What is chromatic aberration and how can it be minimized in lens selection and settings?

• A. Color fringing around high-contrast edges; minimize by using high-quality lenses, stopping down slightly, and applying corrections in post.
• B. A blur caused by camera shake; minimize by using a tripod.
• C. Color shift caused by white balance; minimize by calibrating color temperature.
• D. A type of lens distortion corrected by zooming.

Answer: (A)

Chromatic aberration happens because a lens bends different colors of light by different amounts, so not all wavelengths come to the same focus. That mismatch shows up as color fringes along high-contrast edges, especially toward the edges of the frame and when the lens is used wide open. To minimize it, use lenses designed with low-dispersion elements or apochromatic corrections, which bring multiple wavelengths closer together. Stopping down slightly also helps by reducing the range of angles at which light hits the lens, which lowers the visible fringe and improves overall sharpness. If any fringe remains, you can correct it in post using software tools that reduce or remove chromatic aberration. The other options describe different issues—camera shake blur, white-balance shifts, or distortion corrected by zooming—and don’t address chromatic aberration itself.