This is an uncorrected raw frame from the Leica Q3 (28mm f/1.7), processed in DxO PhotoLab with all optical and geometry modules turned off.

Modern fast wide-angles are increasingly engineered as a partnership between glass and software:

  • The Raw Geometry: Natively, the lens produces roughly 6.5% to 7% barrel distortion and projects a wider field of view (around 25–26mm) across the sensor.
  • The Software Pass: The embedded profile flattens the distortion, eliminates the mechanical vignetting in the corners, and crops the frame to its final 28mm perspective.

Most raw converters automatically apply this correction without giving you an option to disable it. It allows a fast f/1.7 optic to remain remarkably compact, relying on mathematical profiles to deliver the final rectilinear image.

Even elite manufacturers of expensive cameras do this.