Steve Tenggala , Apr 15, 2006; 12:03 a.m.
Hi all,
I took some pictures today with these lens and just realized how bad
its boke is. It really bothered me in the way it gives that ring-like
look and doesn't look nice at all, let alone the shape of the
aperture blade.
My lens is the regular AF lens, not the D-type. The front and rear
element looks excellent as far as I know. It has a little dust inside
on one of the element. Would this affect how the boke appears on my
pictures? Anybody has experience with this? As far as I know, the
characteristic of boke is just inherent to each lens and it's not
designed and just a byproduct of how the lens is designed. I don't
remember anybody mentioning about the bad boke of this 35mm lens and
I thought a nikkor wouldn't come with this kind of boke. Anybody
wants to share his/her two cents? Thanks.
my sister
Jerry Litynski 
, Apr 15, 2006; 01:06 a.m.
Portraits with a 35mm lens looks like what you posted. Next try, consider using a AF 85mm f1.4 (or 1.4D) and the results may be better. The 'lights' in the background will produce 'shapes,' and the Nikon engineers do not know in advance what type of lighting you plan on using after you have the lens on your camera.
Why do you blame Nikon?
Alex Lofquist , Apr 15, 2006; 01:06 a.m.
Vishal Goklani , Apr 15, 2006; 01:54 a.m.
Hey,
I've been there,done that - you need to spend some $$$ if you want lenses with good bokeh.
The only Nikon lenses that have good bokeh: nikon 85mm 1.4 (you can get a used one for a
good price), Nikon 28-70mm 2.8, Nikon 180mm 2.8, and the 70-200..There are also the
Zeiss lenses, but those haven't been tested yet.
Matt Alofs , Apr 15, 2006; 02:05 a.m.
That isn't terrible bokeh. It isn't great eaither, but compared to something like the 50 1.4 AIS, it's pretty good. Apart from some older lenses and a couple of the very high end lenses, I would say that Nikon has a great reputation for bokeh. Dust in the lens shouldn't be a factor. For some good reading on bokeh and other optical properties check out this site: http://www.vanwalree.com/optics.html.
You could fix some of this in photoshop. Better yet, next time pay a bit more attention to your background; sometimes slight recomposition can make a big difference. In this case I think that the donut highlights seem more prevalent because your eye is drawn to them by the big mass of color to the left of your sister's head. With an otherwise gray background, that mass of color steals focus away from your subject.
BTW, a 35 on a cropped frame camera like your d50 (checked your metadata) is a pretty good lens for general portraits. Actually, a 35 on a full frame camera isn't bad either. Portraits don't need to be shot with an 85 or 105 unless you are getting close enough to your subject to introduce some perspective distortion.
Thanatham Piriyakarnjanakul , Apr 15, 2006; 02:21 a.m.
Hi, I loved your sister.
I have a AF 28 f/1.4D.
I don't know how dot is appear to your bokeh, but your photo need to crop image tighten if your take about portrait. And you should bend the knee for lower angle of view.
This picture someone blame me it's was bad bokeh and this is a poor lens but it's AF 28 f/1.4D!! haha god!! I buy really expensive lens! (Photo taken on S3Pro.)
Yaron Kidron , Apr 15, 2006; 03:12 a.m.
<i>"the only Nikon lenses that have good bokeh: nikon 85mm 1.4 (you can get a used one for a good price), Nikon 28-70mm 2.8, Nikon 180mm 2.8, and the 70-200"</i> -- Woah. You're missing many by far.
Jim Weise , Apr 15, 2006; 03:30 a.m.
it looks to me like the lighting situation was at dusk, which explains the halo-ish bokeh. It looks like a combination of daylight and night photo with the lights on while it's still light out. I think that is the cause of the dull color as well. I wouldn't blame the lens for that. Shooting wide open at dusk in that setting is bound to create some dingy effects. I always like to avoid mixing daylight and strong yellow/orange lights because of that.
Vivek . , Apr 15, 2006; 06:31 a.m.
Jim nailed it. Try it under slightly better lighting conditions.
Benoit Deshaies , Apr 15, 2006; 07:58 a.m.
All 3 shots below were taken with the 35mm AF (non-D), with D70 handheld iso1600 @ f/2. The bokeh is OK to me. The palm tree in the background could have looked nasty if the blades had been doubled up, but it's just soft. And the circle of light has a nice round shape. I've seen worse!
(and by the way, I think the 18-70 has great bokeh.)
35mm AF, 1
