Weird Bokeh

Do you know if they had a filter on the lens ?
 
Almost looks like he has used the Smudge tool on Photoshop and a wide brush :shrug:
 
IS introduces some odd effect to the bokeh. Does the camera or lens have stabilisation and was it switched on?
 
Weird init
shrug.gif


MB
 
We've seen this before - usually with this type of subject.
It seems to be quite common with large-ratio zooms at the long end and with some other lenses with cheap (or even expensive) filters attached, but not always.

The trick is to try and repeat the shots with and without filters to assure yourself it's not causing the problem, but with some lenses (and I hate myself for this: mostly, it has to be said from Canon), you will get some very unattractive bokeh effects when shooting isolated subjects against distant foliage or long grass...
 
Matblack said:
Ahhh so he was shoting through a fence :bang:

Sorry guys :coat:

MB
Click to expand...

Nope - that wouldn't account for this.
I've shot through fences of all kinds with all sorts of lenses and this isn't caused by that.
We've seen this effect on images taken on Safari in African game reserves with no fences for hundreds of miles...
 
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This could be wire fencing (or perhaps glass?) which is defocussed on the subject.
I say this only because I took a shot of a tiger enclosed in a wire fence and got a similar effect.
 
We've done this before - last time it went to three and a half pages of bickering.

It can be caused by a combination of budget zooms used with cheap filters and with VR or IS switched on.
 
There's a wierd effect that Nikons give like that on their newer camera's. Do a search on the web for Nikon odd background effect or wierd bokeh.

One of the other sites I visit had the same problem highlighted.

as this isn't either Nikon or Canon but has the same effect of almost doubleing up verticals and horozontals it may be for the same reason.

I've been trying to find the write up but can't lay my hands on it. I'll keep looking tonight.
 
Arkady said:
We've done this before - last time it went to three and a half pages of bickering.

It can be caused by a combination of budget zooms used with cheap filters and with VR or IS switched on.
Click to expand...

Could be and shot thru a fence. :lol:
 
I shot this through a fence and was amazed at the bokeh even though it was a 75-300 and was poked right through the wire :shrug:

 
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Heat haze??
 
Janice said:
Heat haze??
Click to expand...

I believe it most certainly isn't heat haze; otherwise all my landscape shots, here, would suffer from worse bokeh than that.
 
Janice said:
I shot this through a fence and was amazed at the bokeh even though it was a 75-300 and was poked right through the wire :shrug:
Click to expand...

Simlilar to my Tiger shot. If you look above the post on LHS there is some waveyness going on.
 
NigelPaul said:
Simlilar to my Tiger shot. If you look above the post on LHS there is some waveyness going on.
Click to expand...

And if you look on the RHS there is a LOT of waveyness going on!! :D
 
As I said - we've done this before and come up with a solution/cause - does anyone actually pay attention?

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=232865&highlight=wierd+bokeh

Some cheaper high-ratio zooms do this, with and without filters.
The effect can be exacerbated by cheap filters, but not always, but the effect seems to be more noticable with filters attached.
It seems to be a digital-only problem and may have something to do with the anti-aliasing screen conflicting with the lens design.

We never got this when using film. Expensive 'pro' long-telephotos don't seem to do this, only 'budget' zooms with big ratios, i.e. 50-200, 75-300 etc... the fast Pro zooms such as the 70-200 f/2.8 from both Canon and Nikon don't do this either...
 
Arkady said:
Nope - that wouldn't account for this.

I've shot through fences of all kinds with all sorts of lenses and this isn't caused by that.We've seen this effect on images taken on Safari in African game reserves with no fences for hundreds of miles...
Click to expand...

Looks like the fence to me. Check out Janice's lion, which was shot through a fence. Identical effect :shrug:

Arkady said:
As I said - we've done this before and come up with a solution/cause - does anyone actually pay attention?

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=232865&highlight=wierd+bokeh

Some cheaper high-ratio zooms do this, with and without filters.
The effect can be exacerbated by cheap filters, but not always, but the effect seems to be more noticable with filters attached.
It seems to be a digital-only problem and may have something to do with the anti-aliasing screen conflicting with the lens design.

We never got this when using film. Expensive 'pro' long-telephotos don't seem to do this, only 'budget' zooms with big ratios, i.e. 50-200, 75-300 etc... the fast Pro zooms such as the 70-200 f/2.8 from both Canon and Nikon don't do this either...
Click to expand...

Rob mate, you should re-read that thread you linked to, where you got it wrong again with another one of your 'filters are wonderful, it can't be that' threads and then went on about anti-aliasing and IS/VR nonsense, and it only happens with Canon etc etc. Before conceding that it was indeed a filter causing the problem. And that you were wrong. Again.

