Help! My Fuji 16mm f1.4 is really distorted

Gary Martin wrote:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the exaggerated tilting of straight lines prevalent in wide angle lenses was called keystoning, whereas distortion is when straight lines are rendered as curved. As long as straight lines are kept straight (regardless of the angle), there's no actual distortion.

Perspective distortion is different than lens distortion. Keystoning is a term sometimes applied to converging lines. But the correct description is perspective distortion. That is lines in the image plane will remain parallel, while lines in a plane that is not parallel to the image plane will be compressed in separation behind the image plane and expanded in front.

https://fujilove.com/correcting-perspective-and-keystone-distortion-with-exposure-x4/

Most fully function S/W packages, C1, Adobe subscription have facilities to address this issue.  In DXO PL you will need to buy an add on package, Viewpoint.  In reality these S/W solutions will only address perspective distortion in one plane since the transform needed varies for planes intersections the lens axis at different distances from the camera.  For simple images - it works fine.  For more complex images it will be noticeable.  The appropriate way to correct for such distortion is a tilt/shift lens to control the actual image plane orientation.  The unfortunate thing is Fuji doesn't have any.

Snoopy_1812 wrote:

I don’t think distortion disappears when holding a camera level. The lens always distorts, no matter how you hold it.

i am currently looking for a new camera and have to say I can easily spot the Fujis from a gallery. Not because of the “fantastic colors”, but because of the enormous distortions.

Nope.

Care to show an example?

If you're looking at OOC jpegs, any inherent distortion will have been corrected in-camera. Most RAW editors will automatically correct distortion as well. I see no distortion with any of my Fuji lenses other than natural perspective distortion.

The 16mm f/1.4 in particular is very well corrected optically, and shows very little distortion even without any electronic correction...

From Optical Limits

Snoopy_1812 wrote:

Some examples. I see the distortions immediately, no need to zoom or align to the corner of the screen or something like that.

All 16-35 lens by the way. Will look for some examples of your lens

Absolutely unacceptable for me.

https://flic.kr/p/2nwHWhH

https://flic.kr/p/2nw8QfE

https://flic.kr/p/2nC2pP5

And the XF 16 1.4. Buildings on the left fall to the right, buildings on the right fall to the left

https://flic.kr/p/2ntW4eR

These are all examples of perspective distortion and are all the result of focal length/camera position, not a fault with the lens. If you see converging verticals tilt your lens down, diverging verticals, tilt your lens up. The wider the focal length, the more exaggerated this effect becomes and why extra attention must be paid to camera level (and height) when shooting with wide angle lenses - all of them, not just Fujis.

Snoopy_1812 wrote:

I don’t know how much you want to keep a camera higher / lower / otherwise tilted, but if I see buildings and trees that look like this: ( ) then it is IN THE LENS and no matter how you move the camera, everything that gets in that spot gets the same distortion.

I don’t see any barrel distortion in any of your examples. If you are shooting something with a wider than normal focal length, the center is going to appear exaggerated and the corners more distant and stretched - again, perspective distortion. If you’re close to your subject and your camera isn’t level you will get both effects - a bloated center and converging verticals. Your examples show poor focal length/compositional choices (which may be forced due limited positioning options), not any fault with the lens.

great pics of winnipeg btw!

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

For those who aren’t aware…

The newer cameras have a custom assignable Electronic Level option that will get you level lines for both roll and pitch that are exceptionally useful for super wide angle lenses and shooting panos.

A

This is great information. While I am able to assign a button for this function, I can't find a menu item to perhaps put under MyMenu. What am I missing? Of course buttons are limited on my XE4 and I would hate to dedicate a button to it. Again, what am I missing? Any help would be appreciated.

RangerPhotog wrote:

Erik Baumgartner wrote:

For those who aren’t aware…

The newer cameras have a custom assignable Electronic Level option that will get you level lines for both roll and pitch that are exceptionally useful for super wide angle lenses and shooting panos.

A

This is great information. While I am able to assign a button for this function, I can't find a menu item to perhaps put under MyMenu. What am I missing? Of course buttons are limited on my XE4 and I would hate to dedicate a button to it. Again, what am I missing? Any help would be appreciated.

As far as I know, the fancy level (and the fancy RGB histogram) are only available through custom assignable buttons (and touchscreen swipes). This is one of the reasons why lots of people (me included) complain about Fuji continuing to add lots of interesting customizable options while removing the useful custom buttons, switches, and dials required  to access them.

robert1955 wrote:

tacogeoff wrote:

great pics of winnipeg btw!

not his, four different photos from others that he thinks illustrate his point

I didnt mean to hit reply to snoopy. I was replying in general to the OP