D200 & 80-200 afd ed chromatic aberration problem

I'm having some pretty serious chromatic aberration problems with my

80-200 afd ed nikkor(latest version, two ring, tripod collar, non

afs) attached to my d200.

 

I'm quite surprised by this, as this lens has amazed me with it's

image quality up till now (about 4 years of use). Are there any

other people out there using this combination that are having the

same problem's?

 

I don't have time now to post samples, but it looks kinda similar to

the stuff that Bjorn gives in his review as an example. I'm really

not nitpicking either, as you can see it clearly even at less than

100% crop.

 

I have also used a 50 1.8 AF and a Tamron 17-35 2.8-4 and there's no

problem there, esp. not with the 50

 

anyway, have any advice or similar experiences?

Is your lens squeaky clean? Does the lens mount still have all the black paint (no shiny metal showing anywhere)? No greasy finger prints anywhere on the glass?

My 80-200 2.8 D AFD two touch shows CA on my D100 as well as my D2h.

The lens is known to have CA the newer 70-200 AFS has much less.

BTW I have never seen it when I use the lens on my film cameras just with digital. But then I do not usually look at my negs at 100%

I was shooting with my D200 this weekend and later noticed the same problem with CA. I went back and looked at my lenses. The 105mm had a little soil on the rear element and the 300mm needed a good cleaning on the front element. After cleaning them up, I re shot the images and they looked a lot better.

 

Even with the same lenses, I didn't see this problem with the same shots done with my D50. I suspect as mega pixels go up, we will be more critical of the lenses we're shooting with.

no there aren't any greasy fingerprints on the lens. It isn't squeeky clean but as fas as my eye can see, clean. I have a protective filter living on the front and there is some (anavoidable...) dust ON that, but otherwise: clean.

 

the CA appears in most photo's with stark highlights and is seemingly not related to a single place in the lens.

 

thanks

Nikon made the lens for film camera bodies; Nikon wants you to contribute to more lenses sold. Digital camera bodies need 'sharpness' in the center of the focus area...you may consider getting the VR 200mm f2D G Nikkor for a 'modern' Nikkor lens. Or stick with a film camera and enjoy the lens that you have.

Mats, what colors are you seeing in those problem areas? If purple, it's probably not chromatic aberration. Purplish fringing is the curse of the current generation of digital sensors. I expect the problem will be cured in future generations. For now tho' there are filters that can fix both purple fringing and CA.

 

While CA filters can be a trial and error process, the purple fringing filter in Corel Paint Shop Pro X is a one-step process that is very effective and doesn't soften critical detail or otherwise distort the photo.

oh well that's positive to hear, as the color is indeed purple. Purble-blueish I would say it seems to be about 5-10 pixels 'wide'.

Sorry for me misinforming everyone if this is indeed no CA.

 

But please can you explain more about what it IS then? Is is a sensor thing? can it possibly be cured by a future firmware update?

 

thanks

That color fringing is CA alright.

There is more than one type of Chromatic Aberration. Are you referring to color fringing, or flare? Does it appear mostly in the center of the frame or only near the edges? Without a definitive example it is difficult to give a diagnosis.

how do i post a sample directly into this thread? I must be missing something easy here...

You need to save the file as a max 100KB jpg file with max horizontal pixel dimensions of 510 or was it 511. Then, when you make a post, and are about to confirm it you're given an option to add a figure and caption to your post.

thanks Ilkka,

 

OK, both of these are crops from somewhere slightly off centre. Certainly not from the edge of the image.

 

what do you think?

second:

so I was missing something easy... :)

 

what are your opions, is this CA? something else? please help me out,

 

thanks in advance

CA it is.

Screw the CA, I love the picture of the white bird in a brick wall.

Mats, I do get the same occasional purple or green CA with a D2X and the same lens version as you have. Nikon Capture completely eliminates it so I dont view it as a big issue.

Mats, while purple fringing may be a form of CA, it's not the type of CA you'd usually see on film. Purple fringing seems to be the plague of digital sensors. A few years ago it was more commonly referred to as sensor blooming, altho' now some folks draw a distinction between sensor blooming and CA even when the artifacts are identical.

 

And the correction software and plug-ins that fix the more familiar type of CA has little or no effect on purple fringing, while the software designed to correct purple fringing has little or no effect on the more familiar type of CA. So they really are different things in terms of fixing the problem.

I must be missing something. I don't get the picture.

thanks for your responses,

 

lex, do you mean that purple fringing is a sensor thing? or is it caused by the lense and showed by this sensor?

asked more simply, .... is it the lens or the sensor?.... or uh.. how can I avoid (or cure)this?

 

btw, I noticed that the observed effect (CA, purple fringing, blooming or ....) occurs mostly at the shorter end of the zoom (100) than the longer end (200).

 

keep it coming or point me elsewhere,

 

cheers

Attached is a wonderful example with the D2X and an old nikon 600mm F4 IFED AIS lens. Unfortunately this wasnt curable and I had to sell it - the d2x was an expensive upgrade. Bjorn's website has a good discussion on CA with D2 cameras. http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html<div></div>

Mats, one thing you might do is lose the lens filter you have mounted. As to worrying about purple fringing - use one of the corrective programs available and fuhgeddaboutit.

I had the same problem, but only with the aparture wide open, this happened with 70-200 VR and 70-300 4-5.6 . stepping them down a little aliminated the purple fringe all together . I shot the exact same picture with f=4/-1/1000 and then with f=8 1/250 and the fringe disapeared all together. I know that sometimes this is not an option, but it usually happens when you have a bright object i.e plenty of light.