7 replies to this topic

[laceymitchell]

Can you get bokeh from a sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6?

[Afterimage]

Every lens is capable of producing bokeh to greater or lesser degrees. I've found that most of the mid-level lenses produce cluttered bokeh but it's still evident.

Pixel Peeper has a lot of nice images displaying the bokeh produced by this lens. Go check it out: Sample images with EXIF data and Lightroom edits (2023) · PixelPeeper

[mallough]

One way to check is to use a depth-of-field calculator like the following:

 

http://www.tawbaware...xlyons/calc.htm

 

Enter the focal length, distance to subject and the aperture, and click calculate and...

 

it spits out the near and far focus distance along with the total depth of field.

 

For instance 300mm focal lenth, subject 30' away and an aperture of f/5.6 yields a DOF of 7.5" starting at 29'8.3".

 

The interface is not fancy, but I find the DOF & FOV calculators useful.

[laceymitchell]

Thanks

[morticiaskeeper]

Just had a look at some of my gig photos taken with the Sigma 70-300. Definitely some bokeh. Switching to manual focus will let you move the DOF about a bit.

[PrettyCranium]

Yes, you can get good bokeh if the background is far away from the subject.

[RedmanMedia]

I used my 55-300mm for some of my bokeh shots and I did have to switch to manual focus to achieve the shot I was looking for. I agree with everyone in regards to distance between your subject and background.  I am new to this style of photography and I really enjoyed exploring this technique, i.e the placement of my lighting system and changing the distance between the back ground and subject However, I am anxious to see how the effect works with a prime lens.

[Chrisf]

The best bokeh will be achieved when you have the lowest possible aperture, are fairly close to the subject and the background is a considerable distance from the subject. a longer focal length will also help. try setting up a static subject and move some background objects to see how much distance you will need to get a nice bokeh.