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What Lens Do You Have That Has the Least CA?
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:55 pm    Post subject: What Lens Do You Have That Has the Least CA? Reply with quote
I've seen chromatic aberration crop up with most lenses I've used. A few lenses I've had were horrible, but most are no problem most of the time. Still, once in a while, an otherwise good lens gives me a CA headache. What lens do you have that gives you the least CA problems?

I know some people here have some magnificent and exotic lenses, and I'm interested in which among them has the least CA problems. But mostly, I'm interested in which affordable and more common lenses also perform well. Please, share some examples of non-corrected images.

My lens with the least CA issues (somewhere between virtually unnoticeable and non-existent) is a Zoom Nikkor 25-50/4 Ais. Below is a 100% crop that demonstrates CA which is about as bad as it gets with this lens. This is unprocessed, uncorrected, right from the camera (D700). It looks at least as good on film slides, but I don't have any good slide scans to post.



Below is the image from which this was cropped.



PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 7:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Nikkors and my Leicas are pretty good at CAs.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
My Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 100-300/4.5-5.6 has very little CA compared to most longer lenses, bar proper APO lenses of course.

I also have an old Tamron made Soligor 300/5.5 preset lens which exhibits very little, but it's still not as good as the Vario-Sonnar.


PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
My Nikkors and my Leicas are pretty good at CAs.


Most of my Nikkors are pretty good, too, and I have one Leitz R. Both of my 300s show considerable CA (300/4.5 H non-Ai, 300/4.5 Ais ED-IF), and my 200 Micro has noticeable CA at near macro distances (1:2). The Leitz R (100/4 Macro bellows) looks great, until I get closer than 1:2 magnification. Then it has bad yellow-blue fringing, which I find less-than-amusing for a lens with "macro" as part of its name (same complaint with the Micro 200).

For a Nikkor CA example: below is a 100% crop of a 1:2 closeup of a wild sunflower taken with a Micro 200/4 Ais. Despite the color fringing at near-macro distances, this is one of my favorite lenses to use--easy handling, light weight, excellent focus, and gives enough working distance to let me take pictures of unfriendly insects. Used as a telephoto, I have no problems, and closeup images look quite good, unless I enlarge it too much, then it gives me this...



PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Except my APO lenses, CZJ Tessar 4.5/40 shows no sign of CA.

Any good 50 prime stopped down has very low CA, Distagon 25, 35 stopped down to f8...


PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ManualFocus-G wrote:
My Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 100-300/4.5-5.6 has very little CA compared to most longer lenses, bar proper APO lenses of course.

I also have an old Tamron made Soligor 300/5.5 preset lens which exhibits very little, but it's still not as good as the Vario-Sonnar.


Longer lenses are definitely more difficult to control CA, but I had a 28/3.5 Nikkor that had noticeable CA, and under severe circumstances, I can get color fringing out of my 20/3.5 Ais and UD lenses, too. I used to have a Vivitar M42 35mm lens (I forget which one) that also looked soft--when enlarged, every single image had some CA.

I have a Rodenstock APO Rodagon 75/4 that I've never seen a hint of CA from, but I'm not counting it because, well, it's APO. It's supposed to be corrected.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Of the MF lenses I've tried for astroimaging so far, I think the 180mm f/3.4 Leica APO-Telyt-R has the least CA. There's some CA in the blue, but the red end (all-important for astro) looks reasonably good:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s58y/4792309546/sizes/o/in/set-72157624256391331/

Of course, at the very center, a small APO refractor without field flattener will easily beat this, with no hint of CA, but the image (without flattener) is poor off-axis.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't have CA problem with any of my lenses
I think my worst lens is the Tokina 12-24, but I never use it


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, i must confess i have really a few lenses that show CA ... I have had some issues with purple fringing, but this is due more to sensor blooming than the lens itself ...

Otherwise, i would put my Steinheil Quinar 135/2.8, my Meyer Orestor 100/2.8 and my Pentax-A 100/2.8 Macro at the top of the list, the last position being reserved to a Schneider Retina Tele-Xenar 135/4 (bad sample ?) ...


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Mirror lenses are reputed to have zero CA...........


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:
Mirror lenses are reputed to have zero CA...........


Good point, my Rubinar 300/4.5 shows absolutely none at all Very Happy


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Schneider Kreuznach Edixa Xenar 2.8/50 is very good at CA.
Also Voigtlander APO Lanthar 3.5/90.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Auto Takumar 35/2.3, Meyer Primagon 35/4.5, ZCJ Tessar 40/4.5

Schneider-Kreuznach 35/2.8, S-M-C Takumar 50/4, Industar 50-2 50/3.5 and Triotar 135/4 are also really good. And many old Meyers (despite low contrast and sharpness) too.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 1:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
martyn_bannister wrote:
Mirror lenses are reputed to have zero CA...........


Heh. I forgot about my 3M 5CA 500/8. Yeah, it has absolutely no CA; not very much contrast, either.


PostPosted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Neglecting my Tamron mirror, which is defective, I'd say that the lens I own with the very least CA is my Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. Many others have no detectable CA, such that it would only show up on an optical bench, I suspect.
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