Curved lines in a picture (Photography)

Question

My problem is when I take a picture (a close one) the straight edge looks a little curved. In a standard camera, like a CyberShot.

I would like to know if there is some relationship between the curvature of the glass and that effect or if you know more information about that.

Answer 1

Yes the image distortions can be mapped and corrected for.
You could do this analytically just from the lens design and the scene - but you would need a detailed optical design for the lens.

The easier way is to take a picture of a calibration target (typically a chess board or array of dots) and then map the distortions in software and apply the same corrections to your image.

See opencv for examples