Nikon Nikkor AF-S 35 mm f/1.4G review - Chromatic aberration

Have you rated your lenses yet?

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 35 mm f/1.4G

10 February 2011

Arkadiusz Olech

5. Chromatic aberration

Longitudinal chromatic aberration is a common affliction of fast fixed-focal lenses. The Nikkor AF-S 35 mm f/1.4G is not free of it either as it can be seen in photos below. Even on stopping down the aperture to f/2.0 we can’t eliminate this aberration completely. It is perhaps not as high a level as we saw in the case of the Nikkor AF-S 85 mm f/1.4G, tested not so long ago, but still it can make life a misery.

Nikon Nikkor AF-S 35 mm f/1.4G - Chromatic aberration

When it comes to the lateral chromatic aberration the situation is even worse as you can notice on the graph below.

Please Support Us

If you enjoy our reviews and articles, and you want us to continue our work please, support our website by donating through PayPal. The funds are going to be used for paying our editorial team, renting servers, and equipping our testing studio; only that way we will be able to continue providing you interesting content for free.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - advertisement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Near the maximum relative aperture the aberration level is high. On stopping down its level decreases but so slowly that it never reaches low values. This aberration is practically always high on a smaller sensor and on the edge of full frame; on a significant stopping down it drops away to the borderline between high and medium level.

Unfortunately also in this category the Nikkor fell short of our expectations. Perhaps the lack of low dispersion glass in the optical construction backfired on the results. On the other hand the Canon EF 35 mm f/1.4L USM didn’t feature low dispersion elements either and it managed in this category perfectly well – in its case the aberration reached the borderline between medium and high level but never exceeded it.