Adobe Camera Raw Still Lacks Distortion Correction for Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G
I’m feeling a little frustrated... my brand-new Sony A7R V is on its way to Sony Pro Services to deal with a high-pitched whine.
Meanwhile, the funhouse mirror distortion of the Sony FE 20-70mm f/4 G still has no correction in Adobe Camera Raw, making any images or comparisons thereof non-viable. One can attempt distortion correction manually of course, but that is never quite right and I do not want to produce sorta-right images, certainly not for comparison.
BTW, typically I do not like to compare lenses using distortion correction. But if lens A de facto requires distortion correction, and lens B has reasonably low distortion, I deem it the most fair/reasonable comparison to do what’s necessary for each lens—correct only the lens(es) that requires it. Because that’s the way I would capture and process and nothing else matters to real photography.
Adobe: it would be helpful to maintain some web page detailing a approximate timeline for supporting new cameras and lenses. No one is going to hold you to a specific date, but it would sure be nice to know if it’s a day/week/month away.
It’s clear that Sony intends for distortion correction to be mandatory with the 20-70mm, because the corners are nearly black (lens is not covering the entire frame) and quite soft—that area of the capture is not suitable for the finished image. A similar but more extreme cheater game is played by Leica with the Leica Q; I can give Sony a pass based on cost and intended market but lame beyond belief for Leica.
Below, the extreme barrel distortion (actually subtle wave-type distortion) can be disguised by the scene, but I am not happy with such a heavily distortion of reality—see the planks below.