Nikon D5000 Digital Camera Review

Chromatic Aberration

Performance here is a mixed bag, with reasonable performance overall but readily noticeable trouble spots when shooting at 18mm.

At the widest (18mm) setting, sharpness is very low at f/3.5, with noticeable chromatic aberration. Results improve as the lens is stopped down, but not by much.

Chromatic aberration improves somewhat at 36mm, but edges lack crispness throughout, particularly at f/22.

At the maximum zoom setting, sharpness at the center is marginal, particularly when fully stopped down, and the crops along the edges of the lens look fuzzy at all apertures.

Distortion

The good news in this test came in the one area not included in the scoring. Distortion with the kit lens was very low at the 33mm and 55mm focal lengths tested, and the 2.54% barrel distortion at 18mm is within the acceptable range.