In article <33D6935B.24F5@pop.aa.net>, agriff@pop.aa.net says...
>e=mc2@musica.mcgill.ca wrote:
>> > cg081@torfree.net (Martin Tai) writes:

>> > Japanese photographer highly value Leica/Contax lenses due to their
>> > excellent out of focus area rendering--- what the Japanese called bokeh.
>> > Leica and Contax has smooth and pleasant bokeh, some Nikon lens has
>> > annoying double line bohek.

>> Not to sound sceptical, but I am by nature. What the hell are you talking
>> about?
>> I think this out of focus stuff needs clarification, to say the least.

>I think he is refering to an article in Photo Techniques magazine on
>this subject, that
>appeared a couple of months ago.
>
>Apparently, Japanese photographers are very concerned with the
>appearance of the areas
>of their images that are outside the depth of field. According to this
>article, Leica and Contax lenses are popular in Japan, due to the out of
>focus characteristics. They did show a few pictures that showed the
>difference. One of the examples of "bad bokeh" was taken with a Nikkor
>50mm F1.4. The article didn't say that all Nikon lenses were that way,
>just that one example. [..]

Presumably this is what Nikon's "defocus" lenses are about - though
I have not tried them to see. The effect described is quite evident
in the oldest version of the Nikkor 50mm f1.4 (a contrasty texturing
of out-of-focus contrasty details, probably resulting from a fairly sharp
rendering of contrasty subject points as multiple overlapping pentagons
[from the diaphragm shape]). Personally, I like the effect (and it may
serve to slightly increase DOF by making slightly out of focus points
appear sharper), but I can understand the desire to have out of focus
areas go gracefully softer.
Hope This Helps
(David Ruether - http://www.fcinet.com/ruether )