In body UWA lens distortion correction.

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Would appreciate any advice from people more knowledgeable in this.

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Click to expand...

Robbob67 said:

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Click to expand...

The brand doesn't matter. That is the whole point of Micro Four Thirds. Any MFT lens is corrected for chromatic aberration and distortion in software (either in the camera or in the raw processor).

Robbob67 said:

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Click to expand...

LR does these corrections automatically for MFT raw images. In fact, there is no user option to turn off these corrections, they happen completely automatically in LR.

Robbob67 said:

Would appreciate any advice from people more knowledgeable in this.

Click to expand...

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Would appreciate any advice from people more knowledgeable in this.

Click to expand...

Lens distortion correction is performed using information inside exif metadata.

The correction does not depend on the mix of lenses brands and it is applied regardless

This is automatically applied to jpeg images, what happens to RAW files depends on the program you use.

For most of the older lenses Adobe lightroom applies those correction and you cannot disable them. Recently lens profiles similar to DSLR have started to appear for some lenses and in that case you can disable the corrections if you want

So in short your shots will be automatically corrected in lightroom and you don't need to worry

If you click on the lens profile information button in the develop module it will tell you which corrections have been applied, typically this is distortion and/or lateral chromatic aberration

Vignetting is not corrected this way but you can activate a setting in camera that is irreversible and affects RAW files (do not do it)

Tom Axford said:

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Click to expand...

The brand doesn't matter. That is the whole point of Micro Four Thirds. Any MFT lens is corrected for chromatic aberration and distortion in software (either in the camera or in the raw processor).

Tom Axford said:

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Click to expand...

LR does these corrections automatically for MFT raw images. In fact, there is no user option to turn off these corrections, they happen completely automatically in LR.

Click to expand...

I didn't realise that. Even in the older LR 6.14 perpetual license version?

Tom Axford said:

Tom Axford said:

Would appreciate any advice from people more knowledgeable in this.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

So apart from any physical differences between the Olympus 9-18 and Panasonic 7-14, there will be no disadvantage to using the Olympus lens on a G9?

Robbob67 said:

So apart from any physical differences between the Olympus 9-18 and Panasonic 7-14, there will be no disadvantage to using the Olympus lens on a G9?

Click to expand...

Not from the correction point of view

Also for a wide lens things are almost always on focus so don’t worry about DFD

Robbob67 said:

Tom Axford said:

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Click to expand...

The brand doesn't matter. That is the whole point of Micro Four Thirds. Any MFT lens is corrected for chromatic aberration and distortion in software (either in the camera or in the raw processor).

Robbob67 said:

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Click to expand...

LR does these corrections automatically for MFT raw images. In fact, there is no user option to turn off these corrections, they happen completely automatically in LR.

Click to expand...

I didn't realise that. Even in the older LR 6.14 perpetual license version?

Click to expand...

Yes, I think that has been the case for many years.

However, you can check if a lens profile has been automatically applied by looking under Lens Corrections in the Develop module in LR. It will say "Built-in lens profile applied". There are a few lenses that have no built-in profile, but most do.

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Robbob67 said:

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Click to expand...

The purple blotches are due to physical issue with the IR filter on older olympus models, it is a different issue altogether and I am not aware of any issues of that nature using olympus lenses on panasonic bodies

Interceptor121 said:

Robbob67 said:

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Click to expand...

The purple blotches are due to physical issue with the IR filter on older olympus models, it is a different issue altogether and I am not aware of any issues of that nature using olympus lenses on panasonic bodies

Click to expand...

I see. Thank you for clarifying.
Although I used 35mm SLR cameras way back when, m4/3 is a new departure for me. Since going digital around 20 years ago, my cameras have all been compacts or bridge cameras.
There is a whole new learning curve now !

Interceptor121 said:

--
instagram http://instagram.com/interceptor121
My flickr sets http://www.flickr.com/photos/interceptor121/
Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/interceptor121
Underwater Photo and Video Blog http://interceptor121.com

Click to expand...

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Now I understand that some of the natural shortcomings of these lenses are corrected digitally by the camera body, but presumably only if lens and body are the same brand? So a Panasonic body won't correct an Olympus lens?

Secondly, where this correction does occur, does it happen with both JPEG and RAW , or is the RAW file left untouched? I shoot RAW and am happy to do do minor processing in Lightroom, but don't really want to have to get involved in lens correction.

Would appreciate any advice from people more knowledgeable in this.

Click to expand...

Adding to the other comments, the corrections are carried on board each lens and automatically applied to the image file, regardless of camera brand. Oly cameras with TruePic older than Ver VII only applied Panny distortion correction, but TP VII and newer apply all corrections.

Certain RAW converters strip out the corrections and you can see the bare, uncorrected images if that suits your fancy. (See this for before/after comparisons. ) I don't happen to own such a program, so glide blissfully through the m4/3 landscape not worrying about what's optical and what's digital. This approach is one of the reasons we have such relatively small wide and ultrawide lenses.

What might not be obvious is adapted non-system lenses carry no on-board corrections readable by the camera and are WYSIWYG, warts and all mounted to m4/3. Standard and tele lenses generally aren't corrected much; WAs receive quite a lot. The RAW converter, such as Lightroom and DxO, have their own lens profiles that can be applied. Also and unlike Lightroom, DxO has their own m4/3 lens profiles too, some of which look better (to my eye) than the OEM profile. And that is where one can really get deep in the weeds fiddling with and comparing image files.

