Canon SD870 IS - Fish Eye?

[koedean]

I just bougth this camera and am very happy with it except for one thing. When I use it without zooming in wide angle (28 degrees, I believe), I will get distortion at the edges like a "Fish Eye Lense". Vertical features at the outside edges tend to bow at the top and bottom. Does anyone know if this is common for this camera model or could mine be defective. I can zoom in to take care of it, but is seems like Canon would have put a nice stop on the zoom, so you know where it is normal.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[David Metsky]

Yes, this is a byproduct of pretty much any ultracompact wide angle lens. Some lens designs are a little better then others, for example the Panasonic TZ5; but that camera is a bit larger then the SD870.

It can be a problem in some shots (I own the SD800 which is nearly identical to your SD870) but on the whole it doesn't bother me. I knew that was the price you pay to get the wide angle lens.

[koedean]

Thanks...that is what I kind of thought...then a friend told me it shoudn't do that and that I should return it. My wife has a Panasonic and it does it slightly, but you are right...it is bigger and I wanted compact. Also, I suspect hers is a 30 or 32, so that probably is a factor when compared to a 28?

[Visual Reality]

Its evident on my S3 IS especially...you'll need to fix it in post processing.

[David Metsky]

As Visual Reality said there are filters you can apply in PhotoShop and the like that correct for barrel distortion.