Why is chromatic aberration more of an issue with digital cameras than film cameras?
Chromatic distortion can have two very different causes. On any type of camera–film or digital–you can have situations where the very nature of the colors in the image cause problems for the lens. Different colors are made up of different wavelengths, and the lens may focus more sharply on the red end of the spectrum instead of the violet end. Lens makers try to deal with this in a number of ways, including sophisticated coatings on the surface as well as the design of the lens elements themselves. Now, on a digitial camera, add in two other factors: the sensor that captures the image digitally is made up of red, green, and blue components (usually separate sensors with tiny colored filters on them). They are quite capable of recording most colors, but occasionally can be overloaded by a strong hue that makes heavy demands on multiple sensors at one location–colors like purple, that activate red and blue. It’s not something that happens all the time, but in certain circumstances chr
