I've been trying to take some pictures of the controls of our photocopier, as I need to write idiot proof instructions on how to scan to e-mail using it...

It has a nice big LCD screen, but the pictures all seem to be bent. I meant to bring in my Canon this morning, but left it sitting on the table, so I was reduced to using the camera on my htc Touch Pro.

The images all seem to have a curve on them. Is this down to the (c****y) lens on the camera or is this some other phenomenen?

Edit : Sample Image uploaded...

Looks like it's the lens rather than anything else.

It's like it is amplifying the fish eye effect because it is so small.

Given that the line through the middle of the pic (along the bottom of the screen) isn't bent I'd say that was the cause.

Give hugin a try, it has various tools and stuff for stitching photos together but also for adding or removing perspective etc...

http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

Thanks, I'll have a look

Stand further back and zoom in. Using the longer end of your zoom range will avoid the barrel distortion you get at the widest angles.

On his HTC though that will mean using digital zoom.

Manual zoom on those is standing closer IIRC

ROFL, that reminds me of when Kryten becomes human

A lot better with the Canon this morning, but still a little curvature, even when holding further away and zooming in...

Edit : Got some images on the second copier, which has a visible border to the screen - it is better lit - and the border is straight, but teh screen is curved! Looks like it is something to do with the touchscreen on the copiers, not the cameras; although the htc definitely makes the effect worse.

Ahhh, misread the post. Thought he was using the Canon.