Nikon 300mm EF F4 Help Please
 

I recently bought a 300mm F4 - and whillst its taking some great sharp photos in my opinion, there are 2 weirdies, one is quite a lot of Chromatic Abberation which has suprised me, and the 2nd - in some circumstances I'm getting a double image through the viewfinder ... BUT it does not show up in the recorded image, even at wide open...

1st one - CA - here is a shot - this is about a 120% crop - would you really expect that amount of CA ?

the 2nd one - is a bit more worrying - say I take a photo of a plane landing, coming towards me, in the daylight, it has 3 lights for landing, in my viewfinder I can see the 3 lights, and an exact duplicate of all 3 lights further down ... any ideas why .. there are no filters on the front, and the double image doesn't show up on the recorded image, even when the lens is wide open. I had a similar even the other day where I was taking a photo of a captive eagle, and I could see a complete double outline of the Eagle.

Any ideas ?

Thanks, Mark.

I dont see a worrying amount of CA in the picture above, Nikon capture can remove all traces of CA even wideangle.

Point two, I would say its normal. I see what you describe all the time and as stated it does not show on any photo. I assume its an internal reflection inside the viewfinder/mirror assembly.

I realise the photo is a 120% crop but I see little sharpness, look at soft the ladys' hair is.

What aperture is the picture taken, f4? Shooting any lens wide open is never its best.

Stephen.

I'm using a Fuji now not a Nikon.

It does look a bit soft now you mention it - lens was not wide open - was at F5.6 ISO400, 1/750th of a second.

Here is the full (although resized) photo.

Thanks, Mark.

I picked up from the 'Birds of prey' thread that in camera sharpening is set to off. Try the test again using in camera sharpening set to normal. CA can be reduced in Photoshop ACR plug-in but I have no experience. Nikon capture has a tick box, that works!

I think the lens in fine, judging from the bird of prey photos. Enjoy it!

I agree with him!

Stop looking for faults and enjoy what you have. I don't see any problems worth mentioning.

I wasn't worried about the CA - just mentionned it in case it was anything to do with the double image in the viewfinder.

I'm pleased sharpness wise with the lens - it just freaked me out that I kept on seeing 2 of things through the viewfinder, had never seen that through an SLR before...

Mark.

BTW - this shot on here was sharpness = NORMAL not OFF

Mark.