Best lens for cat's eye effect? (APS-C sensor camera)

[Daniel Moore]

I saw an effect in Rashomon that I thought was kind of cool where the background bokeh kind of had a swirling effect around the character. I finally figured out it was called the "cat's eye effect" and is caused by vignetting of the aperature in the out of focus segment of the image (basically the blurred circles in the background become ellipses in a circular pattern around the edge of the image). For an example, check out this link, under the heading "Shape of the blur patch."

It seems that the most common occurrence of this effect is in a forest or wooded area where lots of little highlights shine through the branches of the leaves. I was wondering if anyone has had this effect occur on a APS-C sensor camera? If so, what lens was used and at what setting (I'm guessing wide open).

 

[bill totolo]

Something like this?:

 

[MikeWilkinson]

I've played around on my 7D doing this a little bit just in my office with small lights on hard drives out of focus. It works, you just have to watch the vignetting. You can put shapes like stars and hearts into it.

I'd imagine that going as open as possible will yield the best results. Cut out some construction paper and try it out!

http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_create_your_own_bokeh

 

[Daniel Moore]

Something like this?:

Yeah! Exactly! I think that's a cool look. Do you know what lens was used to make that shot?

Thanks arges03, I will give it a shot.... (edit: WHOA I just looked at that link, that's a pretty cool effect too!) still waiting on my adapters for my Takumar and Nikon lenses so I can play around with a faster lens.... argh!!! Maybe I'll try the kit lens and see what happens.

 

[bill totolo]

I used a Helios 58mm at F/ 2.0 1/50 shutter:

http://www.vimeo.com/12538739