What causes bokeh circles with a dark inner ring and bright center?
Asked 7/27/2020
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2 answers
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In an out-of-focus area from a photo made with a Fujifilm XF 55-200mm at 200mm and wide open (f/4.8), the bokeh highlights are mostly circular, but many show a distinct dark inner ring with a brighter center. I used the supplied lens hood and no filters or other accessories.
What optical effect causes this kind of bokeh pattern? Is it a normal characteristic of lens design, or could it indicate a defect in the lens?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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I'm assuming you are talking about the darker internal ring.
That appears to be different from the typical bright edge (nisen) bokeh caused by overcorrecting spherical aberrations. And it does not appear to be "onion ring" from the molding of the lens.
IMO, the dark inner ring is almost certainly due to an internal lens element/boundary. It could be a side effect of the lens design, but it could also be a defect and due to the imperfect bonding of two elements. I would compare it against a second version of the same lens.
Originally by user70370. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user70370
5y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A dark inner ring inside circular bokeh highlights is not the usual “bright-edge” (nisen) bokeh, and it also doesn’t look like classic “onion ring” bokeh. Based on the answers, the most likely cause is an internal lens element or element boundary affecting how out-of-focus light is rendered.
That can simply be a characteristic of the lens design, but it could also point to a defect, such as imperfect bonding/alignment of elements. The supplied hood is unlikely to be the cause, especially since this pattern is inside the blur discs rather than general vignetting or clipping.
Chromatic aberration exists in all lenses, but by itself it doesn’t best explain a distinct dark internal ring with a brighter center.
So the practical takeaway is: this is most likely an optical rendering trait related to the lens internals; to tell whether it’s normal or a fault, compare your lens against another copy of the same model under similar conditions. If another copy shows the same pattern, it’s probably normal for that lens design. If not, your lens may have an issue.
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