Air 2S seems to have optical problems

[Meta4]

Yes noticed that distortion changed with gimbal angle. Will have to invest in some software I guess.

You'd see the same thing with any wideangle lens on any camera.
If you want your verticals to be vertical and not leaning in or out, you need to shoot with the camera horizontal - at 0°

 

[Felix le Chat]

Yes noticed that distortion changed with gimbal angle. Will have to invest in some software I guess.

The rule of thumb with architectural features is to shoot a built structure (especially a tall one) with the camera about half way between the ground and the highest point of the building, the drone equivalent to using a tilt/shift lens. There's no amount of software that will acceptably correct the edge-of-lens pincushion distortion you end up getting from a wide angle lens pointed 40-60 degrees down.
You mentioned 'investing' in good software - before you fork out unnecessary moolah: take a look at the open source equivalents to the top commercial packages. DARKTABLE and RAWTHERAPEE will not disappoint. It might be worth mentioning that shooting and editing the DNG's is preferable as they respond far better to editing and with a bit of trial and error, you will get an end result that is of a better quality than the stock JPG.

 

[Dbez1]

Yes noticed that distortion changed with gimbal angle. Will have to invest in some software I guess.

There are even free apps that allow you to correct some of this. I can’t remember which ones now though. Someone will probably help with specifics.

 

[PanoVolo]

I shoot raw on my 2s. never noticed vignetting. By chance do you have a uv filter attached? Just curious.

I'm curious about it as well. Some raw processors do not apply lens profile embedded into raw, this may be the reason why vignetting is more visible.

 

[Photobobhunt]

Late to the conversation, but most of the comments are right on .
I do some commercial progress photos and the wide angle effect is obvious . I call it edge droop.
My previous Air 2 wasn't as wide but still had the effect to some extent . the key is to crop the extreme edges of your image and/or use perspective controls in software.
But the easiest way to avoid this is to back up and shoot from further distance, then crop.
A "Normal" lens would be nice , but we have what we have .

 

[Photobobhunt]

Software I use is : DXO Photolab 6 and Photoshop CS6 (Camera Raw)
I have an aversion to subscription software, (but that's just me)

 

[MS Coast]

Wow that smartens them up! Is there any open source software that I could try before buying one?
If I bring drone down to eye level then may as well use my hand held camera.

Have a look at GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program. It's freeware and does a good imitation of Photoshop.

And here's an article about vertical distortion handling in GIMP.

https://www.ephotozine.com/article/correcting-verticals-in-gimp-9992

 

[Meta4]

the key is to crop the extreme edges of your image and/or use perspective controls in software.
But the easiest way to avoid this is to back up and shoot from further distance, then crop.

It's quite simple.

The key to avoid this is to avoid shooting upwards or downwards with the wideangle lens.
Keep the lens horizontal and the verticals will be vertical.
Shoot upwards and they fall outwards.
Shoot downwards and they fall inwards.