Image Warping at Z20 or less

[Devin S Kelley]

Has anyone experienced warping on the sides when zooming to 20 or below on the DVX100? Or is this normal? With the anamorphic lens the warping is much more apparent, and I at first thought it was the anamorphic adapter causing it to warp, but after some testing it actually is happening with the normal lens, just less pronounced. Do I have a defective camera?

[Jan Crittenden Livingston]

Devin,

You don't mention what monitor you are using. You may have a pincushion distortion on your monitor and thus it is leading you to this conclusion. Try a different monitor or use the LCD to make the judgment.

Let us know,

Jan

[Jeff Donald]

It could also be barrel distortion which is normal for wide angle lenses. Note also that the DVX100 has a wider than usual zoom lenses (when compared to competitors) as standard equipment.

[Devin S Kelley]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm actually seeing the distortion in the viewfinder, on the LCD and when watching it on tape. And again, the warping occurs even without the anamorphic adapter, just on a less noticable level because it's not being stretched horizontally.

Anyone else got ideas? Thanks, guys!

[Jeff Donald]

Devin, it sounds like what you have is barrel distortion. It is present in nearly all wide angle lenses. You can read an explanation and see an example here. Only rectilinear wide angle lenses will show no distortion. Rectilinear wide angles are very expensive to produce and are fixed focal length lenses (they do not zoom). If you post an example of the distortion, it will be easy to confirm.

[Ken Tanaka]

Devin,
This is normal for that camera's lens and, as Jeff pointed out, for all conventional wide-angle lenses such as the DVX100's. The effect will be most pronouced at the lens' widest shot and when nearby objects are at the left and right edges of your frame (ex: sitting in a small room).

That wide-angle lens is one of the camera's attractive features.