70-200 VR Bokeh

[mbrown]

I am having an issue with my 70-200 VR I have been reading all over

the place how good the bokeh is on this lens, however I am finding

if there is blightly lit objects in the back ground this lens gives

a funny pattern whether on active or normal, I have attatched a

cropped sample. Has anyone go an idea what this may be.

 

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[armando_roldan]

Boken would be the last of my concerns with this image. Its washed out,no contrast and basically unremarkable. Maybe I have higher expectations of a $1700 lens.

 

I would work out other issues before concentrating on broken.

[carl smith]

Are those tree brances in the background making that awful OOF pattern? yikes I see that every now and then and usually I'm not the pickiest person about bokeh but that kind of thing is definitely unpleasant to see!

[jeff_lu]

Armando, it's a sample to show what he believes to be a problem...and it's quite atrocious,

really

[carl smith]

I have to admit I don't think I've ever seen anything that bad with my 70-200 2.8L (Canon) but I've seen similar with my Canon and Nikon 50 1.4s (the Canon is a tad better but not much).

[chris haake]

While I appreciate good bokeh, I'm by no means a freak about it. However, that is one of the most Godawful examples of bokeh I've ever laid my poor, tired eyes on. However, I was just today reading about this lens on Bjorn Rorslett's site:

 

http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

 

He actually loves the bokeh without VR but noticed the same problem with VR. His assertion--which is supported by example photos of the same scene--is that "active" is worse than "normal." Check the review out for yourself. Was this photo taken in "active" mode?

 

At any rate, I'll just keep thanking the Allmighty for my Tokina 100-300 f/4. Laugh if you will, non-believers! Sure, it's not as fast, and I'd love VR (boy, would I!), but the razor-sharp resolution and absolutely creamy bokeh are to die for! (Did I say I'm not a bokeh freak?)

[carl smith]

There's a bokeh freak in all of us at times with the right lens. :)

[aardvarko]

That's pretty ugly - perhaps you have a damaged lens. Here's the specific link for Bjorn's site: http://www.naturfotograf.com/AFS70-200VR_rev04.html

[angel_o.]

To me it looks like you were using a high magnification TC with this lens. If this is the case, I'd either remove the TC or use one with a smaller magnification.

[mbrown]

Angelo, yes I was using a TC20II however this converter is supposed to match the lens, and the problem shows without it as well, it looks like I have a faulty lens, I will take it to the shop tommorow and see what they think.

[mbrown]

Arnaldo, this image was not to show anything but the bokeh (not boken) issue, its a crop and was not a keeper from the 150 shots I took, but it shows the problem best out of all the pics.

 

The funny thing is that sometimes its perfect, and other times its quite pronounced.

 

Thanks Chris & Chris for the link, I had actually seen Bjorns review before I bought it, but his bokeh sample is nowhere near as bad as mine.

 

Thanks to all I will be off to the shop tommorow and will give you an update. (this really is not acceptable for a $3000+ AUS lens)

[harvey_edelstein1]

Which VR mode was this shot in and was it hand held of on a tripod? I can't tell why its this way without more info.

[mbrown]

Harvey, this was shot on a monopod, I can't remember if it was active or normal, I would assume active, however I have examples of this on both modes...

 

The camera and lens are now in at Nikon, as they seen the sample and said that it was definately not normal, hopefully I will hear back this afternoon.

[joseph_wisniewski]

Believe it or not, what you're seeing is probably power related. The VR is actually oscillating. Is your 70-200 an older one, perhaps bought used? There's a modification to the groudn wiring of the 70-200 which takes care of this problem.

[harvey_edelstein1]

Michael, I have the same lens, and use a monopod. I use the normal setting this setting is meant to compensate mostly for unidirectional vibration. The active is meant for when you are shooting from a moving platform like a vehicle. I nikon finds no problem with lens it may be because the setting was wrong. I would try the normal setting. Monopod is considered as if hand held.

[mbrown]

Joseph, this is a brand new lens, less than 3 months old.

 

Harvey, the patterns are formed in both modes, I have tested it on another subject.

[mbrown]

Ok for those who are interested, the D70 is fine, the 70-200 however is faulty. According to the techo, it has a faulty power unit in the lens which is causing the issue....and of course, they are on back order, it took them 3 days to work out what it was.

[robert_nancarrow]

I hope you can expand on the lens power issue when this is fixed, perhaps you can get an explanation from the service dept. as to what exactly was happening. It doesn't appear to be normal bokeh, it looks like both bokeh combined with camera movement left/right. This would mean that the VR of the lens was only working on the focused image and not the whole scene? I don't know if this is possible but then I don't know that much about how the VR works. Bob.

[mbrown]

Ok guys here's an update:

 

My lens is still at Maxwell's (Nikon distributor in Australia). I sent an email yesterday to the MD and he is personally looking into it. Apparently their service centre is one of 3 in the Southern Hemisphere that is geared for calibrating VR lenses, so they are back logged. I have asked for a replacement before this gets ridiculously long in the tooth...

 

I will keep you updated.

[mbrown]

Well for all those interested, after my lens being in at Maxwell (Nikon Distributor) for nearly 5 weeks, they are baffled!! They cannot work out what the problem is. I am going to put it down to maybe a bad piece of Glass. They sent me a loan unit for a week to do a job I had to do and it was fine, I could not reproduce the fault. Anyway they are replacing the lens on Monday.