STF mode in Maxxum 7 recreated for DSLR's

6tyNine, I would have stopped at f/4 as the star pattern had started to emerge at this point. Have you tried shots at 1/3 stop interval instead of 1 stop?

I will try with Minolta 80-200mm f/2.8 HS, which lacks inherent good bokeh.

Edited by parv - 09 November 2009 at 10:35

When using a very large aperture range like 6tyNine did, it seems to create a somewhat dreamy/soft focus look to the image. I think that in order to get a good STF look, one must use a somewhat smaller aperture range. I think the third image gives the best bokeh and still has a very shallow DOF.

These were shot on the Minolta 50mm f/1.7


STF on A700
Aperture range: f/1.7 - f/20
1-stop increments
8 images


Normal on A700
f/8



STF on A700
Aperture range: f/1.7 - f/3.5
1/3-stop increments
7 images



Normal on A700
f/1.7

Another attempt, this time using the following lenses:
Pentax Super Takumar 50/1.4; Pentax Super Takumar 85/1.9 and Pentax SMC Takumar 135/2.5

All lenses shot at wide open aperture then stopped down one click per shot until 7 images per lens were taken.

1. 50/1.4 at f1.4

Nasty bokeh! (and you can really see the yellowing colour cast...)

2. 50/1.5 STF simulation

Much better...

3. 85/1.9 at f1.9

Nice bokeh open... but we already knew that.

4. 85/1.9 STF simulation

Not much of an improvement, maybe a little bit smoother.

5. 135/2.5 at f2.5

Similar results to the 85/1.9.

6. 135/2.5 STF simulation

The smaller apertures used in the STF sim are starting to have an effect here.

I guess I will give this a try this weekend. Maybe with the Zeiss 135 3.5 M42. Although I have to check whether the aperture still closes correctly.

A friend of mine, Nikon user, will try this probably tonight on his new 14-24 2.8.

I'm guessing because there's less outlining going on in the upper left.

Old topic, but I figured I'd interject.

I've used the STF and done a couple of these photoshop versions.

The point everyone seems to be missing is that the STF lens great bokeh is just a side effect. The real star (and the reason the lens is so nice) is the STF part. Smooth Trans Focus <- They're referring to the transition from in-focus to out-of-focus. On most lenses, that transition is abrupt and well defined. The STF magically gets progressively sharper as you approach the focal plane and progressively blurrier as you leave it. This is why images taken with the STF seem to *jump*. Focus on the STF is a gradient instead of being a hard cutoff.

Some of the photoshop renders here exhibit that awesome STF transition, but others look like regular photos with slightly better bokeh.

The STF is always a strange beast to use. It works better for some shots than others. (A portrait with a far-off background is not a good use of the lens or technique)... but a portrait taken at an oblique angle with your subject close to the background is a wonderful use of the lens.

I just got a Minolta 85mm f1.4 and was wanting to try this technique out on this lens. Here are the results. I experimented with different f-stop ranges and with using different numbers of photos in the composite. I believe that using at least 7 images while varying the aperture at 1/3 stop increments gives the best results (this is the 7 image f1.4-2.8 case).

here is the original at f1.4



and here are comparison of the different setups I tried. Using only 3 or 4 images in the STF composite, it is pretty easy to see the overlapping image circles in the out of focus areas. Its hard to see this in the small image (darn you flickr). So here is a download for the original. Unfortunately it wont be permanently available. The image is full resolution from my a700.

tleeds wrote: Old topic, but I figured I'd interject. I've used the STF and done a couple of these photoshop versions. ...The real star (and the reason the lens is so nice) is the STF part. Smooth Trans Focus <- They're referring to the transition from in-focus to out-of-focus. On most lenses, that transition is abrupt and well defined. The STF magically gets progressively sharper as you approach the focal plane and progressively blurrier as you leave it. This is why images taken with the STF seem to *jump*. Focus on the STF is a gradient instead of being a hard cutoff.

Since you've got the STF lens and done several of the photoshop STF images, could you show us any examples of this?

dekie wrote: Recreated the effect in Photoshop with two layers and a layer mask on the f1.7 version of your picture. Lens blur on the upper layer. This method is usable on handheld pictures with moving objects.

What did you do to the masked layer? Did you apply a gaussian blur or lens blur filter in photoshop?

Edited by photoman - 18 May 2011 at 22:18