Heavy crop shows nervous bokeh - 70-200 GM II + 2x

[AlphaWorld]

I have been having fun with the 2x TC on the 70-200 and 200-600, but I'd appreciate your opinions on the bokeh in this shot.

To be fair, this is the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II + 2x TC shot at f/5.6 (wide open) 400mm (max zoom) ISO 1000 on the A7RV (9504x6336 pixels), then cropped to one third of the height and less than one third of the width (2999x2112).

I think the osprey itself is fine, but I'm concerned about the tree behind it.

What do you think?

 

[Slug]

Desaturate the greens/yellows and you won't notice it.

 

[AlphaWorld]

Desaturate the greens/yellows and you won't notice it.

Ooh - clever! I had not thought of that. Thank you!

 

[spudhead]

I have been having fun with the 2x TC on the 70-200 and 200-600, but I'd appreciate your opinions on the bokeh in this shot.

To be fair, this is the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II + 2x TC shot at f/5.6 (wide open) 400mm (max zoom) ISO 1000 on the A7RV (9504x6336 pixels), then cropped to one third of the height and less than one third of the width (2999x2112).

I think the osprey itself is fine, but I'm concerned about the tree behind it.

What do you think?

View attachment 38740

need the shutter speed to comment, but dehaze the shot will help I think

 

[Clix Pix]

I have noticed nervous bokeh with my 70-200mm GM II also -- without a TC. It's definitely not as bad as what you're showing us here, though, with the 2x TC. Yikes! I've had the lens a couple of months now but I haven't tried the 1.4x TC on it (don't have the 2x TC). I use the 1.4x TC on the 100-400mm GM and the 200-600mm and bokeh is fine on both of those, with or without the TC.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I have noticed nervous bokeh with my 70-200mm GM II also -- without a TC. It's definitely not as bad as what you're showing us here, though, with the 2x TC. Yikes! I've had the lens a couple of months now but I haven't tried the 1.4x TC on it (don't have the 2x TC). I use the 1.4x TC on the 100-400mm GM and the 200-600mm and bokeh is fine on both of those, with or without the TC.

I will try that, too.

Bear in mind that this is 2x TC + 3x crop = ? 6x ? It’s a lot more magnified than what you are looking at.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

It's almost impossible to avoid nervous bokeh with foliage and tress, more so if it's really windy. As said, magnification will not help, and desaturating those coulours will help, but generally I wouldn't worry about it. It's part of shooting. You can't always have a smooth, clear background however much we try.

 

[Brownie]

It's almost impossible to avoid nervous bokeh with foliage and tress, more so if it's really windy. As said, magnification will not help, and desaturating those coulours will help, but generally I wouldn't worry about it. It's part of shooting. You can't always have a smooth, clear background however much we try.

Exactly. I wouldn't classify that as nervous bokeh, more of a difficult background. Rather than desaturating, I'd smooth it a bit with a blur brush and call it good.

 

[-ST-]

I have been having fun with the 2x TC on the 70-200 and 200-600, but I'd appreciate your opinions on the bokeh in this shot.

To be fair, this is the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II + 2x TC shot at f/5.6 (wide open) 400mm (max zoom) ISO 1000 on the A7RV (9504x6336 pixels), then cropped to one third of the height and less than one third of the width (2999x2112).

I think the osprey itself is fine, but I'm concerned about the tree behind it.

What do you think?

View attachment 38740

Hi, Tony,
I've been thinking about your post about nervous bokeh. I had not heard this term before, so I did some reading and pondering. I'm probably not clear on the concept yet.

I'm curious. What was the shutter speed in your shot?

Today I took the FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II with 2x teleconverter. I tried to get some similar shots (deep crops with foliage in the background and some wind movement). I took these around 6:00 am. It was breezy.

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II (SEL70200GM2) + 2X Teleconverter (SEL20TC)
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 1250

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II (SEL70200GM2) + 2X Teleconverter (SEL20TC)
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 250

• ILCE-1
• Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS II (SEL70200GM2) + 2X Teleconverter (SEL20TC)
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 640

Perhaps I should be more discerning, but I'm not unhappy with the bokeh in these shots. Would these be considered to have nervous bokeh?

 

[Clix Pix]

I, too, have been thinking about this and in my case, if I recall correctly, I was using the A1 and shooting in burst mode a few times, and the more I reflect on this the more I'm guessing that in the situation I mentioned that the nervous bokeh had a lot to do with my firing off shots in rapid succession. I haven't yet gone to check my images to see with which camera (A1? A7R V?) and under which circumstances I was using the 70-200mm and later observed nervous bokeh, but in shots I took yesterday with that lens and the A7R V, no burst modes and no nervous bokeh.....