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35/1.4 Distagon Spherical Aberration Assessment
Focus shift is covered in detail in Making Sharp Images, or in brief in Focus Shift and Spherical Aberration.
Here, spherical aberration and focus shift are assessed at a distance of about 1.2 meters. All images were white-balanced using the f/5.6 frame.
Low contrast wide open
Aperture f/1.4 is shown below. Observe the overall low contrast appearance. Mouse-over the image to see how much this haze cleans up by f/2.8. As it turns out, the hazy appearance is largely the result of axial chromatic aberration, not spherical aberration.
One might speculate on spherical aberration as a possible cause. Spherical aberration is a common result of a “fast” f/1.4 design using spherical lens elements; peripheral light rays focus at a slightly different distance than central rays. However, the information direct from the Zeiss optical experts for the 35/1.4 Distagon is that the cause is primarily longitudinal chromatic aberration.
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