Grainy bokeh with 70-200 f/4L?

What do you guys think? The blurred bokeh looks a little weird to me. It wasn't my lens, I was just borrowing it. Canon EF 70-200 f/4L.

Looks like compression artifact to me. What did you do in pp?

+ Exposure, +Vibrance, + Black, Sharpened and then saved in maximum quality jpeg.

Can you post 100% crops of the original and after your pp? Increasing exposure and sharpening can lead to such an appearance.

Some backgrounds make better bokeh than others. Also f4 doesn't completely obliterate the background like some faster lenses.

Sure, first one is original 100% crop and second is PPed 100%.

I think you sharpened the grain. Tune it down a notch or mask the people and sharpen them only.

Even then, I think you just picked a bad BG.

So no issues? I'm trying to determine if I should buy a 70-200.

What was your ISO set at? You should not hesitate to get the 70-200, it's absolutely incredible.

newton wrote in post #7334069
So no issues? I'm trying to determine if I should buy a 70-200.

Don't let this one image deter you from going for a 70-200mm f4. Most likely the issue with this image is two fold.
1. what iso? high iso with this lens tends to make busy bg's look grainy.
2. PP and over sharpening is the most likely culprit in this case.

I have been shooting the 70-200mm f4 L on a 20d body for a couple of years now and I really love the lens. In fact, it stays attached to my 20d nearly 90% of the time. If you been thinking about getting one I strongly advise to to pull the trigger on it. Only the 2.8 model would be a better choice for low light shots, IS would be a plus as well but 600 bucks compared to 1,200 - 1,600for the faster IS version is a big jump.

ISO 200. 1/200 sec shutter at 159 mm.

I'm a bit worried about 200mm shake without the IS and I also think f/4L is a bit small for intense bokeh. I'm looking for a candid/portrait lens, and prime lenses are also a candidate.

It's not the lens, the original crop looks something iso 200 should look on 30D. Next time just make a new layer for sharpening and mask it to the subjects only, leaving background unsharpened.

newton wrote in post #7333626
+ Exposure, +Vibrance, + Black, Sharpened and then saved in maximum quality jpeg.

+ Exposure, so you underexposed the shot which means noise, then you bumped the exposure in PP which means your noise was amplified again, this is a technique thing not a lens thing. Expose the shot correctly to begin with and the noise would not be an issue.

Sharpened, so you sharpened everything including the noise? Why would you sharpen a blurred background anyway? Use a mask for the sharpening so that its is selective and only where needed.

Stop pixel peeping, I have shots way nosier than that that look great as 8x10 prints

Don't sharpen stuff you want OOF!!!!

The only parts of that pic I'd sharpen are the chap's face and hands.

I have the F/4 non IS and have no problems with shake. The F/4 non IS is said to be the sharpest of the 70-200`s..

Like others have stated. Your PP has caused the noise issue to stand out due to overall sharpening.
I also like my 24-105mm F/4-L IS...It`s a great walk around and can be used for candid`s as well.