How Best To Minimize Fringing?

rormeister · 02-20-2009, 10:09 AM

In particular with regard to my Vivitar Series 1 100-500mm Zoom (which BTW I had cleaned by Eric Hendrickson who made it sparkle inside and out...another story...). I am guessing that I need to stop it down to at least f11 but I'm very surprised at the amount of fringing (purple and yellow together) I am seeing at f5.6.
Thanks

*Wheatfield* · 02-20-2009, 11:21 AM

A good RAW converter such as is packed with Adobe Photoshop is likely your best friend. I have a Tokina SD400/5.6 lens that was spectacular on film, and has lots of fringing on digital.
I fix it in Photoshop.
Also, now that you know that the lens has this problem, you can try to avoid pictures that make it worse.
As an example, you will find that many lenses perform very well most all the time, but present them with high contrast at the corners and they'll fringe like crazy.
It's an imperfect world.

*jbinpg* · 02-20-2009, 11:26 AM

I can say with great conviction that the K20D is much more resistant to purple fringing than my K10D was. Not only is the pixel packing denser but the electronic gating to prevent overflow on each pixel is simply better on the K20D. The shot has to be extremely contrasty now for fringing to occur.

Jack

rormeister · 02-20-2009, 11:30 AM

Sure...give me another good reason to ditch the K10D for the K20D

rormeister · 02-20-2009, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

I fix it in Photoshop.

Thanks Wheatfield. I do have PS3 which does indeed correct the problem. I'm hoping there are little secrets, other than the more obvious "don't shoot high contrast".

The lens is more for fun, so I'll pick my targets more carefully.

Neil MacG · 02-20-2009, 03:11 PM

I have the Tamron 70-300mm which is well known for PF issues.

It was several months after I got it before I ever saw any PF in my photos and on reflection this was likely to be due to having bought it in the summer months where my K100D was automatically assigning a smaller aperture. As I moved to winter I saw the PF more and more often. Sometimes if the shutter speed is critical and you don't want to set too high an ISO the only option is to take the PF and fix it later.

I'm now a lot better at fixing it using Bibble Lite and I would far prefer that than use a lens which is less sharp.

If you can stop down - do so, but if you know how to fix it - then don't beat yourself up about it. The only other alternative is probably to spend a lot of money either on a different sensor (K20D?) or a lens that is sharp and is optimised to avoid PF (like my Sigma 120-400mm HSM)

Neil

skeuos · 02-20-2009, 03:16 PM

I'll agree with Neil - that Tamron gives pf like crazy in higher contrast areas. I fix it without much difficulty in Silkypix 3 (love that name . . .) - for some reason, I find it does a better job than PS. Maybe I just don't know how to use PS correctly, which is quite possible. Otherwise, the lens has too many other perks to stop using it.