it seems like it might be a good lens if they can get me one with the alignment right.

Ammended 9/24 2009

The replacement arrived I tested it today using the same method and the alignment on this replacement lens was out of alignment in roughly the opposite direction by a similar amount, making the left edge significantly less sharp focused than the right. I returned it for replacement. We shall see what we get on the next try. I really would like to to get a properly aligned example of this lens that can provide images with a consistent focus left and right and top and bottom.

Ammended 9/29/2009

Amazon declined to send a third lens, offering simultaneously that getting two defective examples was very unusual, and strangely that, were they to ship a third, it would likely suffer the same defect. They volunteered to refund my shipping cost and purchase price, and recommended I contact Pentax. I will post clips from the center and each of the two extreme edges of the test image on this site.

It was very easy to alert Amazon and initiate a return. I really would still like to get a good one of these lenses. Apparently you do need some amount of luck to accomplish that.

My advice to anyone wanting one of these is, be prepared to test what you get, and do not order it a week before your big vacation trip expecting to have one arrive at the last minute that is good enough to use.

5 Stars A bargain…just buy it!!!
For Pentax K20D users:

(Older model owners: upgrade already, you’re missing all the fun, what are you waiting for?

I reviewed tons of sites before purchasing this lens. Here the lowdown after some extensive K20D (real world studio with people, not charts) testing:

-”Famous urban Internet legend” QA issues: Are done and over with. Blast from the (2008) past. All current lenses in stock do not have any issues anymore (in case you heard).

-Sharpness/Focus: Much, much better then lower grade zooms, especially if you stop down an f-stop or two (which you really should anyhow). It really shows all the (detailed) glory of your sensor. Do not settle for a third party lens (Sigma, Tamron, etc.) if you can have the real thing.

-AF: Way more accurate then kit/consumer lenses. Dead-on 95% of the time (versus non * lenses: More like 50%-70%). And in case you’re comparing: Yes, it’s better then the 17-70mm Pentax.

-A real bargain compared to Nikon/Canon glass: you would have to pay over a grand for the same quality.

-Bottom line: the best zoom glass you can get other then the (new digital) * primes. Even there, I think you would have a hard time to see a difference.

And yes, I do this for a living (shooting, not reviewing, that is).

I’m just flabbergasted how professional Pentax has become: The Nikon D300 with any glass shoots like a Coolpix in comparison (yes, I own an entire Nikon outfit).

5 Stars This is the lens to buy
Stellar! If you’re buying a new camera, don’t buy the “throw away” lens that comes with the camera for a hundred bucks (you get what you pay for), save the money and apply it towards this lens. If you have the camera body already and are looking for a top notch lens, this is it. The 16mm-50mm f2.8 is great for shooting indoors and outdoors. It is excellent in low light situations, especially where you don’t want to use a flash. One of the best lenses I’ve seen in a long time. Well worth the price at full price through Pentax, Amazon has been giving this lens away, so even better.

Buy/More Info

Nikon 85mm f 1 8D AF Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

This fast, compact lens is an excellent choice for indoor or outdoor portraits, as well as indoor sports and stage productions.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars This thing delivers.
If you have a grand to burn…get the 1.4. If you are a practical person, enjoy maxin’ out the gear you currently own before buying more stuff get the 1.8. This lens produces absolute beauty. The Bokeh is very…and i mean very pleasing and, of course, sharp as hell. I own various fixed lenses and even the 80-200mm af-s behemoth(serious “bokeh-er”)and I’m still drawn to my 85mm 1.8 like a magnet. I believe in squeezing my current gear before moving on to 1.4’s for example. That’s just me. This Nikkor is indeed fantastic. This is your lens if you need above average performance at a reasonable price.

5 Stars No need for the 85 f/1.4 for my needs!
I LOVE this lens!!! When shooting, I ALWAYS go to this lens for that “has to be sharp” photograph.

I can’t believe I took so long to purchase this, but am so glad that I did!

Focus is fast and accurate, and it does suffer from some CA, but only in extreme cases…but can be corrected easily in photoshop!

This lens has a great build, great weight and a great feel to it.

85mm is great for portraits, and the f/1.8 offers a VERY NICE bokeh!!!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

4 Stars Wonderful lens, especially for crop-size DSLRs
I like the 85mm focal length very much. On a Nikon crop-size DSLR, the 85mm focal length is a very useful short-to-medium telephoto length, giving a nice field of view with just enough distance compression to get a pleasant telephoto perspective. This lens’ wide aperture gives plenty of control of depth of field, allowing you to isolate your subject and get just the right amount of defocus elsewhere in the frame. I tend to prefer to use it at f/2.8 or so, although having the ability to go to f/1.8 is certainly useful at times.

