Bokeh shots

[joycegian]

Hi Guys,

I wish to get a good lens to take good bokeh shots.
Was aiming to get the FA50 f1.4 initially.

Until I noticed that there is this Tamron 17-50 f2.8 & Sigma 17-70 f2.8.

Price range are almost the same.

Because the FA50 is at a fixed length, I find it a little disadvantage.

I usually shoot my son playing at home.
Found myself always turning the focal length, very difficult to be keep the length on a spot.

Any pictures to show this 3 lenses pictures to see the bokeh?

 

[DarkPa1adin]

try flickr for lens group? do consider sigma 50mm 1.4

 

[ranchy]

Hi Guys,

I wish to get a good lens to take good bokeh shots.
Was aiming to get the FA50 f1.4 initially.

Until I noticed that there is this Tamron 17-50 f2.8 & Sigma 17-70 f2.8.

Price range are almost the same.

Because the FA50 is at a fixed length, I find it a little disadvantage.

I usually shoot my son playing at home.
Found myself always turning the focal length, very difficult to be keep the length on a spot.

Any pictures to show this 3 lenses pictures to see the bokeh?

Don't have any photos of those 3 lens.. but
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=689906&highlight=Tamron+17-50&page=3
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=700059&highlight=Tamron+17-50
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=k7 tamron 17&w=all
to have a look at those link for Tamrom 17-50mm F2.8

As for 50mm.. you may take this as a guide. Alot of information given by pinholecam :thumbsup:
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=698116
He has some photos taken with 50mm, you can have a rouge gauge how it might look like..
To have nice bokeh.. you need to consider 3 factors.. i saw nightmare86 quoting this..
"you mean, shallow dof is not comparable with fast lenses.
but it still can be done. if you understand how to get oof background, it has 3 factors:

1) focal length
2) aperture
3) subject-background distance

for every equivalent focal length, aperture, and subject-background distance, a aps-c sensor will be infinitely better (in terms of rendering an oof background) than that of a pns. period. so i don't know what you people are complaining about.

 

[seafone]

You can't really compare a f/1.4 to a f/2.8 when you are going for good bokeh. It is like comparing not so blur oof and very blur oof.

Suggest you look around the web to see photo samples taken at various of these f-stop.

Generally, the bigger the appertures hole will give u more out of focus bokeh. The difference between the above mentioned f-stop can be very distinct if you are really going for bokeh.

 

[detritus]

My preference is still the 50mm f1.4.

Its a good working distance for portrait shots, the image quality is excellent and the versatility of f1.4 cannot be under-estimated.

Its not just abt the bokeh. That's great on the 50mm as well but my favourite application is using it in low light: home warm lighting, dim restaurants, night outings.

It's important to me cos I don't want to lug an external flash everywhere and I prefer not to use the onboard flash.

 

[Ben Ang]

in my experience, versitility and quality seldom go together. the tamron 17-50 has ok sharpness (even when stopped down), rather low contrast at 2.8 and looks very flat. bokeh is ok only if your shooting close ups. point to note, the AF for the tamron with in buuilt mnotor is SLOW.. well, quite slow. so might not fit your needs. it also wasnt very accurate. my 50 1.2 is as sharp or maybe even sharper than it at 1.2.

50mm is a nice focal lenght. but on cropped sensors, 35 is even nicer. either way, i find primes though more limiting, force you to really think about pictures before taking. and manual focus adds even more to this. it really help u improve your composition.

for those reasons i shoot manual focus primes for my own work and only kept the tamron for events. imho, the tamron is never going to match up in optical quality to the 50 1.4. but it wil be more versatile.

o btw, nikon user here.

regards,
benjamin.

 

[pinholecam]

I find that a zoom can hamper rather than encourage speed/decisiveness in shooting children rather than help. YMMV. So much time is taken to "zoom-zoom-zoom" and decide on the focal length that the photo opportunity is missed. MHO is that it can also encourage a very 'lazy' way of shooting (Eg. Just sit static on my armchair and zoom ; Well at least I find that I have a tendancy to do that ). There is lack of engagement and chance to explore other angles.


Incidentally, your question has just been asked before just a few days ago. You might have missed the post.
Here is the specific post I made in reply. It compares the pictures taken with a 50/1.7 and a 28-75/2.8 at 50mm.
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6136352&postcount=7

Certainly the 50/1.7 or 50/1.4 will have less DOF over a 17-50/2.8 at 50mm f2.8. It just depends on how much of it you want.

