The Smooth Trans Focus (STF) technology in photographic lenses uses an apodization filter to realize notably smooth bokeh with rounded out-of-focus highlights in both the foreground and background. This is accomplished by utilizing a concave neutral-gray tinted lens element next to the aperture blades as apodization filter, a technology originally invented (and patented) by Minolta in the 1980s, and first implemented in a commercially available lens in 1999. In contrast to soft focus lenses, STF lenses render a perfectly sharp image in the focus plane.
Lenses featuring Smooth Trans Focus technology:
- Minolta STF 135mm F2.8 [T4.5] (introduced 1999)
- Sony α STF 135mm F2.8 [T4.5] (SAL-135F28) (introduced 2006)
- Sony FE 100mm F2.8 STF GM OSS (SEL-100F28GM) (introduced 2017)
See also
- STF function (an emulation of the effect in the Minolta Maxxum 7)
- Fujinon XF 56mm F1.2 R APD (a similar lens introduced by Fujifilm in 2014)
- Venus Optics Laowa 105mm f/2 Smooth Trans Focus (a similar lens introduced by Venus Optics in 2016)
- f-stop
- T-stop
References
"Neu von Sony: E-Mount-Objektive 100 mm F2.8 STF GM, FE 85 mm F1.8; Blitz HVL-F45RM". Photoscala (in German). 2017-02-07. Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-10. http://www.photoscala.de/2017/02/07/neu-von-sony-e-mount-objektive-100-mm-f2-8-stf-gm-fe-85-mm-f1-8-blitz-hvl-f45rm/ ↩