Cheers,

Rick

--
Equivalence and diffraction-free since 2009.
You can be too; ask about our 12-step program.

I have Photoshop CS4 and some corresponding version of ACR. I believe partial correction is performed somewhere along the line but if I want a perfectly rectilinear image at the wide end of 9-18 I run it through PTLens which is a snap and the result is perfect.

Robbob67 said:

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Click to expand...

The filter in front of the Oly sensor lets through a wider range of wavelengths than Pana. My understanding is sketchy to say the least but with some Pana lenses that can cause problems in that part of the spectrum which shows as purple cast in parts of the image. I only know of this happening with the 7-14/4. There is a fix which involves installing an additional filter on the rear of the lens.

BTW it's the same with Pana lenses so it's not because my camera is Pana and the lens Oly. If you don't have long straight lines close to the edges, the additional correction is hardly needed.

Robbob67 said:

Please bear with me as I am new to this.
I am considering a wide angle zoom for my new G9 body, so it is currently between the Panasonic 7-14mm or the Olympus 9-18mm.

Click to expand...

Get the Panasonic 7-14mm. Much better lens. 7mm is much wider than 9mm.

As others have observed, lens correction data is either applied (JPEG) or appended (RAW) to the file by the body. Some RAW processors automatically apply those corrections, some do nothing, some apply their own lens profile, some let you make manual corrections, and some give you multiple options.

In my rather extensive experience as a pro using Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab, PhotoLab, with its own proprietary lens + body profiles, does a much better job than either Lightroom or the lens manufacturer's own corrections. I get a wider FoV, better correction of CA and vignetting, and better detail at the edges. Add to this DxO's Perspective and Volume Deformation corrections (with the View Point plugin), and you've got unparalleled (pun intended) tools for UWA images.

Jacques Cornell said:

As others have observed, lens correction data is either applied (JPEG) or appended (RAW) to the file by the body. Some RAW processors automatically apply those corrections, some do nothing, some apply their own lens profile, some let you make manual corrections, and some give you multiple options.

In my rather extensive experience as a pro using Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab, PhotoLab, with its own proprietary lens + body profiles, does a much better job than either Lightroom or the lens manufacturer's own corrections. I get a wider FoV, better correction of CA and vignetting, and better detail at the edges. Add to this DxO's Perspective and Volume Deformation corrections (with the View Point plugin), and you've got unparalleled (pun intended) tools for UWA images.

Click to expand...

Sounds awesome. I just wish DxO were not so heavy on computing power. My old PSCS4+ACR is so quick (in comparison). I hate updating my desktop but guess I'll have to sooner or later.

Jacques Cornell said:

--
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

Click to expand...

rurikw said:

Jacques Cornell said:

As others have observed, lens correction data is either applied (JPEG) or appended (RAW) to the file by the body. Some RAW processors automatically apply those corrections, some do nothing, some apply their own lens profile, some let you make manual corrections, and some give you multiple options.

In my rather extensive experience as a pro using Lightroom and DxO PhotoLab, PhotoLab, with its own proprietary lens + body profiles, does a much better job than either Lightroom or the lens manufacturer's own corrections. I get a wider FoV, better correction of CA and vignetting, and better detail at the edges. Add to this DxO's Perspective and Volume Deformation corrections (with the View Point plugin), and you've got unparalleled (pun intended) tools for UWA images.

Click to expand...

Sounds awesome. I just wish DxO were not so heavy on computing power. My old PSCS4+ACR is so quick (in comparison). I hate updating my desktop but guess I'll have to sooner or later.

Click to expand...

Ya gets what ya pays for. All that compute power is doing worthwhile stuff.

That said, if you apply PhotoLab's "HD" noise reduction (essentially equivalent to Lightroom's), PhotoLab is not substantially slower. What does use more compute power is PhotoLab's PRIME and DeepPRIME noise reduction. PRIME leans on the CPU, whereas DeepPRIME leans on the GPU. Generating a JPEG from a 42MP a7RIII RAW shot at ISO 25,600 - with DeepPRIME and lots of other adjustments applied - takes my M1 Mac mini about 30 seconds. For my low-light event work, the wait is more than worth it, even when I'm cranking out 500+ images.

For base-ISO files, the case for DeepPRIME is less compelling. Regardless of ISO and noise reduction, PhotoLab's lens corrections and detail retrieval, in and of themselves, don't put a heavy load on the computer and are very worthwhile.

--
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

Robbob67 said:

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Click to expand...

I am aware of this possibility but have not experienced first hand. I think newer Panasonic lenses don't have this issue. I am using Panasonic 8-18 on Olympus bodies with no issues.

Space the final frontier said:

Robbob67 said:

I know this doesn't affect me, but what made me wonder about this is that I have read about the Panasonic lens creating purple spots, which are not corrected in Olympus bodies.

Click to expand...

I am aware of this possibility but have not experienced first hand. I think newer Panasonic lenses don't have this issue. I am using Panasonic 8-18 on Olympus bodies with no issues.

Click to expand...

This was widely noted about the Panasonic 7-14/4, which was one of the first lenses from Panasonic. I don't recall reading about this issue with other Panasonic lenses.