I've had my S602 for a couple of months now and I've only just recently noticed that landscape shots have the fish eye effect. I only noticed this last night when I stitched multiple images together to create a panorama. The result looked like a skate park. Here is a sample //www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=35278 of one of the images. It was taken with the standard on-board lense (no conversion lense etc) at it's widest angle. I never had this problem with my Canon Power Shot A40. Is this normal for the S602?
It's barrel distortion, which is common on zoom lenses at the wide-angle end. Pretty much all high zoom-ratio lenses (even expensive SLR lenses) have some degree of barrel distortion at wide-angle and pincushion distortion (the opposite effect) at telephoto. That's a lot of distortion there (ask other S602Z owners if it's normal) but on my F717 at 38mm there was noticeable barrel distortion, so I'm not surprised.
There's software out there (often camera and/or lens-specific) which will correct this.
You're right. As far as I remember, when you switch on the Fuji, the lens doesn't automatically set to the widest angle, but to a slightly closer more distortion-free angle. I would always use that for panoramas.
I was going to provide some links to help you out...
Either go to www.dpreview.com and looks in the forums (either for your camera brand or the general "retouching" forum).
Otherwise, you could try www.panotools.com (which has some photoshop plugins that I think address this problem) or www.epaperpress.com (ptlens download) or www.ptgui.com (and follow links). Several panoramic related sites also address the issues of barrel distortion and pin cushion since they need to be corrected before many stitching programs work properly.
You're right. As far as I remember, when you switch on the Fuji, the lens doesn't automatically set to the widest angle, but to a slightly closer more distortion-free angle. I would always use that for panoramas.
I was going to provide some links to help you out...
Either go to //www.dpreview.com and looks in the forums (either for your camera brand or the general "retouching" forum).
Otherwise, you could try //www.panotools.com (which has some photoshop plugins that I think address this problem) or //www.epaperpress.com (ptlens download) or //www.ptgui.com (and follow links). Several panoramic related sites also address the issues of barrel distortion and pin cushion since they need to be corrected before many stitching programs work properly.
The Panorama tools work very well, however the interface is a little clunky to use. I generally use the same settings each time anyway so it's fine since it saves your last setting. You might even be able to save several settings, I'm not sure. I tested it out on that photo and it worked well. I bet I can set up some Actions with different Pano tools settings to make things real convenient. There is always something more to try.
