The ultimate Bokeh thread; pics please

menos said:
I am really digging the 5cm ƒ3.5 Elmar, since I found out about it's beautiful, beautiful, soft bokeh - watch that background far away (especially the transitions from bright sky to dark background - modern lenses murder any beauty in such things)!
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Well, not all the modern lenses! I think this adds to my earlier post - slower lenses have smoother bokeh. One of the highest-performance, modern lenses for 35mm is the Heliar 50mm f/3.5, and it has exactly this gentle manner that you speak of in the 5cm Elmar of old (which the Helier also somewhat copies in physical style - Cosina's inspiration was clearly the old Elmar):

riverside_cafe_by_philosomatographer-d31ntyi.jpg


really___by_philosomatographer-d4dbpar.jpg

(both, Heliar 50mm at f/3.5, Kodak TMY400-2)
 
menos said:
A photo speaks more than a thousand words :D
Your post before could have easily understood as a Leica rant, but backing it with this beauty of bokeh makes your point clear.
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Thank you! I am trying to make a double-point with the image above: The modern APO-Symmar is quite Leica-like in all respects - flawless optical performance, german (just kidding..! but some people make blanket statements about "german" vs "japanese" glass, etc), but (relatively, for LF) harsh bokeh - much earlier in this thread I posted a more severe example. Yet, the low magnification due to the large film format, together with the "relaxed" f/5.6 design - no need to try and perform miracles focusing light rays through an f/2.0 or f/1.4 hole - means that it still looks better than most 35mm lenses.

Across an entire lens range though, I would have to say my C-series Mamiya RB67 lenses have the most universally perfect bokeh. I have never seen harshness there, from wide-angle to telephoto. Truly perfect most of the time, even the über-corrected ones like the 140mm Macro:

clovery_undergrowth_by_philosomatographer-d3h8zdj.jpg


undergrowth_with_a_view_by_philosomatographer-d3cl9bc.jpg
 
Some more examples of large-format rangefinder bokeh:

Look over the edge
look_over_the_edge_by_philosomatographer-d4ydmvw.jpg

(Nikkor-T*ED 360mm f/8, 25-years-expired Ilford FP4+, Linhof Technika V)

Bedside Vision
bedside_vision_by_philosomatographer-d4ydmxl.jpg

(Schneider-Kreuznach APO_Symmar 150mm f/5.6, 25-years-expired Ilford FP4+, Linhof Technika V)​
 
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