50mm F/1.8 Ais "longnose" at large aperture

[Lowell]

I really like this petite lens which I picked on recommendations from people on this site.  It has what I would call nervous bokeh at times so I have been working to better understand the lens at larger apertures.   Here are two examples taken just yesterday up in the mountains.  The first is at F/2.8 and the second at F/1.8.  I waited for the sun to peak through  the clouds for the second image.  Rain had fallen during the night, so there are lots of drops of water and wet surfaces to reflect sunlight, especially for the second image.  The more I look at this image, the more I like it.

I would love comments.

Lowell

[Airy]

Champagne in the lower left corner. Elsewhere too, but less homogeneous. I also like some lenses such as the 50/2 for such special effects.

[Roland Vink]

I don't know that I've ever shot my example wide open. At f/2.8 my observation is that bokeh is reasonably good in the central part of the image - not outstandingly smooth but not terrible. It becomes worst towards the corners of the image. Your first image illustrates this well.
Overall the bokeh of the long-nose AI and AIS versions is better than the pancake E/AIS  and AF versions.

[Frank Fremerey]

The trees seem to be talking to one another.

And the lens is like a very clear window into this attractive autumnal scene.

[Lowell]

Thank you very much.  Those are all very useful comments as I learn more about this little lens. 

I have attached another recent photo taken with this lens, also at F/2.8.  I took this photo because there had been a storm with strong winds which brought down most of the leaves and some trees.  This fellow fell on poor old mile post 19.  The upper part of this image, of the tree branches against a cloudy but bright sky, shows some of the nervous bokeh about which I spoke. 

My take away, is that if I am careful, F/2.8 works quite well.  Sharpness is pretty good but I will try to avoid too much high contrast.

Lowell

[Moritat]

I have a copy of the long nose and it's an outstanding lens for the price. After some experimenting, I found that if I stop it down that one small notch to f2, I get a slightly sharper image and the bokeh improves a bit. So I never use 1.8. Most of my shots are at f2 or 2.8 and at f8 it has beautiful sharpness across the frame. Just for reference, my long nose is an AIS with a serial number starting with a 3.

[Lowell]

I have a copy of the long nose and it's an outstanding lens for the price. After some experimenting, I found that if I stop it down that one small notch to f2, I get a slightly sharper image and the bokeh improves a bit. So I never use 1.8. Most of my shots are at f2 or 2.8 and at f8 it has beautiful sharpness across the frame. Just for reference, my long nose is an AIS with a serial number starting with a 3.

Thanks for the useful information and insight.  I must admit that I am pretty happy with he sharpness at F/2.8 and I am quite happy with the bokeh in the first of my images.  I'll try some at F/2.

Lowell 

[Erik Lund]

Very temperamental behaviour! but nice images

[Lowell]

Thanks Erik,
 
Nice to learn how to use lenses.  Great information and insight from on this site.  I spent the sunrise time this morning just taking images with this lens, learning more about it.  Deleted most of the images but learn a bunch about its strengths and weaknesses.

Lowell