What Is In-Camera Lens Aberration Correction?

What is lens aberration correction? This is among the things real estate photographers should know, so clients won't think there's something amiss with your shots. With that said, I'm explaining what lens aberration correction is, its importance, and how you can apply it to enhance your real estate photos. 

What Is Lens Aberration Correction?

Lens aberration correction is the process of fixing various types of aberrations in real estate photography. You can apply corrections for lens aberration through post-processing, enabling built-in camera or lens correction settings, or using lenses with low-dispersion glasses.

To ensure your real estate images won't suffer from lens aberration, let's take a closer look into how corrections would benefit you.

Lens Aberration Correction Explained

Lens aberration correction fixes imperfection in focus, sharpness, distortion, and magnification to ensure you're producing an accurate depiction of the subject or property. It serves as a solution when you can't control how rays of light converge to a certain point.

Aberration in optical systems, including photography lenses, happens due to the deviation of light rays that enter the sensor. In effect, your real estate images may show blurriness, skewed lines, or low contrast colors.

It's essential that you know how to correct lens aberration in real estate photos because it can make a significant difference in image quality, particularly in the corners of the frame.

Types of Lens Aberration

Homebuyers look at several interior and exterior photos to help make a wise purchasing decision. However, your photos only have about 20 seconds to capture a person's attention. 

If any of these lens aberration types show in your real estate photos, you're ruining your chance of selling a property and getting more clients.

• Chromatic aberration: Chromatic aberration happens when the lens cannot focus when light rays pass at various points. This causes multiple degrees of diffraction and dispersion of high-contrast colors that may spoil the original hues of the property.
• Monochromatic aberration: Some lenses with damaged optical systems can't focus on a single color of light, producing monochromatic aberrations.
• Axial aberration: This type of lens aberration comes from the different wavelengths of light that focus at varying distances from the lens.
• Spherical aberration: Lack of fine contrast causes spherical aberration. This may be due to the materials or placement of spherical elements in the lens.

Ways to Apply Lens Aberration Correction

With the demand for high-quality real estate photos, agents and realtors would work with professional photographers. About 89% of home buyers found images to be one of the most valuable features of a website. For this reason, it's vital to know various ways of correcting lens aberration.

Correct Aberration Through Post-Processing 

The best way to apply lens aberration correction is to edit property photos in programs such as Adobe Lightroom, Photomatix, or Capture One.

You can turn on correction profiles by default to make sure you won't miss any aberrations. For example, Lightroom can improve your photography workflow by applying the lens profile correction in the Develop Module.

From the tool palette, there's a slider that lets you modify the correction amount. However, note that correcting aberration only applies in RAW images. JPEG and TIFF don't have much data for the software to adjust.

Turn On Aberration Correction Settings

The good thing is that some brands develop built-in features to fix aberration. For instance, there are Canon cameras that include a lens aberration correction function you can enable before shooting. 

However, make sure to check if your lens contains an embedded correction profile. Some can come in the form of diffraction correction or a digital lens optimizer.

Another option is to narrow the aperture. Most chromatic aberrations come from the wider aperture since the sensor allows more light to enter. Be careful in doing this since real estate photography typically requires bigger apertures.

Use Lenses With Low-Dispersion Glasses

While optical engineers design lenses to limit aberrations, they can't remove aberration altogether, possibly due to production costs, features, or intended use.

Fortunately, lens brands continue to innovate with features that mainly focus on reducing lens aberration. When using lenses with low-dispersion glasses, the colored light rays would converge on the same focus point properly to avoid color fringing.

Related Questions

How Can I Avoid Lens Aberration When Shooting Real Estate?

Among the simplest ways to avoid lens aberration in real estate photography is to position yourself further away from the subject. However, this can sometimes be difficult to do in tight spaces, which is why it's beneficial to learn about lens aberration correction.

What Lenses Cause Aberration?

Zoom, prime, and wide-angle lenses produce lens aberration due to the curvature of their optical elements. This won't always be the case, especially when you know how to use these lenses according to their strengths.

Conclusion

Lens aberration correction is a crucial aspect to learn as a real estate photographer. It shows that you understand the importance of lighting and symmetry in property photos. Be sure to apply the various correction methods the next time you encounter lens aberration problems.