Originally posted by Wheatfield If an artifact can be removed as part of the raw conversion, I'm not really seeing why it is a problem. Of course, I've also never seen PF off my 77 either.
As stated in my previous post, it is always possible to hide chromatic aberrations and purple fringing in post processing. It is also possible to enhance the contrast of a soft lens, to correct distortion of a bad wide angle and to remove vignetting from a lens with a front element of insufficient diameter. That's how cheap digicams and camphones manage to get good enough pictures from crappy lenses. I am sorry but if I pay quite a lot of money for a Pentax Limited, then I expect it to be a superior lens, meaning that I don't have to spend time correcting its defects!
The 77 is a certainly not a bad lens. It's fast, has beautiful construction, good sharpness, superb contrast and bokeh, but its behavior regarding longitudinal chromatic aberration and purple fringing is sub par for a high end lens.
Here are a few random samples taken from my pictures. First, some purple fringing:
Then some ugly "green fringing" in the contrasted areas of out of focus background:
Cheers!
Abbazz