Panasonic LUMIX S PRO 50mm f/1.4: How Distortion Correction Affects Sharpness in both Single Shot and Multi Shot High Res Mode
Related: distortion, distortion correction, Multi-Shot High Resolution Mode, optics, Panasonic, Panasonic Lumix DC-S1R, Panasonic Lumix S PRO 50mm f/1.4, Panasonic mirrorless
See my L-mount mirrorless wishlist and Leica M wishlist.
I am not a fan of the sharpness-robbing approach to lens design of allowing distortion that requires distortion correction, be it Leica, be it Zeiss, or be it Panasonic. And when manufacturers present MTF charts of optical performance for a lens flags distortion correction in the EXIF as mandatory, one has to wonder if the deception is intentional, because the claimed MTF in the negatively-affected areas is impossible to achieve with distortion correction.
See also Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-SL ASPH: Sharpness Losses from Distortion Correction.
The Panasonic Lumix S PRO 50mm f/1.4 relies on software distortion correction to deal with its pronounced optical distortion. This page shows distortion with and without distortion correction, and also shows much sharpness is lost to distortion correction, both for single shot mode and Multi-Shot High-Res mode.
In diglloyd L-Mount Mirrorless:
Distortion for Panasonic Lumix S PRO 50mm f/1.4
Includes crops from both 93-megapixel and 47 megapixel images.
Panasonic S1R + Panasonic Lumix S PRO 50mm f/1.4 RAW: Enhance Details, LACA corrected
[low-res image for bot]
