The unique lens is the only telephoto lens equipped with a built-in soft focus function to achieve very soft images by harnessing the effect of spherical aberration. There are two levels of softness which can be chosen (1-weak, 2-strong), in addition to level 0 which is for photographs with normal sharpness. The softness of levels 1 and 2 can be further controlled by careful selection of the aperture, making it possible to achieve very precise levels of softness. Image quality with the soft focus effect is ideal for flattering portraits and pictorial scenes, with the subject in focus but softened with an appropriate degree of flare. Not only can the ideal softness be achieved by moving the internal aspherical lens element in accordance with the amount of softness desired, aberration fluctuation caused by changes in distance is also eliminated. And there is no need to worry about trying to determine the correct focus position – the autofocusing system precisely focuses the subject for the optimum soft focus effect.