A few notes on specific performance issues, some of which seem to be in disagreement with others here:

- I would not characterize the lens as very sharp wide open. I’ve sampled three of these lenses, two “AF” models and one “AF-D” model. The AF-D was the best. Like any lens I’ve used, it loses sharpness at wider apertures, and I would characterize it as soft at f/1.8, still moderately soft at f/2.8, good at f/4, sharp at f/5.6 and very sharp at f/8. There is a definite difference in sharpness at each aperture up through f/8. This is not necessarily bad. A bit of softness at f/1.8-f/2.8 might be desirable for portraits and some other types of photos, and the lens is very sharp where you would usually use it for landscapes and general photography – f/5.6-f/8 or so. At wider apertures, the contrast between a blurred background and relatively sharp subject remains striking and is a very pleasant effect that will allow you to get exceptional images.

- This is not a high-contrast lens, due at least partly to a lack of ED glass. This is appropriate and probably contributes to its reputation as a good portrait lens – skin tones are pleasantly rendered and the overall effect is slightly subtler and gentler compared to Nikon’s most contrasty lenses. I can shoot the same scene with this lens and then with my 16-85mm (consumer DX zoom), and colors that leap off the screen with the 16-85 are significantly mellowed with the 85/1.8.

- I don’t see any loss of contrast at wider apertures. This is good. The 50mm f/1.8 loses a lot of contrast wide open, for example (and mine is considerably softer than the 85mm at wide apertures).

- I would not say the quality of bokeh is particularly pleasing. It can be distracting at times, and I see color effects in the blurred areas (chromatic aberration), which occurs because different wavelengths of light are blurred differently by the lens (some very expensive lenses are “apochromatic,” meaning that they correct for this). This does not in my opinion detract significantly from my images, since the whole idea of defocus is to attract the viewer’s eye to the subject rather than away from it and so consequently one does not tend to study an out-of-focus background unless actually evaluating it specifically; but this might be one of the reasons the f/1.4 lens is a more popular choice among those willing to spend three times the money. This is speculation on my part as I have not tried the f/1.4.

- Focus is very quick and as far as I can tell completely accurate. I do use a simple test chart to test focus with all my lenses and this lens focuses well within its depth of field even wide open.

This lens is very good for tight indoor shots as well as outdoor photography. At near-wide-open it can be used indoors with fairly low available light and make very pleasing shots of tight groupings of people from a reasonable distance. A slower lens will tend to bring the background into the photo more than is desirable, which can be distracting in the final image.

It is not a good only lens and perhaps not even the first prime lens one should buy. It is a very good lens to have after all the basic focal ranges are covered, and perhaps after a “normal” prime, and it is a very good lens for taking pictures of people. In addition to this lens I highly recommend Nikon’s very affordable 35mm f/2 (2/25/09 note: Nikon has recently announced an even more affordable 35mm f/1.8 lens for DX which will probably prove to be an even better choice for DX users), which is very sharp indeed and in my opinion a far better lens than the 50mm f/1.8. I do however prefer the 85mm as a matter of pure personal taste: it is my personal favorite fixed-length lens.

I wish I could give it 4-1/2 stars as it is a good, good lens, but can not justify giving a full five. I don’t think anybody would regret buying it, however. With a bit of help from the user it is capable of making some truly fine images.

Other Lenses:

I’ve had the opportunity to own and use many different Nikon lenses and have posted my impressions of several of them here on Amazon. For those interested, here are short summaries. I have used all these lenses on Nikon DX-sized DSLRs, most recently my current D90. Refer to the full reviews for further detail.

35mm f/2 AF-D: **** Sharp, especially at large apertures, moderate contrast. Classic “normal” lens for DX but consider new 35mm f/1.8 AF-S instead.

50mm f/1.8 AF-D: *** My sample was unacceptably poor at large apertures. Perhaps a below-average sample. Focal length not ideally suited to DX.

16-85mm VR ***** Very sharp at all settings, excellent contrast, very useful zoom range including true wide-angle at 16mm. Excellent VR. Best-kept secret for DX users.

28-200mm AF-G *** Of two samples, one was excellent and one poor, so watch for sample variations. Very good contrast. Not ideal hand-held due to lack of VR. Not ideal for tripod use due to design.

55-200mm VR **** Very good lens, very good sharpness and contrast, no fatal flaws. Cheap feel and feature-challenged, but has effective VR. A bargain.

70-300mm VR *** My sample had very poor performance above 200mm, good to very good elsewhere. Good contrast, generally very good focus performance. Good sports/action lens. Not good where critical sharpness is desired. Possibly a below-average sample.

4 Stars Solid lens, expensive, NO LENS Pouch!
The bad:

Major dissapointment not to have a lens bag, Nikon went cheap on this one.

The lens hood is metal and screw style mount, it is a hassle. You got to be very careful as it is metal to metal threads, so you better screw it in right to prevent permanent damage.

I bought it from Adorama and had no tamper seal, so keep an eye on that…

The good:

Excellent picture quality, very sharp, solid like a tank. I only wish the lens hood was bayonet style.

3 Stars Poor contrast and not sharp with wide open apertures.
Whenever I try or buy a lens, I perform a simple but fairly objective test on the lens: I photograph a bar code from a bottle.

