Leica D 14-50mm wide-angle geometry comparison
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To measure and compare the Leica D 14-50mm's
geometric distortion we photographed a test chart consisting of a grid pattern,
using it and a number of rival lenses.
Here are the results for each lens at its shortest focal length.
The images were analysed with Imatest using 5th Order line calculation and
the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. |
14-50mm at 14mm f8
Distortion: 2.80% barrel |
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| The image above was taken with the Leica D 14-50mm lens zoomed-out to 14mm.
Barrel distortion was measured at 2.80% which is superior to the other three lenses below, although the latest Olympus ED 14-42mm kit lens comes quite close. |
Olympus ZD ED 14-42mm
with Olympus E-400 |
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Olympus ZD
14-45mm
with Olympus E-500 |
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Canon EF-S
18-55mm
with Canon 400D / XTi |
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14-42mm at 14mm f8
Distortion: 2.97% barrel |
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14-45mm at 14mm f8
Distortion: 3.28% barrel |
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18-55mm EF-S at 18mm f8
Distortion: 3.35% barrel |
Leica D 14-50mm telephoto geometry comparison
 |
|
To measure and compare the Leica D 14-50mm's
geometric distortion we photographed a test chart consisting of a grid pattern,
using it and a number of rival lenses.
Here are the results for each lens at its longest focal length.
The images were analysed with Imatest using 5th Order line calculation and
the full areas presented here at a reduced resolution. |
14-50mm at 50mm f8
Distortion: 0.14% barrel |
| |
| The image above was taken with the Leica D 14-50mm lens zoomed-in to 50mm.
Interestingly while most lenses of this focal range exhibit pincushion distortion when zoomed-in, the Leica D 14-50mm, like the latest Olympus ED 14-42mm kit lens, exhibits slight barrelling instead. In terms of the degree of distortion though, the Leica D 14-50mm is still the lowest here, although again the latest Olympus ED 14-42mm comes pretty close. |
Olympus ZD ED 14-42mm
with Olympus E-400 |
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Olympus ZD
14-45mm
with Olympus E-500 |
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Canon EF-S
18-55mm
with Canon 400D / XTi |
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14-42mm at 42mm f8
Distortion: 0.21% barrel |
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14-45mm at 45mm f8
Distortion: 0.48% pincushion |
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18-55mm EF-S at 55mm f8
Distortion: 0.389% pincushion |
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