Until someone can say absolutely that no fence was invloved in the pics linked by the OP (and since they were taken in a zoo, that seems unlikely) you have to conclude that the cause of the fence-like patterns in the pictures was indeed, a fence. Walks like a duck, quacks like a like duck, then maybe...? :shrug: :D

I think you may have a point about some lenses being more prone to this, but if you take away the fence (or the iffy filter, or the wavy grass fronds, or the out of focus leaves, or whatever else there may be interfering with the light path) then the problem goes away. Therefore, that has to be the cause.
 
Of course there is a simple explanation, but this isn't it.

Schrödinger's cat - this is a simple quantum lensing effect. We all know that if no one hears a tree fall in the forest, then it's not there. Here we can see the effect of someone being half there, that is out of focus. We see the cat in full full effect, but the trees are phasing in and out of this reality, causing striations in space/time fabric. The best thing is to get an assistant to watch the trees while you concentrate on the cat. Simplez:thumbs:
 
Janice said:
I shot this through a fence and was amazed at the bokeh even though it was a 75-300 and was poked right through the wire :shrug:

QUOTE]

not what i'd call shot through a fence then
Click to expand...
 
Arkady said:
As I said - we've done this before and come up with a solution/cause - does anyone actually pay attention?

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=232865&highlight=wierd+bokeh

Some cheaper high-ratio zooms do this, with and without filters.
The effect can be exacerbated by cheap filters, but not always, but the effect seems to be more noticable with filters attached.
.......
Click to expand...

See, my 70-200mm f2.8L does this with a filter attached :bang: and it wasnt cheap - - But i must say that it DOES seem to be seen more with canon for some reason. I have come to the conclusion that i shouldnt put a cheap bit of glass in front of an expensive lens
 
its expected (more or less) through the wires/fences, isnt it?? :s
i got them in fz series panasonic compacts as well as my 55-250mm in 450D
 
HoppyUK said:
Looks like the fence to me. Check out Janice's lion, which was shot through a fence. Identical effect :shrug:



Rob mate, you should re-read that thread you linked to, where you got it wrong again with another one of your 'filters are wonderful, it can't be that' threads and then went on about anti-aliasing and IS/VR nonsense, and it only happens with Canon etc etc. Before conceding that it was indeed a filter causing the problem. And that you were wrong. Again.

Until someone can say absolutely that no fence was invloved in the pics linked by the OP (and since they were taken in a zoo, that seems unlikely) you have to conclude that the cause of the fence-like patterns in the pictures was indeed, a fence. Walks like a duck, quacks like a like duck, then maybe...? :shrug: :D

I think you may have a point about some lenses being more prone to this, but if you take away the fence (or the iffy filter, or the wavy grass fronds, or the out of focus leaves, or whatever else there may be interfering with the light path) then the problem goes away. Therefore, that has to be the cause.
Click to expand...

I know I was wrong on that occasion :thumbs: - why do you think I remember the bloody thread...:shrug:

This looks like the same thing...hello?
 
Just to point out that the shot was taken with a wired-fence in between the subject and camera. So I am not so sure this have anything to do with cheap lens or filter like some are suggesting. The camera is a Pentax Kx with the 50-200mm kit lens.

Here is another shot taken showing the wired fence more.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
Blaque said:
Just to point out that the shot was taken with a wired-fence in between the subject and camera. So I am not so sure this have anything to do with cheap lens or filter like some are suggesting. The camera is a Pentax Kx with the 50-200mm kit lens.

Here is another shot taken showing the wired fence more.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Click to expand...

and it looks totaly different from the effect in the op's linked pic ,,,but i do notice the horizontal / vertical lines of the fence do seem similar to the first pic as regards to the pattern
 
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Since I am sad/interested in this kind of optical effect, I tried to replicate it. Lens is a Canon 70-200L 4 IS on a 5D2, 200mm f/4

Thin reed/frond (approx 3mm width) held immediately in front in front of lens (one only frond)
IMG_3182.jpg


Frond removed
IMG_3183.jpg


So, this is nothing more than a common lens effect caused when you put something in the light path, in this case a frond of grass, or the OP's wire fence.

It is not a digital effect, as you can see it quite clearly through the viewfinder.
It is nothing to do with IS or VR. IS was off.
It is nothing to do with anti-aliasing, or you would not be able to see it in the viewinder.
It is nothing to do with filters in this case, although some filters will produce a similar effect and/or make it worse.
F/number doesn't remove it, just makes it more or less visible and changes the sharpness of the background and the bokeh .

I don't think this is particular to cheaper consumer grade zooms either, though all lenses handle out of focus areas slightly differently so some may be more prone. This is a top grade £1k zoom (and Nikons will do it too, Rob ;) ). You see it more often with cheaper lenses simply because there are far more of them sold than expensive ones. Primes will behave differently perhaps, due to their quite different design, but I'm sure you will be able to see it in some shape or form.

I can also get my 24-105L to do it too, but at shorter focal lengths the effect is much more localised and the cause is pretty obvious. At longer focal legnths the effect is spread quite evenly and deceptively right across the frame - there is only one reed/frond held in front of the lens here. To see it clearly you need the right subject/background and the right focusing distance to throw both the foreground and background out of focus.
 
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