Is it normal that the 7d's finder exhibits some pincushion distortion?

Depends on the lens as the VF image is simply a transmission of the image from the lens. The wide end of zooms usually suffer pincushion distortion, especially really wide ones and/or those with a large zoom ratio. I know I can see pincushion distortion in my 5DII VF when I use the 24mm side of the 24-105 L. Don't notice any with the 50 1.2L.

hmm.. But I see pincushioning in the VF and none in live view..
Plus, my lens is has some barrel distortion, not pincushioning

Is it so with all your lenses?
Is it so with all apertures?
If you have a zoom lens, is it so with all FL?

Welcome to FM.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Yea all lenses/apertures, and it doesn't change at all when switching focal length on a zoom

When you make a 1.6 crop non-focussing screen look as big as the one in the 5D2 something's gotta give.

capital wrote:
Yea all lenses/apertures, and it doesn't change at all when switching focal length on a zoom

Then I'd consider going back to the store and check another copy.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

Yea, I eventually will.. I thought crowd sourcing would be more efficient though. All I need is for someone who has a 7D to look though there viewfinder!

capital wrote:
Yea, I eventually will.. I thought crowd sourcing would be more efficient though. All I need is for someone who has a 7D to look though there viewfinder!

Shot all afternoon with one and still can't see any pincushion. Lots of bright red flashes, a really bright VF data display (actually distracting) and the focusing screen texture is a little too apparent to my eyes, even with a F2.8 lens.

Hi capital,

I got to this thread via Googling. My 7D VF does exhibits pincushioning too. I haven't checked another copy yet, but might do so tomorrow.

Effectively, the corners of my VF are not exactly 100% because the pincushioning takes away some of it.

It is not a problem to me so far. But after some googling, I begin to worry that it might be a problem on only my copy and a few others, since very few have brought this up.

The pincushioning is very obvious if you try to align something straight to the bottom or top of the VF. The shot will come out undistorted and with the missing corners back.

One of the problems with a 100% VF is they're almost too accurate. I can see vignetting in the corners when I use my EF-s 17-55 2.8. Not noticeable with teles or longer zooms designed for FF.

Gochugogi wrote:
One of the problems with a 100% VF is they're almost too accurate. I can see vignetting in the corners when I use my EF-s 17-55 2.8. Not noticeable with teles or longer zooms designed for FF.


I am using 17-55 too! =)

When I first see the pincushion at 55mm, I thought the 100% VF is so good that it reveal the flaws of the lens. But when aligning the bottom to a straight object, the output image will come out without pincushion and the missing corners from the VF back.

I hope you can try it out too and let us know the result. Thanks!

My eyeglasses exhibit slight barrel distortion (must be the Nikon lenses) so the 7D viewfinder optics compensate for them perfectly.