How to get quality Depth Of Field effect with Post Processing Stack V2?

When using the Post Processing Stack V2 Depth Of Field effect in my game, I’m finding that at a certain distance objects abruptly transition from no blur at all, to very heavy blur (see attached image). The blur does not increase gradually with distance from the camera as expected.

I’ve played with the Aperture, Focal Length and Max Blur Size settings, but haven’t found a way to fix this immediate transition from no blur to heavy blur.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and found a way to get a more natural blur transition out of this effect?

(I also tried the Universal Render Pipeline’s Depth of Field effect, and it doesn’t have this problem – it works beautifully. However, the URP’s motion blur effect doesn’t blur objects that are in motion (just camera motion), so switching to URP is not an option for my game.)

Update for anyone else having a similar problem:

After trying several alternatives I found the Beautify 2 asset (https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/fullscreen-camera-effects/beautify-2-163949). It includes a fast, high quality, mobile friendly depth of field effect (as well as a bunch of other post processing effects). I chose to turn off its default effects that amp up saturation, contrast and sharpness. It’s worth the price for the depth of field effect alone.

Here’s an example of a similar scene to above, but using Beautify 2’s depth of field instead of the post processing V2 effect. Notice that the transition from sharp to blurry is gradual. Also note that it has the option to blur near objects as well as far objects.