Ladder

Distortion — the ladder

2 distinct arguments against one idea, from the one that introduces it to the one that assumes the rest.
  1. principal pointk₁ = -0.320, k₂ = 0.110 — barrel distortioncentre line 0e+0 px of sag, outermost 17.8 px

    Straight lines that are not

    Everybody says the edges of a wide-angle frame bow. Nothing is special about the edge. A radial map moves every point along its own radius, so the only line it leaves straight is one through the principal point, and the bend of every other is decided by how far it passes from that one place.

    rung 1 · lens
  2. 00.50011.502-0.400-0.20000.200k₁departure of the cross-ratio from the world's value (%)pinhole1.29%the pinhole's own error, on the same four points2e-16 — the control

    A lens destroys the invariant

    The cross-ratio is the one thing a projection preserves, and everything checkable on this site is checked with it. A lens returns it one and a third per cent out where the pinhole is exact to fifteen digits — and the height error that follows tracks a quantity nobody would guess.

    rung 2 · lens

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