 

[fengwei]

F2.8 is still abit slow for taking indoor photos under natural light condition. Better get a faster prime. I really suggest you to get the FA50/1.4. As some mentioned above, a prime lens might force you to think about your composition so you'd improve a lot, and to be honest, indoor full body kids photos are not that interesting anyway, especially in home like mine (too messy w/ toys and cheapy old furniture).

IMO for kids photos, the most important thing is to capture kid's expression instead of full body posture or movement. I'm not against full body kids photos, but I'd rather to see the most interesting part (here for kids are their expression on their faces) instead of the whole picture.

These were all taken by an FA50/1.7.

 

[snapnut]

The Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 and the FA 50mm f1.4 are my 2 main lens.
Shoot kids indoors... FA 50mm f1.4.
Outdoors, brighter and with background further away Tamron bokeh very good as well.

The FA 50mm f1.4 produces better 3D like colours (SMC coating maybe)... just look a fengwei's pics... those pics made me decide to buy a pentax.
The 50mm is sharper than the Tamron, much sharper f2.0 onwards.

 

[evolutioner]

what about the Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited?
anyone with exp on this 1?

 

[joycegian]

Thanks for all the reviews.
Still will still stay for the FA50 1.4 then.

Price increase again.
Just got a ca from SLR that the stocks are in..
Now $546.
My last quote I got from him was $493.

Keep increasing..
Better faster buy. LOLS.
Gonne go get it this Friday!

 

[detritus]

Thanks for all the reviews.
Still will still stay for the FA50 1.4 then.

Price increase again.
Just got a ca from SLR that the stocks are in..
Now $546.
My last quote I got from him was $493.

Keep increasing..
Better faster buy. LOLS.
Gonne go get it this Friday!

someone's selling a 2nd hand one in buy / sell... quick! go see!

 

[joycegian]

someone's selling a 2nd hand one in buy / sell... quick! go see!

Yup, I just saw.
But I would rather just top up $100 to get a Brand New one.
I don't really trust 2nd hand goods ESP on electrical stuff.
Unless they are real cheap or half the selling price for a new one then I might consider. Lols.

 

[evolutioner]

lens is more of optical/mechanical..

btw.. Pentax SMC-DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited is priced at the same region.. and it's a limited lens, why dont u consider this?

 

[fengwei]

what about the Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited?
anyone with exp on this 1?

As I said above, 2.8 isn't really fast enough sometimes when taking indoor photos. DA40/2.8 is a great little lens, but still, for indoor a 50/1.4 or 50/1.7 is a better solution.

 

[ranchy]

what about the Pentax DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited?
anyone with exp on this 1?

DA40mm is a nice lens.. It's a pancake lens which is small! Putting on K-x or K-7, it is so nice. looking. Very good build. The 40mm focal length is nice for indoors. (Not good for groups photos if you are in a small area.).
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/...sion/101470-da-pancake-most-popular-lens.html
Here is a link on it, some pictures of people using it is in there also.

But a FA50 and DA40, has different F-stops, F1.4 to a F2.8 respectively. You will surely start to think of the F1.4 :devil: especially when you are taking indoors. DA40 may struggle under low light situations but if you don't mind using a flash. It helps u out on that.

 

[eselite]

With an aperture of 1.4 or 1.7 will give you a softer/dreamy image which is very ideal for babies and kids and your pets too!;p

 

[creampuff]

The combination of slightly wider angle of view, maximum f/2.8 f-stop and minimum focusing distance of 0.4m means you will not get really smooth buttery bokeh with the DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited. It's just a compact snapshot lens.
Whereas the FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited, FA 50mm f/1.4 and hard to find FA 50mm f/1.7 beats the DA 40mm hands down in the bokeh department imho.

FA 50mm f/1.4 bokeh

 

[Redtrooper]

The combination of slightly wider angle of view, maximum f/2.8 f-stop and minimum focusing distance of 0.4m means you will not get really smooth buttery bokeh with the DA 40mm f/2.8 Limited. It's just a compact snapshot lens.
Whereas the FA 43mm f/1.9 Limited, FA 50mm f/1.4 and hard to find FA 50mm f/1.7 beats the DA 40mm hands down in the bokeh department imho.

FA 50mm f/1.4 bokeh

Super creamy shots by creampuff..:thumbsup:

 

[scorpioh]

50mm f1.2