Bokeh versus bokeh

The Japanese produced Voigtländer Nokton 35mm f1,2 is my steady glass mounted on my Leica M8, suitable for most situations. So why is that so? Because it is an affordable peace of glass producing excellent images with small depth of field, covering many tasks such as reportage and street photography. A very fast lens that is very usable in low light situations. I like the very sharp rendering.

The bokeh (out of focus area) of the lens is also nice, for some a little busy in the details but a feature that works for my kind of photography. That is a trademark of this type of lens, and it is not nearly as soft as the 90mm Elmarit (another lens in my bag)who is a another type of lens producing a much smoother bokeh. What is good regarding one type of bokeh compared with another is much a matter of taste. I like both, and accept the differences for different tasks. The softer bokeh and rendering of the images produced by the Elmarit is perfect for portraits. The more detailed bokeh from the Voigtländer delivers a type of image and style that works great for other types of images.

The glass chosen for your camera, Leica or other manufacturer, will make a signature for the image. Like the post production will enhance this feature and add more. So the total of camera, lens and post production will make a impact in one or the other direction. If you like photos with a very shallow depth of field the bokeh is important, and different lenses produce all their own kind of out of focus spirit. None is right or wrong. Choose what works for you.