bruno_menilli Posted August 19, 2002 Share Posted August 19, 2002 Has anyone noticed the very noticable PINCUSHION distortion of the 19mm Elmarit series 2 lens ? I tried this lens recently at a Leica day in central London and was really surprised that when I lined up the left hand short verticle of the horizontal frame against an open door edge, with the very top of the door in the top left corner of the frame and the bottom of the open door edge in the bottom left of the frame,the door bowed a great deal inwards halfway up(or down) the left verticle edge of the frame. The door was about 3-3.5 metres from me. I've also noticed this when trying just the grid screen with no lens attached- the left and right short side verticle grid lines closest to the frame edge showed pincushion distortion. I do not get this with my other lenses or the standard screen ! Can anyone offer an explanation? Thanks Bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_piper2 Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 If the distortion is showing up with no lens mounted it's the FINDER that likely has pincushion distortion - not necessarily the lens. You didn't mention which camera this was (R8?). My SL has a little barrel distorion in the finder (but the actual pictures come out fine). Adjustable-diopter finders especially are susceptible to extra distortion due to the moving finder elements - one reason I've never been able to love them. You're probably not noticing any distortion with your standard screen because there are no straight lines near the edges to make it apparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno_menilli Posted August 20, 2002 Author Share Posted August 20, 2002 The 19mm lens was tried using a Leica supplied R8 and standard screen but with about +1.5 dioptre applied. My own R8 was used with the grid screen , +1.5 dioptre and with and without a lens ( 50 summilux) distortion was apparent, but when I reverted to the standard screen the distortion went, which implies that the dioptre adjustment was not the cause of the distortion, but the screen. I've read most of the Leica 'lens books' and strangely enough not one of them mentions the distortion amounts for the 19mm at all, yet they do for most of the other lens. Makes you wonder? Bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Smith Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 Bruno Email Leica Solms and they will tell you, they will probably even show you the distortion graph for the lens. Robin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert knapp md Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 I checked my R8 with regualr screen and 19mm f/2.8 (second version) and ........ no pincushioning was seen in asimilar experiment to yours. It must have been the viewfinder grid screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno_menilli Posted August 20, 2002 Author Share Posted August 20, 2002 Thanks for your replies! I've just emailed Leica and will let you know their response when received. Bruno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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