I want to do some things that I can't do with my current lenses. I was trying to do some of the holiday bokeh style shots, but most of them are set at f1.8 or f.14, and mine only goes to f3.5. Boohoo...
Anyway, I was looking at this lens. I don't have a lot of money to spend, so this was about the only lens in my price range, but I don't understand a lot of the technical bits and pieces.
No idea about the lens for Nikon, you know that I have no clue ... jinx might pop in to say hi ... but if you check my last picture on facebook (in my Dec album not 365), my tree lights bokeh was taken at f/4 (my "standard" setting) ... I was shooting pics of the boy while I was sitting on the couch, then focussed on the end of the couch, switched to manual focus and aimed at the tree on the other side of the room ... so yes it was taken with my 50 mm f/1.4, but definitely wasn't using the f/1.4 aperture ...
Basically you want the subject of the shot close (in this case, my couch, although I didn't have it in the shot), and what's going to create the bokeh a good distance away ...
I'm sure someone will a) come along and explain it far better than this ... and b) come along and tell you about that lens ;)
If your subject is really close to your camera, and the points of light (lights, reflections off water, whatever) are a fair way further (enough to be well out of focus) you'll get your bokeh, even at f/5.6 if the ratio is high enough. Wider apertures tend to create bigger bokeh patterns, but you don't need crazy wide apertures to get bokeh.
I tried getting the boys to sit closer to me, and had the tree a bit further away (about 1 metre? so not too far), but it still didn't work the way I wanted.....
I might muck around a bit more tonight with non-living subjects!
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Basically you want the subject of the shot close (in this case, my couch, although I didn't have it in the shot), and what's going to create the bokeh a good distance away ...
I'm sure someone will a) come along and explain it far better than this ... and b) come along and tell you about that lens ;)
http://www.camerasdirect.com.au/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product2s_10002_Nikon-AF-NIKKOR-50mm-f1.8D-Lens_10001_10690_-1_10534___
Wee bit cheaper than your link ... we've bought several items from here over the years and can vouch that they're very good :)
If your subject is really close to your camera, and the points of light (lights, reflections off water, whatever) are a fair way further (enough to be well out of focus) you'll get your bokeh, even at f/5.6 if the ratio is high enough. Wider apertures tend to create bigger bokeh patterns, but you don't need crazy wide apertures to get bokeh.
I might muck around a bit more tonight with non-living subjects!
Jinx - any thoughts on the lens?
my bokeh is not as good as the others... lol... or maybe u dont want the bokeh i have achieved.. hihihi ^___^
For setting up your shot, try it with your boys about 1-2m from the camera, and the tree another 4-5m behind them (more if you can).