"David Kilpatrick" wrote in message
...
RichA wrote:
"cover shots needed a tiny barrel distortion correction"

We live in a different photographic world now. A predictable level of
barrel distortion is not a deal killer for a lens because of sophisticated
image processing programs. Most dSLR lenses in the 11-20mm range, regardless
of their overall zoom range, have significant linear distortion that would
be hard to accept for in a film and wet print world but can be reasonably
corrected with some simple image processing in the brave new digital world.
Does that mean lens quality is declining or overall photographic options are
increasing?