Autofocus Converted Contax N Test: 17-35mm f2.8

Contax N 17-35mm f2.8 v Nikon AFS 17-35mm f2.8

Chromatic Aberration: 17mm (upper right corner: samples at 200%)

Contax N 17-35mm at 17mm / f8	Nikon 17-35mm AFS at 17mm / f8
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At 200%, the merest hint of red/green lateral CA is evident on tangential detail in this corner crop from the Contax, whereas the Nikon has rampaging blue/yellow fringing which is particularly evident on contrasty subjects placed in the corners.

Chromatic Aberration at 21mm: (upper right corner)

Contax N 17-35mm at 21mm / f8	Nikon 17-35mm AFS at 21mm / f8
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Both zoom lenses handle CA better at 21mm than at 17mm, which is to say that the Contax is very nearly perfectly corrected, whereas the Nikon 17-35mm is still slightly problematic. In reality, unless you really go looking for it, it's not going to blight your images.

Chromatic Aberration at 24mm: (upper right corner)

Contax N 17-35mm at 24mm / f8	Nikon 17-35mm AFS at 24mm / f8
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There remains a little CA at 24mm in the Nikon shot, and it persists at this level until 35mm. It's not disruptive, but the Contax is clearly superior in this regard. Note, though, that the Nikon reverses the Contax lens' superiority at 24mm / f8.

No doubt by this point you'll have formed your own verdict, and adding up the numbers isn't really going to make much difference either way, but let's go through the motions and at least summarise the findings . . . .