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This seems like it would increase the distance that you need to hold the phone to take a selfie. And won't have Bokeh. Bokeh is the effect of blurring out the

This seems like it would increase the distance that you need to hold the phone to take a selfie. And won't have Bokeh. Bokeh is the effect of blurring out the background. Its important because it lets you isolated the subject, like a human face, from the background. Still, if it does one thing better than other lenses, it will be useful.

JangoSteve 7y ago
But isn't the problem with isolating parts of the image at the optical level that you can't later undo it? It seems like at least one of the advantages to everything being in focus is that you can isolate whatever you want in post-processing. Cameras are already doing this, they just require multiple lenses and thus more space and material to do it.
mech1234 7y ago
Bokeh is both a feature and a bug. I kinda figure if cameras never had bokeh we would never miss it.
- narrowtux 7y ago
  Interesting thought, if cameras (and generally optics) wouldn't have bokeh, our eyes wouldn't have to focus either and wouldn't have bokeh in unfocussed areas as well. In that case, we truly woulnd't miss it.
  - penagwin 7y ago
    Well like the others said, bokeh != Depth of field. That said even if you removed all depth of field (everything is in focus somehow) it would still be missed. Depth of field is incredibly important for managing a viewers focus. Imagine a picture of a coffee in a coffeeshop with the background out of focus - you can clearly see a coffee cup. That same photo but with everything in focus will be much more confusing - what should I be looking at, it's too busy, etc.
ska 7y ago
Bokeh is the effect of blurring out the background. This is slightly incorrect in an important way. Depth of field has the effect of blurring out the background and/or foreground; it is a property of optical systems. However, the design of lenses changes how this looks. The latter part is what "bokeh" means, and it is why people talk about "the bokeh" of a particular lens. In other words, bokeh is fundamentally an aesthetic characteristic.
- hatsunearu 7y ago
  http://jtra.cz/stuff/essays/bokeh/ http://jtra.cz/stuff/essays/bokeh/ here's an extremely in depth look at what that means. It explains what people mean by "soft bokeh" (~= bokehlicious!), apodized lenses, and the "cat's eye" shit you find sometimes.
mdszy 7y ago
Lenses have other uses, you know.
- jungletime 7y ago
  Totally agree. I'm specifically looking at this for phone use. And even in this narrow use case, there are many lens types with different uses. And for photography, even more so. People will keep old lenses with optical flaws to achieve specific moods or looks.

JangoSteve 7y ago

But isn't the problem with isolating parts of the image at the optical level that you can't later undo it? It seems like at least one of the advantages to everything being in focus is that you can isolate whatever you want in post-processing. Cameras are already doing this, they just require multiple lenses and thus more space and material to do it.

mech1234 7y ago

Bokeh is both a feature and a bug. I kinda figure if cameras never had bokeh we would never miss it.

narrowtux 7y ago
Interesting thought, if cameras (and generally optics) wouldn't have bokeh, our eyes wouldn't have to focus either and wouldn't have bokeh in unfocussed areas as well. In that case, we truly woulnd't miss it.
- penagwin 7y ago
  Well like the others said, bokeh != Depth of field. That said even if you removed all depth of field (everything is in focus somehow) it would still be missed. Depth of field is incredibly important for managing a viewers focus. Imagine a picture of a coffee in a coffeeshop with the background out of focus - you can clearly see a coffee cup. That same photo but with everything in focus will be much more confusing - what should I be looking at, it's too busy, etc.

ska 7y ago

Bokeh is the effect of blurring out the background. This is slightly incorrect in an important way. Depth of field has the effect of blurring out the background and/or foreground; it is a property of optical systems. However, the design of lenses changes how this looks. The latter part is what "bokeh" means, and it is why people talk about "the bokeh" of a particular lens. In other words, bokeh is fundamentally an aesthetic characteristic.

hatsunearu 7y ago
http://jtra.cz/stuff/essays/bokeh/ http://jtra.cz/stuff/essays/bokeh/ here's an extremely in depth look at what that means. It explains what people mean by "soft bokeh" (~= bokehlicious!), apodized lenses, and the "cat's eye" shit you find sometimes.

mdszy 7y ago

Lenses have other uses, you know.

jungletime 7y ago
Totally agree. I'm specifically looking at this for phone use. And even in this narrow use case, there are many lens types with different uses. And for photography, even more so. People will keep old lenses with optical flaws to achieve specific moods or looks.