21mm: Distortion

21mm Comparison: Distortion

Rollover the Canon full frame to reveal the Nikon shot.

There’s still some tricky waveform barrel distortion at work in the Canon shot: not significant enough to be a problem in most images, but just enough to push parallel lines out of true. The Nikon 17-35mm, however, has lost almost all of its simple barrel distortion by 21mm and is perfectly useable for critical architectural work with only modest correction.

• 1. Introduction
• 2. 17mm / f2.8: Resolution
• 3. 17mm: Distortion & Aberration
• 4. 17mm / f5.6: Resolution
• 5. 17mm / f11: Resolution
• 6. 17mm / f16: Resolution
• 7. 21mm: Distortion
• 8. 21mm / f5.6: Resolution
• 9. 21mm / f11: Resolution
• 10. 28mm: Distortion
• 11. 28mm: Resolution
• 12. 35mm: Resolution & Distortion
• 13. Conclusion