Why does my Nikon 50mm f/1.4D show purple fringing in out-of-focus areas?
Asked 3/22/2012
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I’m using a Nikon D90 with a Nikon 50mm f/1.4D and I’m seeing purple fringing around out-of-focus, high-contrast subjects. It looks like longitudinal chromatic aberration rather than normal lateral CA. Is this expected behavior for this lens when used wide open, or does it indicate a problem with my technique or copy of the lens?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
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What you're seeing is longitudinal chromatic aberration (otherwise known as axial colour), whereby the light at the edge of the bokeh disc undergoes a colour shift depending on whether it is in front of or behind plane of focus. The reason for this is that light of different wavelengths focus at different distances along the axis of the lens.
This is very common of ultrafast lenses like your 50 f/1.4 and is exacerbated by strong contrasts such as shooting against the open sky. Unlike Lateral Chromatic Aberration (where colours are shifted outward regardless of depth) which can be fixed easily in software, occurrence of Longitudinal Chromatic aberration depends on depth information, which is absent from the image. As such it is more difficult to correct automatically (though some software such as Capture NX2 and DXO, Lightroom 4+ offer this feature). It does however reduce rapidly on stopping down.
In a nutshell there's nothing wrong with the lens, it's just this type of subject/shooting environment is not ideal for f/1.4 lenses.
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
14y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
What you’re seeing is normal longitudinal chromatic aberration (also called axial color), and it’s common on very fast lenses like a 50mm f/1.4, especially when used wide open.
It happens because different wavelengths of light focus at slightly different distances along the lens axis. In out-of-focus areas, that can show up as purple or green fringing, particularly around high-contrast edges such as branches or objects against a bright sky.
So this usually does not mean you did anything wrong, and it doesn’t necessarily mean the lens is defective. It’s a known characteristic of fast optics and tends to be more obvious at f/1.4.
Unlike lateral chromatic aberration, longitudinal CA is harder to remove automatically because it depends on subject depth. Stopping the lens down often reduces it. In post-processing, a manual desaturation/color-layer masking approach can help clean up the fringes when automatic tools don’t work well.
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