Author Topic: Buy some seriously weird bokeh  (Read 2508 times)

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« on: 30 May, 2015, 07:08:41 pm »
In this Kickstarter project.
It is simpler than it looks.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #1 on: 31 May, 2015, 12:42:35 pm »
:facepalm:

Bokehkke
Getting there...

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #2 on: 31 May, 2015, 01:43:07 pm »
And when you display your latest masterpiece people will say "oh, you've got one of those lenses, have you?"

Bleh.

Although the brass version is pretty.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #3 on: 31 May, 2015, 02:18:18 pm »
How does Kickstarter work? Do you get anything for your investment? Is it equity (I don't think so)? Or, like Charles Dickens book subscribers, do you get the first items off the production line? Or what?

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #4 on: 31 May, 2015, 02:33:41 pm »
With these you offer things for various levels of investment. you might just get your name on a website for a small amount. Or if you invest more you might get a prototype, or a special edition, or something even more special.

I have a Gravity Light from some such project.
It is simpler than it looks.

Pancho

  • لَا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #5 on: 31 May, 2015, 02:55:30 pm »
Ah, I see:

Quote
Pledge $5,000 or more
0 backers Limited (1 left of 1)
Hold on to your hats, folks! With this incredible reward, you'll get the VERY FIRST New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Black Lens ever made (Serial Number 1), a LOMO LC-Wide camera, and we'll put you up in a great hotel and whisk you away on a legendary adventure through the heart of Petzval territory in Vienna, Austria.

I suppose some levels of support might make sense - the Dickens books model. Or some projects might be charitable in their aims (your Gravity Light, for example).

But those aside, it feels rather poor value.

Crowdsourcing startup wonga should be a no-brainer but I keep hearing about Kickstarter, sometimes P2P lending (debt), but never equity (Seedrs is the only one I'm familiar with).

David Martin

  • Thats Dr Oi You thankyouverymuch
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #6 on: 31 May, 2015, 04:15:09 pm »
Typically you would support a kickstarter because you want the product and know it isn't going to happen otherwise.

It's not about equity.
"By creating we think. By living we learn" - Patrick Geddes

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #7 on: 31 May, 2015, 07:01:07 pm »
It's a bit like a photo through a kaleidoscope, or a glass front door.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Biggsy

  • A bodge too far
  • Twit @iceblinker
    • My stuff on eBay
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #8 on: 31 May, 2015, 07:33:49 pm »
The effect looks shit to me, but it must look good to many people to get half a million dollars pledged already.  Bloody hell, Kickstarter is handy.

(Assuming they're not just seduced by the pretty engraving on the lens).
●●●  My eBay items  ●●●  Twitter  ●●●

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #9 on: 31 May, 2015, 09:31:51 pm »
Lens looks nice but I just don't like the effect.

Bokeh shouldn't become the subject of the photo.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #10 on: 01 June, 2015, 09:46:04 am »
Bokeh shouldn't become the subject of the photo.
Nice. +1
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #11 on: 01 June, 2015, 09:49:47 am »
If the lens also produced photos with a fake antique frame and a photographers' name boilerplate then it would be perfect for American Wedding photographers.
It is simpler than it looks.

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #12 on: 01 June, 2015, 06:05:20 pm »
Fmeh.  Bokeh-schmoke.  I read this the other day and I have to say, agree wholeheartedly with it...

https://fstoppers.com/education/bokeh-and-portraits-why-i-just-dont-care-71102
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #13 on: 01 June, 2015, 06:38:18 pm »
I can't think why that style of bokeh has disappeared from popular use for 150 years....

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #14 on: 02 June, 2015, 09:04:38 am »
Fmeh.  Bokeh-schmoke.  I read this the other day and I have to say, agree wholeheartedly with it...

https://fstoppers.com/education/bokeh-and-portraits-why-i-just-dont-care-71102

It's a very odd comparison, between 2 really good lenses.

The biggest difference I can see (on my monitor anyway) is contrast. The Nikkor shots seem far "richer".

I would say that "Bokeh" is most definitely the most overused word in photography (where "blurry" stood me in good stead for 40 years). It's right up there with "juxtaposed".

Also, if you're doing a real test of a lenses ability to deal with blurry backgrounds (let's call them) it needs a point light source, like some candles, in the background.

Nothing reveals a low-budget, 5 blade diaphragm, lens better than background lights.  I know I've got one.

What is obvious is that shallow depth of field helps salvage his photos.  The same shots on a camera phone would have had a huge depth of field and rendered him invisible against his ornaments and furniture.  In that respect my Canon "Plastic Fantastic" 50mm f1.8  would be perfectly adequate.

It's true that nobody is generally looking at "bokeh" in Helmut Newton photographs (I won't even tell you what I'm generally doing) but, if Newton ever did Kevin & Tracey's wedding, he'd probably ask for a Canon 85mm f1.2 so he could blur out the electricity substation in the background smoothly.

Let's all stop using the word "b***h".

What I definitely don't want though is great gobs of swirly blur going on.  I'll press the "Swirly Blur" button in Photoshop if I need that (There's almost bound to be such a button).
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #15 on: 02 June, 2015, 02:04:38 pm »

I would say that "Bokeh" is most definitely the most overused word in photography

Let's all stop using the word "b***h".


Last words on the subject.
Getting there...

Wombat

  • Is it supposed to hurt this much?
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #16 on: 03 June, 2015, 09:18:27 am »
I'm with Lee on this, how about a Kickstarter project to legally ban the use of the word...  ;D

I have to confess to having once used a mirror lens* to get "doughnuts" in the out of focus bits, but I only did it once.

Was it Tamron or Vivitar, it was a 500mm "solid cat" which I found an amusing name, being the keeper of a particular solid moggie at the time.  'twas on an Olympus OM2.
Wombat

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #17 on: 03 June, 2015, 09:28:50 am »
I'm with Lee on this, how about a Kickstarter project to legally ban the use of the word...  ;D

I have to confess to having once used a mirror lens* to get "doughnuts" in the out of focus bits, but I only did it once.

That's the problem with Mirror lenses, the b-word becomes distracting and results in "ahh, you used a Mirror lens" comments rather than "That's an amazing photo of the Pope punching the Queen".

Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Buy some seriously weird bokeh
« Reply #18 on: 03 August, 2015, 08:46:59 pm »
A Leitz Summar gives swirly bokeh at f/2 due to uncorrected aberrations - it wasn't possible to make a really good f/2 lens in the 1930s because the glasses weren't available.  You see it with a busy background, when all the out of focus stuff goes into streaks centred on the frame.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.