Distortion Correction ALWAYS enabled in NX1 + 16-50S

Pretty much what the title says. Processing my very first SRWs in Lightroom and comparing them against the in-camera JPGs I've just noticed that NX1 + 16-50S always performs distortion correction over JPGs...

Samsung, this is a pro/semi-pro camera + lens package. THIS IS NOT SERIOUS.

(In fact I had already noticed that the Distortion Correct field was grayed out at "On" in the camera menu, but I just thought it didn't worked because of whatever reason I hadn't investigated yet).

On the other hand, with my cheap 50-200 lens, I can turn Distortion Correction on/off...

Samsung, do you really think this is a coherent design?

If it's "not serious" why do you seem so upset about it?

The ability to turn Distortion Control on or off is dependent on the lens, not the camera. Based on my experiences, the feature is disabled/greyed out for any wide angle prime or zoom (12-24) or any zoom that has wide capabilities (the 16-50 s and 16-50 PZ etc.) You can adjust it for "normal" and telephotos like the 30mm, the 50-200 etc.

What reason do you have for wanting distortion turned off?

If it's "not serious" why do you seem so upset about it?

The ability to turn Distortion Control on or off is dependent on the lens, not the camera. Based on my experiences, the feature is disabled/greyed out for any wide angle prime or zoom (12-24) or any zoom that has wide capabilities (the 16-50 s and 16-50 PZ etc.) You can adjust it for "normal" and telephotos like the 30mm, the 50-200 etc.

What reason do you have for wanting distortion turned off?

Honest question: Why would someone argue in favor of UI limitations?

Because any kind if correction (noise, distortion, whatever) kills detail. So the final user should retain control. Specially in the "pro" line of products, more over when it's already offered in the "amateurish" one, don't you think?

(And I really think that you've misunderstood the particular meaning of the word "serious" in my former sentence...)

JGlimmer wrote:

If it's "not serious" why do you seem so upset about it?

The ability to turn Distortion Control on or off is dependent on the lens, not the camera. Based on my experiences, the feature is disabled/greyed out for any wide angle prime or zoom (12-24) or any zoom that has wide capabilities (the 16-50 s and 16-50 PZ etc.) You can adjust it for "normal" and telephotos like the 30mm, the 50-200 etc.

What reason do you have for wanting distortion turned off?

Honest question: Why would someone argue in favor of UI limitations?

Please show me where in my post I argued for it.

ARSPR wrote:

Because any kind if correction (noise, distortion, whatever) kills detail. So the final user should retain control. Specially in the "pro" line of products, more over when it's already offered in the "amateurish" one, don't you think?

(And I really think that you've misunderstood the particular meaning of the word "serious" in my former sentence...)

"Kills" is a strong word. Hyperbole. Please show me a review of the NX1 or the 16-50 S lens where the reviewer mentions the detail being "killed" by the distortion correction. Or examples using your own images.

I understood it. I was commenting on your poorly worded and overly dramatic post.

I agree. Poor choice of words.

Hi
Question is "is it disabled when shooting RAW ?"
If it Is then thats alright.
I discovered that after buying my 12-24 a few weeks ago and it has an effect on the FOV. With distortion correctes You get the FOV of a 14mm more than a 12.

Cheers
Jay

Raws are not corrected but lightroom seems hell bent to apply any and all corrections it knows for any lens it has in its database. To check use something different like raw therapee or raw digger or darktable...

Is it corrected with ANY raw developer?

Is it corrected in LR when converting the raw to dng, first?

We have to understand if the issue is the camera or LR.

tecnoworld wrote:

Is it corrected with ANY raw developer?

Is it corrected in LR when converting the raw to dng, first?

We have to understand if the issue is the camera or LR.

Hi !

I'll have a look in DxO when shooting RAW with the 12-24mm and compare the FOV with an OOC Jpeg. I'll also have a look if the option is not greyed out when you choose RAW in the camera.

Anyway, this should be "ungreyed" for all lenses, whether shooting RAW or JPEG. The user should have the possibility to choose. I guess this should be doable via a firmware revision.

