D300 and CA's with the 70-300 VR

[bluekorn]

Hello,

Bjorn Rorslett - "My main gripe is the presence of chromatic aberrations that creep in towards the telephoto end and since they comprise both the red-cyan and the blue-yellow type, removing them in post-processing takes a little patience and might demand more efforts than the average user is prepared to apply to his or her image files."

And this from the Unmentionable One -  "The D300 has an amazing automatic ability to fix lateral color fringes. The D300 actually makes lenses look better than they are! This gives better, sharper results. There's no need to activate this, it just works, with AF and even old manual focus and fisheye lenses. What is this weird juju? This even works on my old manual focus 8mm fisheye. Is it a magic sensor, magic firmware keyed to the specific lens (sorry 3rd party lens users) or is it clever firmware that looks for odd fringes on any image? No one knows, but it does work, and works perfectly with every lens I've used on the D300, both auto and manual focus."

Mr. Rorslett didn't test the 70-300 VR with the D300. He used the D2X and the D200 (the latter which I discovered to be especially disappointing for myself, as it produced terrible ca's at the long end of the 18-200.) I realize that these lenses are consumer grade and that one can't expect the best IQ.

Has anyone used the 70-300 G VR with the D300 and would you comment on the issue of CA's at the long end. Thank you.



 

[NikosR]

Hello,

Bjorn Rorslett - "My main gripe is the presence of chromatic aberrations that creep in towards the telephoto end and since they comprise both the red-cyan and the blue-yellow type, removing them in post-processing takes a little patience and might demand more efforts than the average user is prepared to apply to his or her image files."

And this from the Unmentionable One -  "The D300 has an amazing automatic ability to fix lateral color fringes. The D300 actually makes lenses look better than they are! This gives better, sharper results. There's no need to activate this, it just works, with AF and even old manual focus and fisheye lenses. What is this weird juju? This even works on my old manual focus 8mm fisheye. Is it a magic sensor, magic firmware keyed to the specific lens (sorry 3rd party lens users) or is it clever firmware that looks for odd fringes on any image? No one knows, but it does work, and works perfectly with every lens I've used on the D300, both auto and manual focus."

Mr. Rorslett didn't test the 70-300 VR with the D300. He used the D2X and the D200 (the latter which I discovered to be especially disappointing for myself, as it produced terrible ca's at the long end of the 18-200.) I realize that these lenses are consumer grade and that one can't expect the best IQ.

Has anyone used the 70-300 G VR with the D300 and would you comment on the issue of CA's at the long end. Thank you.

Can't help you regarding the performance of the particular lens and camera combo (other than point out that many respected photogs do use this lens on the newer Nikons, FX included. One is Thom Hogan). What I can tell you is that the automatic CA correction is a feature of the camera's jpeg processor and is duplicated in the Nikon Capture NX2 converter. It is not something that is burned in the raw files, thus you won't get its benefits if you're using a third party raw converter. Hope that's clear.

[bluekorn]

Can't help you regarding the performance of the particular lens and camera combo (other than point out that many respected photogs do use this lens on the newer Nikons, FX included. One is Thom Hogan). What I can tell you is that the automatic CA correction is a feature of the camera's jpeg processor and is duplicated in the Nikon Capture NX2 converter. It is not something that is burned in the raw files, thus you won't get its benefits if you're using a third party raw converter. Hope that's clear.

Thank you for your reply. In the last couple of weeks I have finally begun shooting in raw format. On the advice of a friend I choose Aperture because it was reportedly a natural transition from iPhoto. If I understand you correctly the automatic CA correction of the D300 will be lost in this case?

[Jim.Batzer]

Thank you for your reply. In the last couple of weeks I have finally begun shooting in raw format. On the advice of a friend I choose Aperture because it was reportedly a natural transition from iPhoto. If I understand you correctly the automatic CA correction of the D300 will be lost in this case?

I haven't used Aperture, only Lightroom, but I'd say, yes, the automatic CA corrections will be lost.

I use a 70-300 VR on a D80. The CA for me is mostly the Yellow-Blue type. It is pretty easy to correct in LR - if you hold down the option button while you move either of the CA sliders, you will see only the channel being effected. I just move the first slider (red-cyan) until I no longer see a fringe (holding down the option button), then move the second slider (with the option button again) until no fringe remains in the yellow-blue channel. I'm not sure if the option key trick works in Aperture. Perhaps someone could answer that for you?

[bluekorn]

I haven't used Aperture, only Lightroom, but I'd say, yes, the automatic CA corrections will be lost.

I use a 70-300 VR on a D80. The CA for me is mostly the Yellow-Blue type. It is pretty easy to correct in LR - if you hold down the option button while you move either of the CA sliders, you will see only the channel being effected. I just move the first slider (red-cyan) until I no longer see a fringe (holding down the option button), then move the second slider (with the option button again) until no fringe remains in the yellow-blue channel. I'm not sure if the option key trick works in Aperture. Perhaps someone could answer that for you?

Thank you Jim - It is most helpful to know that shooting in raw erases the advantage of CA correction. It makes complete and total sense but is one of those things I wouldn't have thought of and would know doubt have been disappointed by when seeing the results of my eventual Nikon body purchase. It's difficult for me to get my expectations in line with real world possibilities in digital photography. This is one step closer.

Does anybody using Aperture know about eliminating CA's in a manner similiar to that described above?

[tomrock]

It is most helpful to know that shooting in raw erases the advantage of CA correction.

Shooting in raw only erases CA correction if you don't use Nikon Capture NX. In other words, NOT using Capture NX erases CA correction. Shooting in raw doesn't.