RF 15-35mm F2.8L IS USM Distortion Issue

[kghaviland]

I've been shooting with an R5 and a number of different RF lenses with no issues.  Everything is great. I recently purchased the RF 15-35mm F2.8 IS USM for landscape shots.  The pictures all show distortion where for example trees on the left are slanting to the left and trees on the right are slanting to the right.  This is after lens correction in Lightroom.  Is this normal for this lens?  Seems very odd for a lens made for landscape photography.  I'm thinking there might be an issue with this particular lens.  Any thoughts?  Thanks!

Examples...  note that I manually corrected (in addition to applying the lens profile correction) the last image to straighten up the trees but was unable to do it and have it look decent in the other pictures

[Tronhard]

Hi and welcome to the forum:

Can you advise if the camera was actually horizontal, looking towards the horizon, rather than side to side?
Are the images from RAW or JPG files? 
Can you look at the originals and see what the distortion looks like without correction please and maybe post an image of that.

To be honest, my first reaction is that Lightroom has applied the wrong kind of lens correction to the images or at least massively overcorrected.    

A couple of things I would check:
Lightroom is using the correct lens for its correction algorithm.
Also, if you have Canon's Digital Photo Professional, try uploading your images to that and see what they look like there.

[kghaviland]

Thanks for the response.  To answer your questions ...  Yes, the camera was horizontal towards the horizon. These were from RAW files (Canon CR3).  The slanted trees on both sides of the image are even worse in the original RAW files.  The lens correction helped a tiny amount.  The lens correction profile in Lightroom is using the correct lens profile at least it lists it correctly.  

Kelly

[kghaviland]

By the way, I had the camera setup to capture both RAW and JPG files and the JPG files also exhibit the same massive distortion problem so I don't think it is an issue with Lightroom. 

[Tronhard]

Good to know.  I find it odd that the distortion is as shown in the original and in the form.  Do you have access to another similar lens to see if that too gives the same result?  Maybe go to a camera store and try some sample shots with one of theirs. I  don't have that lens, so I can't provide any myself.

[Waddizzle]

I agree with Trevor.  You might have an issue with LR.  If you have DPP installed, I recommend looking at the images using DPP.  Also, do the images look distorted when you play them back in the camera?

[Tronhard]

Bill: Can you focus on this issue while I help a young person with her choice of camera for school please?

[kghaviland]

Thanks for the response.  The images are distorted in the camera preview as well.  As are both the RAW and JPG files prior to any Lightroom engagement.  

[Waddizzle]

I assume that these images were captured using a tripod that was level to the horizon.  If you are shooting from a tripod, then Image Stabilization would need to be disabled on the lens and/or in the camera.  

I believe the lens [AF : MF] switch overrides any setting in the camera.  But, check the settings in the camera, anyway.  I would expect the IS menu settings to be either greyed out, or simply removed from the menus.

[Waddizzle]

We cannot stress enough the importance of leveling the camera to the horizon when using wide angle lenses.  The camera must not only be leveled side to side, but also front to back.  You do not want the camera pointing upward or downward.

This effect is especially noticeable when photographing tall buildings.  If the camera is angled upward, then the vertical lines of the building will tend to narrow the higher up the building you look.  The narrowing effect is above the horizon because the camera is pointed above the horizon.

The opposite happens when your camera is angled downward.  The narrowing effect is now below horizon, which is the shooting scenario that you seem to be experiencing.  Your horizon is above the center of the image, which tells me the camera was tilted slightly downward.