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One of the properties of a lens is Bokeh. Bokeh describes the quality of the rendering of the out-of-focus areas in a picture. It is influenced mainly by the shape of the aperture. The rounder the better, usually. In a thread in the dpreview forums I had posted a pic of my Revue 55mm/1.4 with terrible Bokeh. After some of the comments, I decided to give some other 50mm lenses a bokehlicious workout. I chose 50mm/55mm lenses with 1.4, plus the Pentax lenses in this region I had available. Rounded off with three zooms and my Porst 35mm 1.8. The results can be found in the folowing table. Please note that my comments are subjective, Bokeh is a matter of taste to a certain degree. Other subjects may yield different results. | ||
| Lens | Picture | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Sigma 18-125mm 3.5-5.6 DC |  |
Aperture is 4.5 - with this subject, almost everything is in focus. The little bit of Bokeh that is there seems ok. |
| Unitor 35-70mm 2.5-3.5 M42 Auto/Manual |
 |
The old "superfast" zoom with a solid performance |
| Revuenon 28-70mm 4.0 M42 Auto |
 |
My favourite old zoom not bad either. |
| Pentax A 50mm/1.4 |  |
Someone said the Pentax A 50mm/1.7 has better bokeh than the 1.4. I cannot judge this, but the bokeh of the 1.4 is quite nice, a little bit of double-lining seems visible in the far back. |
| Pentax SMC Takumar 50mm/1.4 M42/SMC |
 |
The thirty years old M42 with a stunning performance. |
| Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm/1.8 M42/SMC |
 |
Slightly worse than the SMC 1.4, I'd say. |
| Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm/2.0 M42/SMC |
 |
I'd rate it between the 1.8 and the 1.4. |
| Pentax SMC Macro-Takumar 50mm/4.0 M42/SMC |
 |
Well, the Macro-Takumar is sharp as a knife, but at 4.0, DOF is rather large. |
| Fujinon EBC 50mm/1.4 M42 for Fuji - does not mount well on the Pentax *ist. |
 |
Almost as nice as the Pentax SMC 1.4 |
| Auto Chinon 55mm/1.4 M42 Auto/Manual |
 |
Terrible background Bokeh. |
| Porst 55mm/1.4 #158329 M42 Auto/Manual |
 |
I have heard rumours that the Porst 55mm/1.4 are Chinon-made. The equally terrible background Bokeh seems to support this. |
| Porst 55mm/1.4 #806137 M42 Auto/Manual |
 |
I have heard rumours that the Porst 55mm/1.4 are Chinon-made. The equally terrible background Bokeh seems to support this. I have two Porst 55mm/1.4 with very different serial numbers but their Bokeh looks identical |
| Helios 44M-4 58mm/2.0 M42 Auto |
 |
For such a simple design, the Helios does really well. |
| Porst 35mm/1.8 M42 Auto/Manual |
 |
For comparison, the Porst 35mm/1.8 offers a much larger FoV and |