I photograph the bottle’s bar code with the aperture wide open then stop down an f-stop at a time.

With the 85mm 1.8 lens at f1.8 aperture, the contrast is poor and bar code is fuzzy. At around f5.6, the bar code is perfectly sharp and the contrast is excellent.

I also own the Nikon 50mm 1.4 lens and it too is fuzzy and has poor contrast wide open. Only when the aperture is closed down several stops does one obtain very good sharpness and contrast. I think the Nikon f1.8 lens is a piece of junk.

I’ve also owned the 85mm 1.4 lens and it’s perfectly sharp at 1.4 but it is nearly 3x the price and a lot heavier.

I wish reviewers wouldn’t arbitrarily state that a lens is perfectly sharp wide-open without stating how they arrived at that conclusion.

If I could, I’d post my results as proof but Amazon won’t allow links and I can’t include images.

Buy/More Info

Canon EF 70 200mm f 4L USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Capture the far-off action of fast-paced sports or zoom in for an intimate portrait with the Canon EF 70-200mm telephoto zoom lens. This high-performance, L-series telephoto zoom lens is distinguished by such features as an f/4 maximum aperture, an inner focusing system, and a ring-type ultra-sonic monitor (USM). The last two features combine to deliver quick and quiet autofocusing–a priority for many amateur and professional photographers. In addition, photographers can attach and use a circular polarizing filter without difficulty because the front lens element does not rotate during focusing. Compatible with the same tripod collar (sold separately) used with the EF 300mm f/4L USM lens, the lens carries a one-year warranty.

• Focal length: 70-200mm
• Maximum aperture: 1:4.0
• Lens construction: 16 elements in 13 groups
• Diagonal angle of view: 34 to 12 degrees
• Focus adjustment: Inner focusing system with USM
• Closest focusing distance: 3.9 feet
• Zoom system: Rotating type
• Filter size: 67mm
• Dimensions: 3.0 inches in diameter, 6.8 inches long
• Weight: 25 ounces

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars L-series lens at non-L-series price
Fantastic lens for the price. A must have for the serious Amateur photographer. The 70-200 F4L has good length, good weight, great glass and amazing results.

While its not the most amazing lens for bokeh, it does yield pleasant results in that field as well. On a crop-body (aps-c) this lens gives an effective zoom of 112-320mm. With a F-stop range from 4 to 32, you can shoot in almost any condition and get great, sharp shots. Combine this lens with a good off-camera flash, and you can get some really great shots.

Downsides

- the AF tends to hunt

- only F/4.0

- No image stabilization

These factors are minor and easily compensated for. Because the lens is FTM, you can use your auto-focussing to get you close, and then fine-tune manually. At F4, it’s not the best lens in low-light – but with an corded or off-camera flash, you can make up for low-light. Lack of Image stabilization hasn’t prevented me from taking amazing pictures, however, I’m sure with it, I could take better.

At ~$600-700, this lens is worth every penny.

4 Stars Worth the price
I hummed and hawwed for quite a while before buying this. My 75-300mm f4-5.6 was was too soft at 200+ and using a CP was nearly impossible. Would this lens be worth all the extra though?

I think it is, my photo’s haven’t magically leaped forward overnight but out of the 500 photos i took over the past 2 weeks (the majority with this lens) I’m happy with most of them something which never would have happened before. Those i’m not are mainly due to fast moving birds.

The build quality is very good as you’d expect. The constant f4 and internal focusing almost justifying the lens on their own in my opinion. I’ve also obtained much sharper images then i would have before, even <1/200 at full zoom.

I’m really glad i bought this, and am not even missing the IS at present.

5 Stars Lightweight and great for outdoors.
I am an amateur SLR user and this is my second Lens for my Canon T1i camera which came with the 18-55mm kit lens. The pictures are so sharp and clear outdoors even if I don’t use a tripod when taking shots. I could compare an L lens picture from the EF lenses output. L lenses are really worth the price.

I’ve been taking shots indoors during sports activities and this is where I think the tripod works well since this camera does not have IS on it. I did not want to spend another $400 to buy the IS version since I only use this camera on weekends during volleyball and basketball games.

Since the zoom starts at 70mm don’t expect to take close up photo shots with this lens especially indoor pictures with ease. It was designed for it’s purpose.

For the wide angle shots I just bought the 23-135mm Canon EF lens with IS. This wider angle lenses would be my walk around lens for sure.

5 Stars Your search ends here!
I have had this lens for several years. It produces color accurate pictures. It’s a great lens for portaits.

5 Stars SUPER SHARP !
So sharps, it cuts ! My thirty-some female friends are completely exposed around this lenses and now they are organized to prohibit me from using this piece of equipment around them. Let me put it this way, the results are so sharp and vivid, you can counts the number of facial wrinkles and make-up layers, NO JOKE ! Other than your thirty-some female friends, everything else will be award winning works.

Buy/More Info