I also discovered it is the same with the 20-50 : shoot JPEG, distortion correction is greyed out and enabled by default. On the 45, you can choose (but there is not that much distortion).

Cheers.
Jay

I agree. The option should be...an option!

Ceedjay wrote:

I agree. Poor choice of words.

Hi
Question is "is it disabled when shooting RAW ?"

Cheers
Jay

It is. It's the same as I mentioned above...wide angle primes and wide angle zooms.

wpstl wrote:

Ceedjay wrote:

I agree. Poor choice of words.

Hi
Question is "is it disabled when shooting RAW ?"

Cheers
Jay

It is. It's the same as I mentioned above...wide angle primes and wide angle zooms.

Hi !

So, it should be possible to have the option available for Jpegs too.

If Samsung reads us......firmware revision

Cheers
Jay

Ceedjay wrote:

wpstl wrote:

Ceedjay wrote:

I agree. Poor choice of words.

Hi
Question is "is it disabled when shooting RAW ?"

Cheers
Jay

It is. It's the same as I mentioned above...wide angle primes and wide angle zooms.

Hi !

So, it should be possible to have the option available for Jpegs too.

If Samsung reads us......firmware revision

Cheers
Jay

I think you misunderstood...The option is "disabled" greyed out for RAW files as well as jpegs.

wpstl wrote:

I think you misunderstood...The option is "disabled" greyed out for RAW files as well as jpegs.

FWIW; for a prime like the 16mm it's always greyed out (set to ON), but if I want to use the whole uncorrected image I open the dng file in Faststone, save as a tiff and then work on that it LR.

It's a workaround in this case, but would be nice to have that control/option in LR from the start.

otto k wrote:

Raws are not corrected but lightroom seems hell bent to apply any and all corrections it knows for any lens it has in its database. To check use something different like raw therapee or raw digger or darktable...

I'm no LR expert, but with LR5 I have to enable profile corrections on individual images with a checkbox, then I select lenses from the make/model/profile drop down menus. Is LR doing anything else beyond that?

A summary reply to all the posts here.

• Yes, I agree that I've been a bit over-expressive with my vocabulary. It's not a life-or-death matter...
• But I still think it's something completely incomprehensible about Samsung decision. I mean, you give the option to turn on/off the distortion correction in a "cheap amateurish" lens (50-200), but you don't give that option with a prime lens (16-50S). Are you nuts?
• (A bit offtopic but nevertheless... I've seen a quite a number of reviews, dpreview's one as example, where the reviewer complain about NX1 not offering any kind of control about the applied level of noise reduction, which can also "kill" (decrease) available detail. But IIRC nobody has complaint about distortion being on all the time... Aren't they similar processes?)
• Samsung is (IMO) absurd about the Distortion Correction decision. But they are not stupid (obviously). SRWs are free from this correction and they MUST remain in this way. The Distortion Correction, (like a future hypothetical NR setting), should be only applied to JPGs. If you shoot in RAW is because you want the MAXIMUM and UNADULTERATED information the sensor has received in order to perform whichever post-processing you desire. Applying any kind of in-camera correction to RAW data would be absolutely nonsense. Either shoot in JPG instead, or perform that correction in your post-process.

The Straw Man wrote:

otto k wrote:

Raws are not corrected but lightroom seems hell bent to apply any and all corrections it knows for any lens it has in its database. To check use something different like raw therapee or raw digger or darktable...

I'm no LR expert, but with LR5 I have to enable profile corrections on individual images with a checkbox, then I select lenses from the make/model/profile drop down menus. Is LR doing anything else beyond that?

You have to select the lens profile and then you can correct independently its distortion and its vignetting with a percentage slider. (So if you want you can still set them to 0%). (The profile is supposed to catch all the zoom range of the lens so you can forget about needing either pincushion or barrel distortion correction values depending of the used focal length of the shot).

The problem is that even LR 6.0 doesn't offer but a small set of Samsung lenses... And the S ones are not included.

But I suppose the culprit here is Adobe, not Samsung. I also feel a bit of disappointment because, given the time the S lens have been available in the market, Adobe has not profiled them yet...