Phase Detect AF Problem
What many photographers do not know, is that their AF lenses are always set to the maximum aperture when phase detection autofocus is used. The reason for this, is that phase detection uses two small sensors to measure AF accuracy (depending on the angle of light) and they require a lot of light to work effectively, which is why lens aperture stays wide open even when the lens is stopped down on the camera. The aperture changes only when you finally press the shutter button and opens back up at the end of the exposure. At smaller apertures, the light comes at a much smaller angle, making it harder for the AF sensors to see if the subject is in focus or not. On top of that, there is much less incoming light for the sensors to see much contrast, which also causes autofocus accuracy issues. These are the main reasons why camera manufacturers claim that autofocus does not work on lenses slower than f/5.6-f/8 (on the latest Nikon DSLRs). Interestingly, the most optimal lenses for the phase detect AF system are the ones that have a maximum aperture between f/2.0 and f/4.0. Large-aperture prime lenses with maximum aperture larger than f/2.0 have a very small depth of field, so they just take longer to obtain correct focus.
Why is this all important and what does phase detect AF have to do with the focus shift? As shown in the illustration above, focus shifts to the right (or away from the camera) when aperture is changed. Since phase detect AF leaves the lens aperture wide open while autofocusing, the sharpest focus plane is going to shift when you take a picture with the lens stopped down. This is potentially a big problem, because it means that you might not be able to achieve correct focus, unless you stop down enough to compensate the shift (by increasing depth of field). Sadly, even the AF Fine Tune function in some advanced cameras like Nikon D7000 is not going to help, because it does not allow micro-adjusting focus for different apertures. If you adjust focus for a lens at f/2.8, focus will certainly shift at f/1.4 and vice-versa.
Read more:
http://photographylife.com/what-is-focus-shift#ixzz3GIQfDXYj