Canon 100-400mm Bokeh

dod

dod

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Rather than messing up this thread anyone else got any examples of strange bokeh from the 100-400?

birdy2.jpg
 
It does look very odd I must admit. Is it the lens, the camera or a combination of the both?
 
A term borrowed from the Japanese, pronounced with short vowels. (ie: more like French pronunciation - bo-ké - versus long English diphthongs - bow-kay.) Essentially bokeh, which is Japanese for blurring, refers to the quality of out of focus areas of a picture. Bokeh can be important for portraiture - you want out of focus areas behind the subject to be smooth and as non-distracting as possible. Highly patterned or sharp-edged areas don’t look as good.

Many factors in the design of the lens influence bokeh, which is in turn a pretty subjective concept. For example, lenses with very few aperture diaphragm leaves (perhaps 5) tend result in pentagonal out of focus highlights. Lenses with more aperture leaves (7 or 8 or more) tend to result in rounder out of focus highlights. This can affect bokeh under certain circumstances, though is by no means a guarantee of good bokeh.

Mirror lenses are notorious for bad bokeh - they have annular (ring or doughnut shaped) out of focus highlights and fine detail lines tend to appear as double lines. This form of bokeh, “cross-eyed” or “ni-sen bokeh,” (Japanese for two line bokeh) is one in which detail lines appear as blurry double lines.
 
Have you tested the lens on other bodies? May be that would help narrow down what's causing this :shrug:
 
I've seen that oddity from my 100-400 too, although very rarely. I've no idea what causes it and it's not something that I've ever been able to create at will. Maybe just a quirk of the lens :shrug:

I'll see if I can find an example of it.
 
I used to have it with my 100-400...it's as if the bokeh is blurred...yet the main focus of the photo is fine! :thinking:
 
I think you will now and again get strange bokeh from the 100-400L, but I think it depends on the aperture, the subject distance, and the nature of the bg behind the subject. I've even seen it produce circular donuts, not unlike a mirror lens.
 
Hi Dod,


similar effect here, you'll notice it seems to happen with linear shaped items in the background so your lens is normal. Some lens' occasionally portray differing/strange bokeh, the 100-400 being one of them.

145340210_hsj7Z-L.jpg


High contrast seems to be prevalent in all the above samples ;)

I liked this comment
...it's as if the bokeh is blurred
Click to expand...
I know what you mean Purple but written down it just read funny :lol:

Mike.
 
i would say its ni-sen bokeh as stated in the definition above all be it for mirror lenses. It might just be a design flaw of the lens.
 
i have seen this before its down to as said above the uv filter take it off and problem solved basically you are paying £1000 for top notch l glass then shoving a piece of toy glass on the front of it i know it protects the lens but it will mess your pictures up
 
Mine got better after i took the uv filter of from the front.
Dean:)
 
I have a skilight filter on mine, its coming off now though. Will see what happens.
 
I've never used a filter and I get the effect once in a blue moon. I certainly wouldn't let it put you off getting this lens.

FWIW, virtually every example I've seen of the effect, are shots taken low down on grass, with coarse grasses in the bg seeming to be affected.
 
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