How can I correct distortion in Sony a6100 RAW files from the 16-50mm kit lens in RawTherapee?
Asked 2/11/2020
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I’m shooting both JPEG and ARW on a Sony a6100 with the Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS PZ kit lens. The camera JPEGs show straight lines, but the RAW files look noticeably more distorted, especially with curved lines that appear corrected in the JPEG.
In RawTherapee 5.8, I tried Transform > Lens / Geometry > Profiled Lens Correction with Automatic (Lensfun), but it didn’t help much. I also couldn’t find an entry for the a6100 or this lens when switching to manual selection.
I found that Distortion Correction can improve it, but I’d like to know the best way to handle this in RawTherapee and whether the missing Lensfun entries are the reason profile-based correction isn’t working.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
2
The "Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS PZ" lens is listed in lensfun's database as supported starting with version 1.534, but it does not yet appear that there's an entry for the Alpha 6100. If you visit the web site, you can find instructions for generating images to submit for them to analyze to get new cameras and/or lenses supported. The documentation also describes how to just update the lens/camera database if you can't fully upgrade the software.
Originally by user68706. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user68706
6y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—the difference is expected. Your camera JPEGs have lens corrections applied automatically, while the RAW keeps the lens’s native distortion, which is very strong on the Sony E 16-50mm at 16mm.
In RawTherapee, the most important fix for this lens is distortion correction. If Profiled Lens Correction via Lensfun isn’t finding the proper camera/lens entry, using the Distortion Correction tool manually is a valid workaround.
The likely reason profile-based correction is missing is Lensfun database support: the lens is supported in newer Lensfun data, but the a6100 may not appear in older versions. In practice, the correction should be essentially the same as for the a6000 with the same lens, since the key issue is lens distortion, not the camera body.
So your best options are:
- use Distortion Correction manually in RawTherapee, or
- update RawTherapee/Lensfun database so the lens profile is available.
If needed, Lensfun also provides instructions for submitting camera/lens samples or updating just the database without fully upgrading the software.
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