The ultimate mission: To obtain resolution with edge-to-edge sharpness, mandatory for professional use, in both Nikon FX format and Nikon DX format. Even excellent lenses tend to have lower resolving power at their peripheries. When a photographer shoots with a large-sized imaging sensor, the image deterioration at the periphery is generally not so obvious when a telephoto lens is used. When a wide-angle lens is used, however, image deterioration such as distortion and poor resolution becomes more pronounced, especially when shooting detailed patterns. This phenomenon, known as “lateral chromatic aberration”, is generated because an image is resolved with slightly different magnifications according to varying wavelengths. In order to overcome this drawback of large-sized imaging sensors, Nikon incorporated a lateral chromatic aberration reduction function in the image-processing engine. Unlike conventional correction methods that simply eliminate the colors of chromatic aberration, Nikon’s method compensates for the differences in the resolving sizes of each color. This proves especially effective for reducing image distortion at the edges of a frame and for improving image quality throughout the entire frame. This function is also useful with the Nikon DX format. Moreover, because aberration is corrected regardless of lens type — including telephoto, wide-angle, fisheye, non-CPU and other types of NIKKOR lenses except special lenses such as PC lenses — this feature contributes to the sharper images professional photographers demand, from both Nikon FX and Nikon DX formats. And in order to provide every professional with this advanced level of image quality, both the D3 and D300 employ this function.
Furthermore, when processing RAW data, Nikon’s ViewNX software — supplied with the camera — or the optional Capture NX lets you apply this function just as you would to a JPEG image.
