OUR CURVILINEAR distortion chart has been photographed with each camera, and detail in ‘realworld’ images has been examined at 100%, looking for curvilinear and chromatic aberration lens distortions.
At the wideangle 24mm setting, barrel distortion is evident in each camera, but none more so than the Fuji HS50EXR. The result is stretched detail, particularly at the frame edges where image sharpness tails off. The Nikon and Sony lenses most impressively hold sharpness from the centre of the frame to the edges, with the Canon lens following in the middle, while the Fuji optic shows disappointing edge detail.
As for chromatic aberration, the Fuji camera is, conversely, the best at controlling this phenomenon, with virtually no trace in high-contrast edges. The Sony HX300 does a good job, too, while the Canon…