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

AlphaWorld

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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?

Osprey_heavy_crop.jpg
 
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
 
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 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.
 
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.
 
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.

A1_08222.jpg
  • 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

A1_08331.jpg
  • 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

A1_08319.jpg
  • 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?
 
Last edited:
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.....
 
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