I will be purchasing a digital camera for web site work but no one in my area seems to know anything about optical distortion in lenses. The only info I can get is "they are expensive cameras with good lenses that don't distort". Most of the 35mm zooms I've used over the years do distort, some quite noticeably. My guess is that some lenses distort less than others. I photograph lots pf paintings where distortion could be a problem. Any thoughts, been looking at the Nikon 950.

Thanks

-- Kevin Oke (okephoto@gulfislands.com), February 04, 2000

Answers

a fixed focus lens often distorts less than a zoom, especially at the zoom's extreme focal lengths.

If you want a zoom, I like the lens on the sony 505.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), February 05, 2000.

Most zoom lenses that go from wide-angle to telephoto have distortion at both ends of the range. This usually goes from barrel distortion at the wide end to pincushion at the tele setting. Somewhere in the middle there is a point where the distortion is negligible. You can check this by taking a shot of a door frame or something similar.

Don't expect process lens accuracy from any zoom lens though.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 07, 2000.

the canon powershot pro 70 has been reputable to have an acceptable distortion range. also one of the few cameras that comes with a nice wide angle of 28mm...

-- Keat Lim (keatlim@my-deja.com), February 08, 2000.