Color fringing

shutterfinger · Jan 24, 2020

What cause this color fringing? How does one eliminate it?
Nikon D800, Nikkor 2x teleconverter TC201, Nikkor 300mmF4.5 AIS lens, ISO 1600, 1/500 at f9.5.
Lend data set in the camera per the manual. Not all images had this color fringing, just some of them.
Red fringe on the front Egret, Green on the rear Egret.
Crop:

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 24, 2020

It’s usually a lens aberration and it tends to appear in high-contrast areas more strongly in digital than on film.

Since you’re shooting digital, it’s correctable to a certain degree in Photoshop, and I presume other editing software. In CS5, I would open the image in ACR, select “lens corrections” and adjust for chromatic aberration.

Paul Howell · Jan 25, 2020

I shot Sony A mount, I have a friends who shoot Nikon, I rarely have issues with color fringing, my friend has issues with older lens, might be the coating on older lens are an issue. I find this odd as I think the D800 uses a Sony sensor, if so must be in the firmware.

Kino · Jan 25, 2020

The extra glass of the teleconverter and the ISO boost doesn't help, but I know you have it that way for a reason.

Your whites are at clip or above, which exacerbates the issue of fringing. You might try shooting RAW with a modified profile that stretches the toe and rolls-off the highlights. Shoot with your whites well below clip and post process to bring out the shadow detail and differentiate your highlights.

EDIT: Here's some presets for example. Probably not anything you might want, but it illustrates what can be done...

https://nikonpc.com/

download that zip,
extract/expand it on your computer
put the extracted folders (keeping the structure) on an SD card
Put that card in, and go into the menu to Manage Picture Control (in the Shooting menu)
Choose ‘Load/save’ then ‘Copy to camera’ and select the new profile.

To use it, go back out to the Shooting Menu, and choose Set Picture Control and choose the profile you stored.

138S · Jan 25, 2020

It looks those fringes are from Secondary Chromatic Aberration, which tipically are green-magenta. ED glass was reportedly included in many Tele designs to remove that effect.

David A. Goldfarb · Jan 25, 2020

I’ve noticed it more with tele lenses than with shorter lenses in general, and yes, teleconverters will make it worse. More modern lenses should be better than older lenses, but I don’t do enough bird photography these days to justify the expense of testing that hypothesis. That Photoshop correction can make an older fast tele about $8000 better.

shutterfinger · Jan 25, 2020

Kino said:
Your whites are at clip or above, which exacerbates the issue of fringing. You might try shooting RAW with a modified profile that stretches the toe and rolls-off the highlights.

I shoot in RAW, convert to Tiff with Capture NX-D then use PS5 to do any further editing. The images that were tack sharp focus do not have the fringing. Those Great Egrets require a 2 stop under exposure to get detail in the feathers in bright sun. It was cloudy overcast and likely needed a 1/2 shot under exposure.

Picture Control 2 downloads and installs as part of the Capture NX-D download as does Nikon Transfer 2.

mshchem · Jan 25, 2020

It's the lens/ teleconverter . This is why new professional 600mm lenses cost as much as a car.
No free lunch. Darn it.

shutterfinger · Jan 25, 2020

The lens-teleconverter combo does not do it on my D300. It may be that extra 24 megapixels of the D800.
Shot some more today, fringing on over exposed areas and in motion blur areas. (Birds in flight)

Thanks for the tips.

blockend · Jan 26, 2020

shutterfinger said:
The lens-teleconverter combo does not do it on my D300. It may be that extra 24 megapixels of the D800.
Shot some more today, fringing on over exposed areas and in motion blur areas. (Birds in flight)

Thanks for the tips.

I only get chromatic aberrations to that extent with older telephoto lenses, such as a Vivitar 300mm. Even modern kit zooms seem to keep chroma in check. Sharpening seems to exaggerate the effect, as will other sliders. Wildlife photography shows any weaknesses, with high contrast outlines exaggerating the effect. I only use those lenses for black and white work.

138S · Jan 26, 2020

blockend said:
Even modern kit zooms seem to keep chroma in check.

Of course many modern designs may be better, but also DSLRs correct fringes easily, for each zoom/focus position a map is calculated to compensate lateral color shifts.

blockend · Jan 26, 2020

138S said:
Of course many modern designs may be better, but also DSLRs correct fringes easily, for each zoom/focus position a map is calculated to compensate lateral color shifts.

Apropos of nothing, last month I took some pictures on the Vivitar 300mm and Panasonic, which gives a field of view equivalent to a 600mm lens on 35mm. At ISO 10000 (!) I got some splendid monochrome crow and magpie shots. The noise was no worse than 400 asa film pushed a stop, and chroma was concealed by lack of colour. The ability to shoot at high speeds with dim apertures at long focal lengths, would require some very specialised film. The lens cost £10.

138S · Jan 26, 2020

blockend said:
Apropos of nothing, last month I took some pictures on the Vivitar 300mm and Panasonic, which gives a field of view equivalent to a 600mm lens on 35mm. At ISO 10000 (!) I got some splendid monochrome crow and magpie shots. The noise was no worse than 400 asa film pushed a stop, and chroma was concealed by lack of colour. The ability to shoot at high speeds with dim apertures at long focal lengths, would require some very specialised film. The lens cost £10.

Yes, as we have to stop for DOF a cheap lens delivers mostly same result than a Pro expensive lens, as diffraction is the dominating effect while other aberrations are lower, this is an example:

shutterfinger · Jan 26, 2020

Another example:

D800, Nikkor 300mm f4.5 + TC-201 2x teleconverter, 1/250 @ f11. Vignetting from built in lens hood.

New school + old school = not perfect. 300mm f4 AF-D on the back burner, 300mm f4.5 AIS 564000 available.

RalphLambrecht · Jan 26, 2020

shutterfinger said:
What cause this color fringing? How does one eliminate it?
Nikon D800, Nikkor 2x teleconverter TC201, Nikkor 300mmF4.5 AIS lens, ISO 1600, 1/500 at f9.5.
Lend data set in the camera per the manual. Not all images had this color fringing, just some of them.
Red fringe on the front Egret, Green on the rear Egret.
Crop:
View attachment 238829

color fringing is caused by what a lens does(refracting light).other than that, what Dave said.

blockend · Jan 27, 2020

There's one young professional photographer (can't find link but will edit), who only uses early digital compact cameras, and embraces chromatic aberration as essential to the look!

edit: still looking for the link. Found this in the search: https://iso.500px.com/meet-the-pro-photographer-who-uses-a-simple-point-shoot/

reddesert · Jan 31, 2020

Color fringing seems to be a worse problem for (some) digital sensors combined with (some) lenses. I believe it is a combination of lens chromatic aberration and the Bayer array - the fact that pixels on a digital sensor are arranged R G B G R G B G etc. The camera has to reinterpolate to derive the color image we see, and I think that when lens chromatic aberration interacts badly with that interpolation, color fringing is more obvious.

shutterfinger · Feb 8, 2020

Today I went out with the 300 f4.5 and shot at DX and 1.2x settings with and without the teleconverter and no noticeable fringing.

Color fringing

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