I am seriously thinking about buying an FX7 for nature and wildlife videography. I have been using the HC1 for this for about a year and a half. One of my only complaints about the HC1 is that, on my copy, there is significant purple fringing at the telephoto end of the lens. This can ruin a shot of a bird on a branch against a bright sky.

I should get the HV20 in the mail on Monday, but will probably still want an FX7 or Canon A1 for my next trip to the wilds. I've searched this forum and the web in general and have not been able to get a sense of how the FX7 lens performs in full telephoto. If the purple fringing is only half as bad as the HC1, I would be thrilled.

Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Regards,

Pat

Both the FX7 and the V1 display what I would term as "noticable" colour fringing under certain lighting conditions. The Canon A1 came in for some harsh criticizm for its fringing / CA, but to be honest in comperable tests the Canon A1, Sony Z1, V1, FX7 all display about the same amount of chromatic abberation.

From my experience with the A1 is that most of the fringing occurs at the wide end of the lens, with very little on the telephoto. Not sure about the FX1.

From what I've seen shots from the HV20 shows very little CA, as does the HVX200.

My V1E does some purple CA on the tele end, but I have never experienced it in wide.
It occurs only in extreme contrast situation - I have the same experience with bird shots if there are strong sunny parts with dark leaves around.

I will try to find some bird clips and post stills to illustrate. I have to add howver that my shots were taken with a Raynox tele lens, that is capable of CA itself.

I've recorded many birds under a variety of situations with my V1U over the last few months. I never saw much CA without a teleconverter. I sometimes see a small amount of CA with my 16x9 EX 1.5X teleconverter attached. As ususal, this only occurs in high contrast areas and at the telephoto end. I ususally try to alter the angles of my shots to avoid these situations -- of course this isn't so easy if you are working in vegetation with tripod and looking at a small flighty species... Basically, the CA isn't so bad that I can't ususlly avoid it. I'll also try to post some images/clips of the good/bad as soon as I find some extra time.
-Brian

Thanks guys! It sounds like it's there but no more so than in the other cameras in this general price range. Does stopping the aperture down help to reduce it?

Pat