# Radial Distortion

Radial distortion affects any optical lens where the magnification is different at the edges of the field of view than at the center of the field of view. Radial distortion is generally more severe with larger fields of view; wide-angle lenses tend to exhibit more radial distortion than telephoto lenses. There are two kinds of radial distortion: barrel distortion, which occurs when the off-axis magnification is weaker than at the center, and pincushion distortion, which occurs when the off-axis magnification is stronger than at the center. Both types of distortion are shown in the following figure:

Like perspective distortion, radial distortion is nonlinear.