It wasn't me... perhaps John deleted the duplicates (there were three copies). Maybe the forum software isn't quite up to it and needs a wee fix.
Matt

Yes, it's interesting isn't it?
I would say it's probably subjective to a large extent. However, I've often noticed that Sigma shots have a kind of "ghosting" on the out-of-focus areas that makes it very busy - particularly shown with wildlife walking through grass where the grass is OOF.

Many of the Canon lenses can get very busy as well - even when there's aren't any strong highlights.

As several have pointed out, the bokeh does vary when you get specular highlights (correct term??!), but maybe the point at which these highlights become obvious (like the "pebbles") varies between lenses?

For me, the 50/1.4 & 100/2.8 macro never disappoint in the OOF rendering department. The 100/2.8 can start purple fringing when there is some serious contrast involved though. As I also said, the 24-90 always produces a lovely quality to the OOF areas. When I've decided to go with the 16-45 I've never been 100% happy with the OOF areas in comparison.

And the DA* 16-50 and 50-135 seem to have a slightly different set again from the examples I've seen.

Can't quite put my finger on the differences though...
(I've also been looking carefully at the Nikon offerings - and they have another quality to them which is closer to the Pentax compared to the Canon offerings. Bizarre).

Matt

Unless you're a fan of Red Dwarf of course!
Matt

I'll add a few here (as links to ePhotozine):

SMC F 50 f/1.4
http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/931148


http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/926895



SMC FA 24-90
http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/926190


http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/699311



SMC F 100 f/2.8 macro
http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/829665



You've just gotta lurve that Pentax bokeh
Matt

Has anyone got access to PDFs for the following lenses?

SMC FA 50mm f/1.4
SMC FA 80-320
SMC F 100mm f/2.8 macro
SMC DA 12-24/4
SMC DA 16-45/4

(I have the SMC FA 24-90)

I need to order some spare parts... might have to beg Pentax...
Thanks!
Matt

What was it you were offering for calibration of monitors??
LOL (only joking)
Enjoy the 31mm Ltd - such lovely engineering and quality. I borrowed a 31 and 77 for half a day and both were a joy to use... but I still couldn't justify the expense!!
Matt

ROFL
Just messed around with the VMWare appliance with ReactOS loaded - they've got a looooong way to go
Anyone found an open source version of MacOSX??
Matt

Slightly off topic, but this may be an option for you "BootCampers" in the Mac world:
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html

It's an open source Windows-compatible operating system Should be able to BootCamp into that instead of genuine Windows. I know it's still Alpha, but it's definitely one to watch!

Matt

Yes, I know that. However, what is completely unfair is that you can technically load OS X onto an Intel based PC (I am definitely not short of hardware), but the Apple EULA specifically says it must be an Apple-badged computer. If it weren't for that, I'd have already bought Leopard and installed it on the tablet PC
(FYI, OSX is FreeBSD based)

I simply cannot afford to dump all my existing-perfectly-working PC hardware and shell out a ton of dosh for Apple hardware
Matt

Ok, I'm heading this off to Pentax to see if I get a response... (don't hold your breath!)