Hi, > Try the RGPL, look under the various spellings (it's a recently > imported term, there is no standard English word for it),
the Pentax brochures of yore use the phrase 'pleasing out-of-focus highlights'. I'm sure the degree of difference between various lenses is quantifiable in some way (although I don't know of any way). What is probably not quantifiable is how pleasing it is, or not. Presumably different people react in different ways. It's claimed that some lenses are designed to give good blur, and that the more aperture blades the lens has, the smoother the bokeh. This difference is clearly visible particularly if you use lenses with 10 or more aperture blades, such as some Leicas, and compare them with something that has 5 blades. Of course, the number of blades is not the only variable in such a comparison, but the difference in the quality of the out-of-focus highlights is readily apparent. Whether or not it matters is entirely a matter of individual taste, for which there is no accounting. I've found that people who wouldn't normally comment on such a thing, and who are not especially photography-minded, have made nice comments about the blurry bits on photos shot with Contax/Zeiss lenses. Regards, Bob
