Standard Lens Bokeh from Panasonic, Nikon, Canon and Voightlander fast 50mm (ish) Lenses

As a family portrait and commercial photographer I realised I’ve ended up with quite a few different 50mm equivalent lenses now amongst all the different cameras I use. So I thought to myself what gives the best bokeh (background blur). To this end I came up with a quick test subject (greggles the photographer again) in a static location so i could evaluate the background blur. This is made more complex by the fact some lenses are a bit longer 55mm and some are a bit shorter (40mm equivalent). So I moved a bit closer or further away as I think this is how you’d use the lens. I’ve also done my best to make the colours match up but because lighting was fluctuating then this wasn’t always possible. The thing to look for is the background blur. I also realised I didn’t take my old Canon 50mm F/1.8 FD lenses up so those are missing from this test.

Which lenses did I test? Well the Canon FD 50mm f/1.2, Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, Voightlander 25mm f/0.95, Sony FE 55mm f/1.8, Nikon 50mm AFS f/1.4, Nikon 50mm AFS f/1.8 and the Nikon 1 18.5mm f/1.8 on the Nikon J1. The Micro 4/3 lenses were on the Panasonic GH4, the Canon FD and Sony lenses on the Sony A7S, with the nikon lenses on the D750.
(you can find all these lenses in my recommended kit/lens page.

Sample Images from the lenses

Here’s the images from each lens.. which is your favourite? Which Bokeh do you like most.. I like the canon 50/1.2 bokeh a lot. All the 50mm look good though.