Some of you may be interested in these test results using the new Automatic Lens Aberration Compensation feature.

These are shot with my PDW-700 and Fujinon ZA 22x and 12x lenses with the new ALAC software installed.

The tests are rough - essentially I’ve jumped out into my backyard and picked a couple of severe chromatic aberration scenarios to compare ALAC off and Auto. I generally looked for examples of defined lines of contrast and usually framed out to the edge of the lenses where chromatic aberration becomes more severe.

In essence, the ALAC feature in my view is worth using and in many instances offers an improvement ranging from minor to substantial.

I feel in some rare instances I have noticed a very slight worsening of chromatic aberration with the feature on Auto, but couldn’t duplicate this in these tests. Rare is probably the operative word here and given the overall benefits, I plan to leave the feature on as a rule.

Where there are instances of the most severe chromatic aberration - which usually occurs when exposing for a darker foreground with a substantially brighter background on the long end of either of my lenses, the beneficial effects are non-existent to very minimal.

All in all, my tests suggest the upgrade is well worth having.

It’ll be interesting to see the differences/benefits in real world setups.

Download the pics here: www.reach.com.au/downloads/ALAC_Tests.zip

Just a note Peter, but you do realize that ALAC is a two part solution, right? The lenses have to support ALAC as well. Not just any lens you stick on there will give the benefit. In reading the brochure for these lenses, I didn't see any specific mention of that feature.

regards,

-gb-

Just spoke with Fujinon and the 4A-4F series (look for this under the zoom handle) would require a firmware upgrade to the lens for ALAC. If the label has 4G, then it's good to go, right out of the box.

Yep - Lenses used had the new firmware installed by Fujinon last week.

Hi Peter,

Great job on the test pictures. How much was the firmware upgrade for the lenses?

Thierry.

They were the first to be upgraded by the Fujinon technician here so I didn't pay anything as he was curious to see the results. But I think Fujinon Australia plans to charge 100 Australian dollars per lens (about 80 US) which includes a basic service and clean up. I'm sure it'll be something totally different in your part of the world. The upgrade process is as simple as plugging a cable from the tech's computer into the lens serial port and running the special firmware upgrade software. It took about 5 minutes. I understand M58 series lenses only can be upgraded at this stage.

Thanks Peter!

I had my lenses (firmware) upgraded and haven't yet had time to proper test myself, now I don't need to!

Thanks for sharing!

Brad.